Page 49

“ Y our girl mad?” Lucky asks with a grin.

“Not a wise idea to piss off Menace,” Rooster says as he looks at his phone.

“And you would know how?”

Rooster looks up and shrugs. “Mack and Tommy let me see some old footage of her fighting. Girl’s good. Not someone I want to get in the ring with. Out of everyone, you should already know that.” He smirks at Lucky, who glares.

“Burn,” Mickey says with a grunt. I, of course, chuckle. Bane at least cracks half a smile.

My girl has a mean hook, no matter which one she throws.

And I couldn’t be prouder. And yeah, she’s my girl.

Not a clue how this will work out, but she’s it, and I’m embracing it till I’ve got to deal with it.

We have no labels on it, nothing official like a patched property jacket, but it’s there.

All the boys know not to mess with mine.

Hell, even the boys back home have heard about it.

Not a clue how, but I’d bet my left nut that Mickey’s feeding them intel like a gossiping little girl.

We might be big and bad—I mean, we are the Hounds of the Reaper club—but that doesn’t mean we don’t gossip more than the nosy neighbors across the street.

We might be worse, actually. Something juicy comes up, and unless we’re sworn to secrecy, it flows like wildfire around the club and some sister chapters as well.

Especially when it involves a brother and a woman .

It’s just the five of us in here, and I need to decide. While it ultimately comes down to me, I want others’ opinions too.

“So, what do we think?”

“About your girl’s stalker or the Michigan chapter?” Bane looks at me dead-on as he asks. He knows the decision could make or break every man once loyal to him.

“Both.”

Mickey props his feet up on the conference table and pushes back till he’s only got two chair legs on the ground.

This room is usually reserved for officer meetings, not the full Church, as the club is too big to fit in here.

But it works for small gatherings and has a few of the basic computer setups so we can monitor things without being in the cramped tech office.

“There’s enough evidence that we got the right guy. Makes sense that it would be someone close enough and yet far away. A stranger who we all looked past when we saw him at the gym. Good of the tech kid to think outside the box like that,” Mickey says with a nod.

I agree with his assessment of Link. The guy has potential to go far. He fucked up the first time by taking a break and not getting coverage, but he’s doubled down to find this guy for me, for the club.

“Still….” Lucky looks at us all in turn. “I wasn’t expecting a gun battle to end it. I don’t know about you, but I wanted a few answers.”

“Like what?” Bane asks. “Needed to know he was 100 percent fucked in the head? He killed our guy and messed with Domino’s girl. He was going to end up six feet under anyway. This just saved us from digging the hole, as he’s now the cop’s corpse to worry about.”

Lucky shrugs. “Don’t know. Just don’t feel right.

He goes from slinking in the shadows with a knife to slit a brother’s throat to a full-on shootout in an open area with witnesses?

If we got the guy, awesome. The evidence points right to him.

I’m just saying I wanted to talk to him.

I like closing things in tight boxes. Sue me for wanting finality. ”

Bane growls in his throat but says nothing else.

I get what both are saying. I do. My gut isn’t helping me with this one. All I know is I want this meeting over so I can lay eyes on my girl myself. It’ll ease a lot of things. Like the chub I’ve had since she last spoke. A whole day at her mercy? Sign me the fuck up.

“As for the club, something is still off,” Rooster says, and the rest of us nod. Even Bane.

“I hate to admit it, but I agree. Even the boys can tell something ain’t right.

They have suspicions about why you’re here and all, but there’s an unease among them.

There’s no trust, and that’s the first thing a club needs.

You might not like one another, but you’ve got to trust the others to have your back.

Right now, I can only say about a third trust each other.

Another third are keeping their options open to see how this turns, and the last just don’t trust anyone at all,” Bane says with a shake of his head in defeat.

I feel for the guy, I really do. This was his club.

He was the president for years. He brought in half the members.

Others came in before he started as their leader.

And because of his lack of eyesight on everything, the club went to shit.

He’s the reason for most of this, just because of his neglectfulness.

He should be drawn and quartered alone for that, but I think forcing him to clean up the mess he made is the better decision.

He fucks up again, and he’s dead. Tortured and then dead.

A very long one too. The club doesn’t do second chances much.

Rarer than finding a diamond in the rough. Or a woman like Viv.

“I’ll talk to Casper tonight, after the fight, and give him my recommendation.”

“Which is?” Lucky asks, but it’s Bane who I look at as he raises his head.

“Dismantle. Club can be small and built on trust, but you can’t have a club without it. Get me a list of each member you think should be offered a spot in another chapter, and I’ll look it over. Not everyone will be de-patched, but we’ll lose some just because we shut down this location.”

The heaviness of my words settles, and it somehow feels as if a weight has been lifted off all our shoulders. No more deciding. One has been made. The rest is just paperwork, really.

I tap my knuckles on the table, giving the unofficial sign that the meeting is over. The boys stand and start to exit when Grim walks in.

“What’s up?” I ask.

“You need to see this.” He tosses pictures of Viv out on the table, and I snarl at seeing my girl through the lens of someone else’s scoop.

“What’s this about?” Bane asks, coming back into the room after passing Grim as he opened the door to leave.

“Link told me that the pictures usually have dates on them. Our prospect called the cop, and he just did an analysis of them. Not a single one has a date. And these are all recent.”

“Recent?” Lucky questions.

Grim nods. “Yeah. Like last week. See, they’re from the remodeling we’re doing on her place. And this is from yesterday when we had that taco van pull up out front.”

“So?” Bane says.

“So, wouldn’t he have pictures from longer than a week ago stashed at his house if he was the guy?

All we found were these. When we called, it was just because he had the pictures.

But then we went through his entire house, and this was all there was.

Something was off, so I started looking at them when the prospect called Officer Pavers.

He brought over some fancy machine and scanned the pictures, and not a single one had a date on it like the others.

Either the guy got lazy, or these were taken with a different camera. ”

“Son of a bitch,” Rooster says.

I wipe the table clear of every fucking thing on it and would flip the whole thing if it weren’t bolted to the ground.

“Call Link. Get a hold of Mack and Tommy. I want eyes on my girl now,” I say to no one and everyone as I storm out of the room.

“Wait, Menace isn’t here? Where is she?” Grim asks as he trails behind me.

“At fight night,” I growl, heading for the stairs. Damn elevator is too slow to waste my time on.

“He let her go?” Grim’s hushed words must be for someone else, but it doesn’t prevent the snarl from forming on my lips as I take the steps two at a time.

“We thought we had the guy. We had Link take her, but he’s not picking up,” Lucky says. I chance a glance back at him, and he nods in sorrow.

Fuck. If Link isn’t picking up, that could mean I lost another brother on my watch. Even if I wanted a presidency after this, Casper will never give it to me. Two brothers killed by the same person? Not a leadership quality to write on a résumé.

“No one’s answering,” Mickey says. “Cell reception might be crap out there or blocked. Or hell, the noise from the fights might drown everything out.”

I clench my hands into fists, then release them.

This can’t be a coincidence. He’s making a play for my girl when I’m not there.

He took a chance that she would be there unprotected.

He thinks he has a shot of getting to her.

And he might already have her, but he ain’t going to keep her.

Even if I have to blow up the entire state, Viv is coming home with me in the end. No matter how long it takes.

When we get to the bottom floor, I don’t even blink as I head for the front. Got a single-minded plan, and that’s getting my girl and fucking up anyone who gets in my way.

“Hounds,” Bane bellows, and I keep walking. “Menace is in trouble.”

Four words and the whole damn club jumps out of their chairs and follows me. Not a single one asks questions. They all just get on their bikes and let me take lead as we head to save my girl.

We arrive at the abandoned warehouse and fan out. I don’t give a fuck that we’re blocking everyone else who’s here. No one leaves till I get my girl or till I get answers about where she is.

“Spread out. Find me anyone who knows shit. If you find Menace, bring her to me. I don’t care if she’s mid-fight. You get your ass in the ring and drag her out if you have to,” I bark at everyone as I get off my ride and head for the doors.

The bouncer holds his hand up to stop me, but another steps in front of him. “Sir.” I nod to one of the twins from the bar. Not surprised to see him doing a side gig like this.

He opens the door for us, and I walk through as he follows. “We got an issue?”

“Where’s Menace?” Not sure if anyone knows her as Viv here, but everyone knows her stage name.