Page 94 of Edge

“I understand. I will happily go on my way, and you’ll never hear from me again,” Gary promised.

“All right. Carbon, get him out of here.”

Gary’s face paled, and I almost laughed.

“Where are the old dudes? Can’t they take me back to Cedar Valley?”

Carbon laughed. “I’m not taking you back to Cedar Valley. I’m taking you to the bus station in Croftridge. Is that a problem?”

“Nope. Not a problem at all,” Gary blurted.

Once they were gone, Phoenix took a seat and leaned back in his chair. “I think that takes care of everything. Does anybody have anything else we need to discuss?”

“Can we resume regular activities at the clubhouse?” Duke asked.

“Let’s give things another day or two to settle before we do. I think Gary will keep his word, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Anything else?”

When no one had anything else to discuss, Phoenix banged his gavel and dismissed us.

On the way back to the house, I finally had the opportunity to talk to Byte about something that had been on my mind. “Evie’s mother and stepfather live in Fairbanks. Can you do some research on them? Evie went no contact with her mother well before anything happened with Randall, but I want to make sure there isn’t anything that might cause them to suddenly reappear in her life.”

“Sure. Is there something specific I should look for?”

“Not that I know of. Just anything that seems like it could be a reason for them to contact her, like money trouble or health issues.”

“Okay. I’ll see what I can find. Anything else?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “Can you do a little digging into Muzzle, too? He was cheating on Evie’s mother with the woman who gave birth to Snarl. I’d like to know if he has other kids who might try to find Evie.”

“Say no more. I’m well versed in the hell secret siblings can cause.”

“Thanks, man. And, um, can we keep this between us for now? I haven’t mentioned any of this to Evie. I don’t want her to feel like I’m going behind her back and invading her privacy when I really just want to make sure she’s safe.”

Byte nodded. “I won’t say anything, but if you don’t want her to feel that way, you should tell her what you’re doing.”

“I don’t plan on keeping it from her. I just haven’t had a chance to talk to her about it yet.”

“Oh, good. I thought I was going to have to knock some sense into you with my crutch.”

I laughed. “You sound like Ranger.”

“I’m equally flattered and offended.”

Evie was still in our room, resting in bed, when we got back to the house. She looked up when I entered the room and smiled. “That didn’t take long. Is everything okay?”

“I told you it wouldn’t, and yes, everything’s fine.”

“Is that all I’m going to get?”

Climbing into bed beside her, I got situated before I answered. “There will be times when I can tell you things, and there will be times when I can’t. If I can’t tell you something, it’s not because I don’t want to or because I don’t trust you. It’s for your safety and well-being.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Plausible deniability, for example. You can’t be held accountable for something you truly knew nothing about. This doesn’t really apply to us, but a lot of motorcycle clubs keep their women in the dark to keep them from being targeted for information.”

“So, whatever you guys discussed this morning is something I don’t need to know about?”

“I didn’t say that,” I chuckled. “You know Walter and Buck caught the guy who set the diner on fire. They brought him here, and we questioned him, which is how we knew when and whereto meet the Mad Dogs. Phoenix called the meeting this morning so we could decide what to do with him.”