Chapter 3 #2
“I know Skeet will appreciate it. We really don’t know who’s going to stand by his side right now.”
“They all will if he puts them first. I mean it, D. That girl’s going to end up dead if he doesn’t.”
The thought made my skin crawl. I wanted him to be able to choose her, but the reality of it was that he never could.
They could have ten kids and it wouldn’t change a thing. The crew had to come first.
“He’ll make sure she knows to stay away. I told her about Sasha, so hopefully it got through to her,” I replied, my chest tight.
Brick was quiet for a moment before answering, a softer tone in his voice. “I’m sorry Slash and Skeet didn’t take over until later. I’m glad no one else will suffer the same fate as Sasha, but I wish she was still here. She was a nice girl.”
Brick was only twenty-three, so he hadn’t been one of the older members to participate in Sasha’s torture, but he’d been there. I was pretty sure that day changed most of us.
He hadn’t hung out with us as much as the others, but he’d always been nice to Sasha the few times they’d interacted. That was all I cared about.
“Thanks. She would’ve taken Rory under her wing and raised hell,” I smiled.
“I don’t trust Matteo with Rory.”
“Me either.”
“Sam seems to be keeping him in line for now. As much as Sam likes the violence, he’s never really been a fan of assaulting women for power.
I know those two are tight, but if Matteo decides to take matters into his own hands, Sam might still remain loyal to him.
I like the way Skeet and Slash changed the rules, so I need to tell you that Matteo wants to hurt Rory like they did to Sasha.
I don’t know if they’re testing me to see if I’ll run to Skeet or not, but if we keep it on the down-low, I can probably keep an eye on them,” he stated, nausea swimming in my stomach.
“If he touches Rory like that, Skeet will kill him. Hell, so will I,” I snapped, and he put a hand up to silence me.
“Play it smart. If you guys put the crew first, he can’t step out of line. If he tries, no one else will back him because he had no reason to.”
“Even if no one backs him, the damage would be done,” I growled, considering risking it by just killing Matteo. I’d be executed, but Rory would be safe.
“Listen to me,” he said slowly, holding my gaze. “Don’t make it known that you know. That way we can try to catch him out and punish him properly.”
“You know what that shit did to Sasha. She—”
“For now, everyone’s loyalty remains with Skeet.
They won’t touch her just because Matteo said so.
That girl’s tough, and she’s been through a lot of shit already.
What happened to Sasha won’t be repeated unless everyone turns on Skeet.
Even then, a lot of us are younger and prefer the new ways over the old.
It’s only those like Matteo who think that kind of punishment is okay,” he reminded me.
“What if he acts alone? He could have her for hours before anyone—”
“We’re on lockdown with a buddy system in place.
She won’t be alone, so someone would notice her missing.
I’d never touch that girl, and if I hear of any plans that someone else is going to, I’ll come to you and Skeet.
Promise,” he insisted, pulling his phone out to check. “Skeet texted. Meeting tomorrow.”
I checked my phone too, finding the same message, so I replied with an okay so he knew I’d seen it before pocketing it again.
“Probably to plan the funeral,” I mumbled, glancing back up at Brick. “Any idea where he’d like to be buried?”
“Put him near your girl. He’ll protect her up there,” Brick said without hesitation, and I gave him a grateful smile.
“Don’t be mistaken. He’s gone in the opposite direction to Sasha.”
“I have a feeling his last sacrifice was enough to give him a pass,” he shrugged, getting to his feet.
I stood too, knowing we had a job to do today. I’d told Skeeter we’d handle today’s meeting with Archer since the prick got under his skin so much.
“Do you think Hendricks wants to work with us on this? Or do you think he’s teaming up with the Soldiers to take us down? Could be an ambush,” I suggested.
“I considered that too, but I think Hendricks would rather die than side with the Soldiers. They’re too close to the Kings, and you know how much he hates those fuckers. Could be a good alliance.”
“Until Skeet talks shit about Lexi,” I snorted, knowing the chances were high.
“Look, we’ll see what he wants today and go from there. Hopefully, he just wants to know what’s going down so he can protect his own crew,” he said as he walked off to find his keys, leaving me to rinse our cups.
“I highly doubt Slash left his legacy to you. Where’s his bitchboy?” Archer asked as we stepped through the door of the closed strip club.
Wet Dreams rarely had drama, it was a safe zone for crews, as long as they spent money while they were there. Apart from the Demons massacre, bullets never flew here.
Wasn’t exactly great for business if it did.
“If you mean Skeet, he’s busy. You wanted a last minute meeting, so this is what you get,” Brick grunted, motioning to the bar. “I have a feeling we’ll need a beer for this.”
Archer nodded to Milky, who started grabbing beers from behind the bar, and once we all had a beer in hand, we moved to the corner booth and got comfortable.
Music played low and the lights were turned down, so at least I could fucking think.
I hated meetings late at night here. It was too loud.
“So, what did you want to discuss?” I asked as I sipped the cold beer, eyeing Archer.
I needed him to see me as the person in charge, so having Brick do all the talking wasn’t going to work.
Archer checked his phone, taking his sweet time in answering me.
“The Soldiers. What do they want?”
“They came for Donovan. No idea why,” I replied, his eyes lifting to mine with a grin.
“Why’s that bitch so popular? She give the best blow jobs in Ashburn or something? Tell her we’re hiring.”
“She’s Skeet’s girl. Have some respect.”
“Respect? Like how she respects me? She stormed in here and aimed a gun at one of my guys,” he said dryly, resting his forearms on the table and leaning forward. “I don’t fucking like her.”
“No one does,” Brick muttered.
“If she’s Skeet’s girl, then why was Russo the one that got shot over her?”
“Of course he’d protect his best friend's girl,” I scoffed, his eyes sparkling with malice.
“Russo was always a selfish piece of shit. You keep telling everyone that story, but no one believes you. So, you have no idea what they want with her?”
“Nope.”
“Hand her over then and they’ll go away.”
“Like how the Demons would’ve gone away if you’d handed Lexi over to Lopez?” I deadpanned, his eyes narrowing.
“That’s different. She’s been by my side almost her entire life. Donovan is a new piece of ass.”
“I’m not arguing about this with you. You wanted to know what they wanted, so I told you. Anything else?” I bit out, making him chuckle.
“Actually, yes. I have a small favor to ask. Who do you currently have in Fairview Prison?”
“Yoyo’s a lifer, Gaven’s got two years left, and Neil has four years left. Why?” I asked, watching him over my beer as I downed some.
“Any of your girls serving?”
“Trixie and Georgia are both in at the moment. Lexi need to buy some friends or something?”
“She’d have my balls if she knew I was asking, but I was just hoping they’d keep an ear out for trouble. Lex can hold her own, but having a few girls in her corner would help. Trixie’s the drug mule Slash brought in, right? Busted with a car load of coke?”
“Why are you asking, Hendricks?”
“Just to make sure they’re not serial killers or something. What did Georgia do?”
“Crew whore who fights in the cage sometimes. Assault and battery. Bar fight. To be honest, I’m pretty sure Lexi and her used to hook up, so they’ll be fine,” I joked, a scowl taking over his face.
Lexi fucked anyone, and Archer hated it because he wasn’t the type to beat on women for touching her. She’d slept with most of his strippers.
That really pissed him off.
“She has a few girls in there that have her back, but they’re not connected to crews. Can I be assured your girls will keep an eye out for her?”
“That depends. Does it go both ways?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll bring it up to Skeet, but I don’t see why he’d have a problem with it. The more of us that keep the peace, the better,” I answered with a nod, glancing at Brick to see him nodding too.
Archer looked thoughtful for a second before speaking again, his voice low. “Any word from Rage? Last I heard, he was coming for you guys. Pretty sure his focus will shift to the Soldiers now they’ve taken out his brother.”
“We didn’t have beef with the Kings,” Brick answered with confusion, making Archer snort.
“We all know Rage has had it out for Slash forever. I heard he was coming for Donovan.”
“You mean to tell me you heard the Kings were coming to town and didn’t say anything?” I snapped, amusement flashing in his eyes.
“I told Slash. He didn’t tell you?”
If Slash knew his brother was coming to town, he would’ve said something.
“When did you tell him?”
“I don’t know, maybe six weeks ago?”
Back when he wanted her dead. That was why he didn’t say anything.
Brick gave me a knowing look, and I sighed.
“You got any dirt on Rivera you feel like sharing?” I asked Archer, pushing my empty beer away.
“What’s that vermin done now?”
“Nothing yet. Just making sure all of our ducks are in a row.”
“I can probably let you know if I stumble across something,” he mused, tapping his fingers on the table.
“For a price?”
“You boys keep me in the loop with the impending crew drama. That’s all I need,” he shrugged, and I held a hand out across the table for him to shake.
“Deal.”
Brick shook his hand too before we stood and headed outside to my truck, his eyes shifting to me as I drove out of the parking lot.
“Do you believe him about Slash knowing the Kings were coming?” he asked, making me wince.
“I don’t want to, but he would’ve loved it if Rage came and took Donovan away back then. It’s possible.”
“We need to talk to Skeet about it. He might flip the fuck out but—”
“We’ll tell him. I’ll update him on the meeting later so he knows it was fine. I’ll reach out to the girls at Fairview and make sure they know to keep an eye out for Lexi. Skeet’s going to hate this.”
“He needs to get the fuck over it. His issues with Lexi are personal. This is good for the crew if we can keep the Reapers close,” Brick said firmly, voicing what I already knew.
“I agree. Skeet will be on board, I’ll make sure of it,” I said as I headed towards the Shed.
We needed to do a beer order, and as much as I hated it, we needed to go over the footage to make sure Skeeter wasn’t starting a fight with Matteo over nothing about the locked bathroom.
“I need your help with something,” I started, making him nod.
“Name it.”
“We need to find out what Matteo was doing when he went into the bathroom when the Soldiers started shooting. We—”
“I can answer that,” he frowned, seeming confused by my question. “He went through the bathroom to try and ambush the Soldiers from the front door. Why? What did you think happened?”
I blew out a breath, knowing it was going to get chaotic.
“Skeet’s pissed because Slash unlocked the bathroom for Rory to escape through. I’ve warned him to keep his head on straight, but he thinks Matteo was holed up in there.”
“He smashed the window and was outside trying a sneak attack. Slash got shot before he could barge in. If Skeet checked the cameras properly, he’d know that. Why else would Matteo break the window?”
“He hasn’t gone through them all, just the one from the main room. If Matteo is on camera defending the place and not hiding, there’s no problem,” I answered, really hoping Brick was right.
It was a short drive from the docks to the Shed, and it was dead silent when we unlocked the door and stepped inside. No one had been here today, everyone was either at home or on jobs together.
I sat at Skeeter’s desk and turned the computer on, waiting for it to load so we could look through the footage, and I almost melted with relief when we found footage from outside the building of Matteo sneaking around the side with his gun raised, getting ready to barge inside through the front door.
“You need to make sure he sees this,” Brick murmured as I downloaded the file and sent it to myself so I could show Skeeter.
“I’ll head there later. Him and Rory need to have it out first or he won’t think straight,” I replied, starting to go through more footage.
I knew Skeeter had spent hours going over it yesterday, but I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything.
If we did and he lost his shit at any of the guys over Rory, there would be hell to pay, and Rory would be the one to suffer for it.