Page 58

I leaned forward. “I’ll do anything to keep her safe.”
Pop stared directly into my eyes and nodded his head once. “I believe that.”
“How long do we have?” Tank inquired.
I sat back. “I say we give it a few days. He’s threatening us, but he’ll also need to believe we had a little war amongst our own men before Pop makes the call.”
“Agree.” Bear said.
“This our plan? A takeover?” Bull asked for confirmation.
Bear scanned the faces at the table before he took the vote, which was unanimous. He nodded and looked at Bull. “This is our plan.”
“What about Dimarco?” Ritz looked around the room. “We telling him the plan?”
Bear shook his head. “Not yet. We have Pop make the call, make sure Viper takes the bait, then establish our plan for the trade. After that, we’ll decide what we share.”
“Sounds right.” Bull crossed his massive arms over his chest. “When we telling the other patched members?”
“Same as Dimarco. After a plan is set. They’ve all been warned to stay alert, so let’s keep it that way for now. We don’t need too many hands in this deal; that’s just too many ways for the real plan to leak.”
“We need to trust our men.” Ritz said seriously.
“I agree, but we also need to have something concrete in place to tell them so I can give them direction. We don’t need the chaos that comes from too many loose ends.” Bear stated.
Nods circled the table before Bear spoke again. “Okay, any other business?”
“Gunn bought Maggie two cats today.”
Ritz smirked at me when all heads once again turned in my direction. I exhaled slowly and explained. “Tomorrow’s her birthday.”
Tank raised his eyebrows. “She want cats?”
I shrugged. “She said she likes cats. I thought she’d like one of her own. She never had her own pet, never had an opportunity.” I frowned at Tank. “A lot of us grew up hard, but I don’t think any of us grew up like she did.”
“I agree with that, brother.” Ritz agreed.
“Becs is planning a little party here tomorrow,” Bear added. “She told me this afternoon, and she plans to let the others know.”
Ritz raised his eyebrows. “You think she’ll be okay with that?”
I thought back to the day she got out of the hospital and how hard she slammed her body back into mine. I could feel her shaking with fear when I wrapped my arms around her, my own pulse only slowing when she started to calm down. I’d never seen fear like that, and I never wanted to see it in her again.
I looked at Ritz and answered honestly. “She’s not the same girl I brought home from the hospital that day.”
“She’s getting stronger,” Ritz added. “Shows up in the kitchen most days for lunch and she talks. That’s a huge change.”
“She’s starting to trust us,” Bull agreed, his attention focused on me. “And that means everything.”
I dropped my head, knowing the last hit was for me, and I deserved it. I should’ve trusted them, but I wanted to be in the club and stay in the club, and who the fuck would’ve trusted a Widow’s kid? I heard Bear call the meeting to a close and waited while everyone filed out of the room before standing and making my way to the door.
“Brother.”
I stopped at the sound of Bear’s voice and turned back around. “Yeah?”
He stood from his seat and walked toward me, stopping when only a few feet separated us. “I would’ve never let him have Maggie.”
I thought about our conversation from earlier, and I wasn’t so sure. “Didn’t sound that way, brother.”