Page 21 of Brandishing Betrayals (Devil’s Psychos MC #2)

Marcos

“ H ey man,” I greeted Nico as I walked into the clubhouse Sunday evening.

“Hey bro.” Nic smiled and stood from the couch he was sitting on. I leaned in and slapped his hand with Nico’s in a brotherly handshake-hug, that involved a lot of back patting.

“How was your weekend?” Nic asked.

I grinned widely. “It was great. Amazing. I picked up Luke from the pool. Then we got dinner at McGrady’s and hit the arcade. It was awesome.”

“Why do you look so exhausted?” Nic chuckled.

“I gave him my bed. I slept on the couch, or tried to. I didn’t sleep much.” I groaned and took a seat on the loveseat across from where Nico had been sitting.

Nico frowned. “Time to buy a house?”

“It’s past time.” I sighed. “Shit’s tight, you know? I’ve been saving, but we aren’t earning what we used to, and nothing legit that’ll convince a bank to give me a loan.”

Nico was completive for a moment as he rubbed a hand over his jaw.

“We could do it together,” Stone said from behind me.

I looked over my shoulder at my buddy, frowning slightly. “We haven’t lived together since Maya left.”

Jason rounded the couch slowly, running a hand over his spikey hair. “Yeah…and we haven’t been doing well on our own either.”

“So what are you saying?” I asked, leaning back to look at my brother.

“We pool our resources. I’ve got cash. I haven’t spent much in the last couple years,” Jason clarified.

“Same. I’ve been squirrelling money away from the jobs,” Nico said. “We know you were paying for Kara’s undergrad, but you should talk to her about that. I bet she doesn’t know.”

I sighed. My sister definitely didn’t know and I hadn’t planned on telling her either.

“Dude, Kara is rolling in cash, she would be so pissed if she knew you were paying her loans for her. She probably thinks they were paid off by her father,” Nico said, shifting on the couch. “There’s no way she’d allow you to continue to pay them if she knew.”

“Talk to her,” Jason said. “Then we can pull our funds together and put down a hefty down payment on a house. I know you’ve been looking in the neighborhood where Maya’s at. And Kara lives in that neighborhood too. It makes sense for us to move there.”

My heart fluttered in my chest. “You guys would do that?” I didn’t know why I asked it; my brothers would do anything for me.

“Hell yeah!” Nico exclaimed.

Jason smirked. “You know we would.”

“I guess I’ll go talk to Kara tomorrow,” I said. “Tonight, we need to talk business with the club.”

Marcos

An hour later we were sitting around the large wooden table in church, waiting for the last of our guys to file in for our weekly meeting.

Usually, I held it on Saturday nights, but I had Luke last night, and I still wasn’t ready to bring my son around the clubhouse yet, and definitely not on a party night.

The kid was still too young for that shit.

“Next order of business,” I said, looking around the table. “With things calm now between us and the Ravager Knights, we need to have a sit down with the Italians.”

Nico sighed from his spot to my left.

“Probably should have done that a while ago,” Jerry Langford spoke up.

I nodded slowly. “I agree. The Knights have agreed to end the Coke trade with the Seratelli’s. I think it’s only right we approach the Italians as the replacement. It would give us a way to earn a steady income again and we can push it through the same trade routes we’re using for the Heroin.”

“Why did the damn Mafia go to the Knights in the first place? We’ve always run their Heroin. Why the fuck did the Knights get the Coke?”’

“Not sure,” I shook my head. “Whatever deal Mac Taylor struck with the Seratelli’s; Johnny didn’t know about it. It was toward the end of Mac’s life, maybe he was getting greedy. It’s anyone’s guess, because he went against the Bratva too.”

A rumble of murmuring went around the table.

“Nico, I need you to speak to your cousin,” I said, turning to my buddy. “Set up a meeting.” I had to say this formally in front of my club, even though I knew Nico already went to Leonardo once. We had to do things above board.

Nico eyed me warily, this was a dangerous game to play in front of the club, but we needed the brothers to agree to Nico meeting with his family on behalf of the club, otherwise he would be considered a traitor.

He nodded at me. Things may be rocky between Nico and his family, and they had enough unresolved family drama to write a book about, but Nico would reach out—again—simply because his club president had asked it of him.

“We looking to smooth things over with the Seratelli’s or are we vying for the coke trade?” Bear asked, crossing his large arms over his chest.

“How do we feel about both?” I asked, looking around the room once again. “I was hoping to smooth things over, clear the air. The shits that happened with the Knights and Seratelli’s and the Bratva, it would be nice lay everything out on the table.”

“You’ll never get the Russians to agree to a sit down with the Italians,” Jerry Langford said. “And what about the Irish? How are they going to handle things if we start working with the Italians?”

I rubbed a hand over my scruffy jaw. My brothers were asking legit questions that I myself had thought about over the last several weeks.

I nodded solemnly. “I have those same questions. This is why we need a sit with the Italians. They’re in our backyard.

We have to deal with them every time we head into Mourningside, and they’re Nico’s blood.

We need a better understanding of what we’re dealing with here.

And the Irish know we’ve got ties to the Italians.

It’s only a recent development that we haven’t. ”

“And you think Leonardo Seratelli will agree to meet?” Jerry asked.

“He will,” Nico said gruffly.

“You can’t know for su—”

“I can.” Nico said, cutting off Jerry. “My mother is his Godmother and aunt. Her brother was Leonardo’s father.”

Murmurs rumbled around the table. While it was common enough knowledge, they didn’t talk about it often—Nico didn’t talk about it all.

“And you see your cousin often?” Jerry raised an eyebrow, already knowing the truth. He knew Nico well enough over the years, being Jason’s best friend and all.

“Not in ten years,” Nico admitted. “He’s been asking my mother about me.” Nico shrugged, running a hand through his wavy blond hair.

“I think it’s a solid plan,” I said, jumping in the conversation. “We let Dagger set up the meeting with his cousin, and if Seratelli doesn’t want to meet with him, I’ll make a formal call through Giovanni.”

A rumble of murmuring went around the room.

“So you sit down with Seratelli, discuss the coke trade and the backhanded dealing with the Knights? Then what?” Phoenix asked, drawing my gaze across the table to the brown eyed man.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“What are we doing about Las Serpientes? Vince Carmichael? I feel like we still got unfinished business there.”

“Carmichael is in County without bail, awaiting his trial. The District Attorney is working with the Knights attorney Freddy Danvers and my sister, to make sure Carmichael stays behind bars for a very long time. As for the snakes…” I trailed off, glancing between Phoenix, Blaze, and Axel. “What do you suggest?”

The three men exchanged a look. “We’re not gonna lie here,” Blaze said. His dark black hair was covered by a backward ballcap and his green eyes shone bright in florescent light. “We have a personal interest in what happens with the snakes.”

“My little brother was killed by Dax Hillcrest twelve years ago,” Axel said. His gray eyes cutting to mine.

I cursed under my breath. I had known something had happened with Las Serpientes and Axel’s crew, back in the day. It was what made the three of them join up to begin with, but I had never known the full story.

“I’m sorry man,” I said.

Axel nodded curtly. “Yeah… I have a bit of a vested interest in Hillcrest and the snakes.”

I rubbed a hand over my buzzed head, thinking.

“I get that, I do. They kidnapped my sister.” I shook my head.

“My hands are tied on that for right now. You know we made a deal with the Knights to let the D.A. handle Carmichael right now. My sister thinks that if we go after Las Serpientes on the outside, they’ll retaliate on the inside and do something to fuck up the case against Carmichael.

As of right now, my sister needs him alive. ”

Axel narrowed his gaze at me. I could feel the anger behind that glare. “If things change—”

“If things change,” I interrupted him. “We will vote as a club as how to handle Hillcrest and Las Serpientes.”

Axel blew out a breath and looked away.