Chapter 44
BLAIZE
Iknocked on Cross’s door at the clubhouse and heard him yell come in. He gave me a slight smile, but his lip barely curled. “What can I do for ya, boss?”
“You need a break.” I smirked, seeing his untamed hair and darker than normal undereye circles. “Have you received any reports about other territories having buildings burnt or vandalism done?”
“Yes. Jethro had two buildings vandalized with the Vandals symbol the other night, then two more with Rigs and Chavez having buildings burnt with the symbol last night. There are also some reports of a strange person lingering at night.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“Boss, with all due respect, I can’t do fifty things at once.
The drug shipments, the guns, dealing with these assholes and the other territories?
How the fuck did you do this daily plus deal with the club?
How the hell did Hawke fuck Fallon while this shit was going on?
I like computers. They are organized and they don’t talk back.
Just please take this away from me, for the love of God. ”
“Breathe, Cross. I’m not angry, just out of the loop.”
“I don’t want to be boss anymore.”
I smirked while taking the tablet from him. “I will see if Hawke is ready to deal with it again. If not, Hunter will deal with Hades, and I’ll take care of the motorcycle club. I am president, after all. You can go take a breather. I appreciate you.”
“Thank you. Never ask me to be the boss again.”
Cross left the office and I walked to Hawke’s office.
He was still with Fallon even though she was sick and tired of him being up her ass.
I took a seat and went through the files.
With the vandalism to Jethro’s territory, I was surprised he didn’t march to me himself to get answers.
It would be pointless because no one had fucking answers, which was driving me insane.
All I knew was a woman was trying to destroy me with her little boyfriend because I killed Elijah.
How did we go years without knowing Elijah West had a sibling? This must’ve been their plan.
I ran my hands through my hair, leaning back and cracking my back.
This shit was causing me to age faster than I wanted.
Elijah West was a cruel bastard, using his power to make people miserable and harm the innocent.
His life wasn’t worth anything, but someone was trying to bring him back.
I needed to find this woman and her boyfriend before they caused any more pain and misery to my town or people.
I checked in with leaders who had vandalism done in their territories, but the only reports were of a possible man in dark clothes.
Ava’s boyfriend or whoever he was waited until it was dark enough that he wouldn't get caught or recognized. I made the mistake of reacting before thinking, but if I didn’t do something soon, I was going to lose someone else or lose my territories altogether.
Saturday, the BDSM club would be open again for the first time in weeks.
With Annika still healing from her injury, she wouldn’t be performing, but her guys would.
Hunter would give a show and a few more regulars, as well.
Kadence was excited to see more aspects of the club other than her friend.
With it being the first night open, I had extra security.
Hell, I’d have extra security every night until this asshole was caught.
I rode to Bellevue. I’d been spending a lot of time with Damon trying to figure this out.
It was close to three months since the incident happened and we knew a name, but we had nothing else.
I was hoping Damon recognized the motorcycle or he’d gotten more information for us.
My phone chimed, and it was Kadence’s ringtone.
She wanted me home tonight, but it was getting later and later.
She’d probably be in bed before I made it back.
I was doing this for her, so we could focus on our life without someone trying to destroy it.
I walked into Damon’s clubhouse and found him at the pool table. We’d grown accustomed to the last few weeks, and I just walked in when needed. “Can you look at this bike and tell me if you recognize it?” I asked, placing the pictures on his pool table.
The bike was a newer solid black Harley Nightster. Most of the people I knew rode older model bikes or vintage. We didn’t do sporty motorcycles. Damon inspected the pictures, looking at the bike. I saw his brow furrow as he looked back at me.
“I saw the bike before. But a woman was riding it.”
“A woman? Was it Ava?”
“Possibly? Actually, yes. Her hair could sometimes be seen from the helmet. Sometimes it was blue and then back to red.”
Fuck me. “This bike fired at Kadence and her friend.”
“Are they okay?”
“Annika is in the hospital, but she is alive. Kadence is fine, but she is blaming herself.”
“I’ll keep my men patrolling and looking for her. How’s Fallon?”
“Fallon is awake, anxious to get out of the hospital. We are making it. My people are still mourning, and now I have to deal with this shit.”
He nodded. “Do you need any more help?”
“Not right now. With the funeral past and Fallon awake, my men are ready to find who this person is.”
“You know I am here and ready if needed. Now, I have a woman at home waiting for me.”
I told Kadence I was on my way home. Time with her was something that I needed. We both needed it. I’d been focused on finding Ava and her boyfriend while Kadence had been in her head about everything going on around us. Opening up was what she wanted, and I failed to do that in the last few weeks.
I pulled up to Hades and found Hunter on her laptop. “Club is being managed perfectly. We are good to open the BDSM portion this weekend, if possible. I’m already going through the new patrons that want to be here.”
“Wait to let any new people in. Stick with the loyal ones. Once this is done, we can allow more people again.”
She nodded. “We also need to talk about expanding. Cinder is still good with having a club either in Georgia or Florida. We can do LA or New York, as well, if that is something you still want?”
“Possibly, but I’m not worried about that right now.
” We discussed expanding months before everything started falling apart, and right now wasn’t the best time to focus on it.
One day, when everything was right, we would expand to bigger cities, but I needed to have a stable ground beforehand.
If it wasn’t for Cinder, some of my trades would fall apart.
I didn’t understand how she could manage shit hundreds of miles away.
“Is Cinder still planning her shipment?”
She looked at her iPad. “She had to delay the last one due to a personal matter she had to take care of. She is planning on being here in a few weeks, but she can’t make any promises.”
Cinder was doing something, but I had no idea what. “Okay, tell her if I need to, I can send some guys that way.”
Hunter nodded, quickly sending Cinder a text. “Done. Your girl is waiting for you upstairs, so stop being the boss and go be the girlfriend.”
I arched my brow. “Uh huh. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Have fun.”
I walked upstairs removing my jacket as I opened my office door, pleasantly surprised to see Kadence on her knees. She was in nothing but a tiny, black thong and a pair of heels. Her palms were pressed against her thighs and her eyes were on the floor in a perfect submissive position.
“Kadence?”