2. Riot
RIOT
Anna wasn’t my problem, a lie that lasted until her SUV cleared the compound road.
Rook stopped me beside the garage before I reached my bike. “She’s still Crow’s sister.”
“I know who she is.”
“Then fucking remember it when she starts asking questions. No routes, no names, no details about what we know. If Stone’s using her, she may not know it.”
I’d already thought of that. Anna could be stubborn enough to walk into our compound under her own power and still carry a story Stone had put in her head. He’d done it once. The part I hated was how well he understood which wound to press.
“She gets fuck-all about the club,” I said.
Rook knew the broad shape of what Anna and I’d been. Crow knew more because he watched anyone who got near his sister, and the old peace survived partly because both presidents agreed not to turn our relationship into club business.
Anna knew enough about both clubs to understand which doors stayed closed. Giving her a route or a name could expose a brother before she even realized Stone was using it, and whatever I still felt for her didn’t change the obligation stitched over my heart.
She’d always heard those closed doors as proof she stood outside the important part of me. Time apart hadn’t changed that.
“Don’t let whatever happened between you two turn into leverage for Stone,” Rook said.
“It won’t.”
I took my bike and followed her.
I had enough club reasons to follow her.
Anna had accused us loudly enough for half the yard to hear, and Stone could turn anything that happened afterward into proof we’d silenced her.
She was also angry, scared and asking about a missing president in bars where Stone’s people drank.
If Crow staying gone protected Stone’s new patch, his sister digging at it was dangerous.
None of that explained why I noticed she’d changed shampoo when she passed me at the gate.
She drove east, away from the shortest road home.
At the river junction she took the old county route toward a low building with a rusted beer sign and motorcycles lined beside the porch.
The Rail House had been neutral for years because the owner barred colors inside and kept a shotgun under the register for anyone who forgot.
Men still knew which bikes belonged to which club.
Anna parked beneath a dead floodlight. She saw me in the mirror, waited until I stopped at the far end of the lot and went inside without looking back. I stayed outside.
Two touring bikes carried Gravewater support stickers instead of full club insignia.
Rusk’s red Road King sat two rows over, which meant Stone’s loyal dog was somewhere close.
I checked the side entrance, the windows and the men smoking near the porch.
Nobody paid attention to Anna until she walked through the door. Then everybody did.
She’d always been easy to recognize as Crow’s sister. Same black hair, same level stare. Crow carried his authority like a warning. Anna carried hers like a challenge, which made men underestimate what she noticed while they were busy reacting to her. I gave her twelve minutes.
The door opened on the ninth. A heavy man in a denim vest came out first and stood too close to Anna on the porch. He took transport work from whichever club paid cash. Anna asked something, and he shook his head, glanced toward the Gravewater bikes and tried to leave. She stepped into his path.
I reached the porch before he decided whether moving her would be worth the trouble.
“Problem?” I asked.
He looked at my cut. “No problem. I’m leaving.”
“Then leave.”
He did. Anna waited until his truck pulled onto the road before turning on me.
“Were you worried I’d get an answer?”
“I was worried you’d announce to the whole bar what you are doing.”
“You followed me to intimidate anyone who talks.”
“Trust me. If I wanted nobody talking to you, you wouldn’t have made it through the door.”
She folded her arms. “Very reassuring.”
“You came into a neutral bar alone and started asking when people last saw the missing president. Everybody who heard you now knows you don’t believe Stone.”
“I don’t believe anyone.”
“Finally something sensible.”
“He saw Crow’s bike two nights after the date Stone says he disappeared.”
“He also sells stolen parts and lies for sport.”
“You know everybody’s sins?”
“Only the useful ones.” I looked past her at Rusk’s Road King. “Get in your car.”
“No.”
“Anna.”
“You don’t order me around.”
“I’m telling you Rusk is here, and he knows you’re asking questions.”
She glanced at the Road King. Recognition crossed her face. “That’s Rusk’s.”
“Yeah.”
“Stone probably sent him because I went to the Wraith compound.”
“Maybe. Or maybe Stone doesn’t want you asking questions where he can’t control the answers.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No. But Rusk showing up the minute you start asking about Crow isn’t nothing.”
Anna looked through the Rail House windows. Men had resumed drinking, though two watched us openly. Her fingers tightened around her keys before she hid the movement by putting them in her pocket.
“Are you threatening me for your club?” she asked.
“I’m warning you about yours.”
“Gravewater protected me before you knew my name.”
“Crow protected you. Don’t confuse your brother with every man wearing his patch.”
“And I should trust the Serpents Wraith enforcer’s opinion?”
“Trust your own fucking eyes. Rusk’s bike is right there. You really think he happened to pick the same bar at the same time you started asking about Crow?”
She checked the porch and the rear row again. Rusk’s bike sat in plain sight, but he still hadn’t shown himself. That bothered her, even if she wasn’t ready to say it.
“He might be following me for Stone,” she said.
“That supposed to make it better?”
“Stone thinks the Wraiths took Crow. I came through your gates.”
“Stone wants you thinking we took Crow.”
“You keep saying that without giving me one reason to believe you.”
The Rail House side door opened. Rusk came around the building, thick through the chest and walking as if the pistol beneath his jacket belonged in every conversation. He had a fresh limp from what Mace did to him at the rally, but injury hadn’t improved his judgment.
“Anna,” he said. “Stone wants you back on our side.”
“I’m standing in a neutral parking lot.”
“With him.” His attention moved to me. “You Wraiths keep finding officers’ sisters to hide behind.”
“You keep putting hands on women and wondering why officers break your bones,” I replied.
Rusk’s mouth twisted. “Mace got lucky.”
“I can try the other knee if you need proof.”
Anna stepped into the space between us, making it clear neither man was going to decide for her. “Tell Stone I’ll come to the clubhouse when I’m ready.”
“He said now.”
“Then he can learn disappointment.”
Rusk looked at the grip of my pistol visible beneath my cut, then at the men watching through the windows. Neutral ground discouraged blood, not stupidity. I shifted one foot, giving him a clear view of how little space I needed.
“You heard her,” I said.
“Yeah. I heard.” He pointed at Anna. “When this turns bad, remember which club warned you.”
Rusk limped across the lot, swung onto his Road King and fired it up. Before he pulled away, he looked at Anna long enough to make it clear Stone knew where she was and who she was with.
“He knew where to find you,” I said.
“Both clubs know this place.”
“He knew when.”
Anna watched the Road King disappear onto the county road. She didn’t agree with me, but she didn’t dismiss it either.
“I gave you one eighteen months ago. My word.”
Anna’s mouth flattened. “I know what happens when I trust you.”
The old injury opened with no warning, hot and ugly. “Do you? Because I remember what happened when I trusted you. I told you I didn’t pass Crow’s route. I told you I never used you. You looked at me like I was a stranger caught in your bed.”
“Stone had evidence.”
“Stone had a story ready before Crow’s men stopped bleeding.” I stepped close enough that she had to tip her head back. “If you could believe I put your brother in a kill zone, maybe you never knew me at all.”
Her breathing changed, and mine did too. She was close enough that I could remember exactly how her mouth felt without touching it.
“Don’t,” she said, but she didn’t move.
“Don’t what?”
“Look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re about to forget you hate me.”
I wanted to prove her wrong in the worst possible way. Instead, I stepped back. “Get in your SUV, Anna.”
She stared at me for another second before she stepped back too.
“Stop following me.”
“Get in your SUV.”
“That isn’t an agreement.”
“Wasn’t meant to be.”
She walked to her vehicle and opened the door. I waited until she locked it behind her, then watched the road until she pulled out.
I called Havoc. “Rusk just rode out of the Rail House. Stone knows Anna’s asking questions and exactly where she is.”
“Anna with you?”
“She’s leaving.”
“You letting her?”
I watched her reverse out. “I’m not her jailer.”
Havoc was quiet for a beat. “Didn’t ask what you were. Asked whether she’s fucking safe.”
“I’m handling it.”
“That’s what I was afraid you’d say.”
He ended the call. Rook had never assigned me to Anna; every mile after the gate belonged to me.
Anna backed out, gave me one last furious look through the windshield and headed toward the south line. I followed her home.