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Wolf sat at one of the two round tables in the club. The Knights didn’t have a formal meeting room, and he wasn’t happy to be having this one in public. Thankfully, there were no dancers this time of the morning, so no one else was in the bar save the Iron City Knights.

There weren’t words in the English language to describe the emotions from yesterday.

When Jazz called him to say a group of Slaggers had come and trashed the bakery, the fury that erupted in his gut had no limit.

He’d broken several traffic laws on his way to get to her.

He found her sitting on the sidewalk outside the ruined building with a swarm of flashing blue lights surrounding her.

Hugo was clinging to her like a limpet and unwilling to let her go.

He didn’t see any bullet holes, but there were several streaks of blood on her face and shoulders where glass had caught her.

Hugo had a small cut over his left eye. Wolf guessed she had used her body to shield her brother from flying debris.

She raised her eyes to meet his, and her expression was one he hoped he never had to see again.

He was ready to kill someone. Slowly. With a lot of pain.

That anger had not dissipated.

“This shit is going to stop. One way or another,” he seethed.

Scrap sighed and scratched his scraggly beard. “I don’t see what your woman’s bakery has to do with us.”

Wolf was incredulous at the club president’s blasé attitude. “What the fuck do you mean, you don’t see? Those fuckers named me. Named this club. They scared the shit out of my woman and told her they planned to come back with worse. Not even a blind man would mistake this shit!”

Scrap growled back, “The bakery is not our problem. No need for us to do anything.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” This came from Quillon, normally the chillest guy in the club. He was regarding Scrap with disbelief. “The drive-by and the vape shop? We should have already taken the bull by the horns and finished this business then. It’s gonna be harder to do that now.”

“Did you fucking hear what I said? The bakery is not our problem!”

“So, we just hang Bill ’n’ Madge out to dry?

” Camshaft added his voice to the mix. “They torched the hippie’s place and him with it.

They extorted the auto parts place and the laundromat next to it.

Marcie at the deli said they came to get money from her, too, and now they’ve destroyed the bakery where we’ve been getting our coffee for years.

How much more is it gonna take before we do something? ”

Scrap banged a heavy beer glass on the table in lieu of a gavel. “We don’t have the men.”

Wolf kept a tight lid on his anger. If he let it go, there’s no telling what would come out. “We have three new recruits ready for patchover.”

“We don’t have enough weapons.”

“How many do we need? Everyone here is armed. What the fuck are you waiting for?”

“I told you to leave it alone!” Scrap’s roar stopped the conversation, but Wolf wasn’t done.

This was it. Showtime. If there was going to be a future for the Iron City Knights MC, someone needed to step up and lead it.

In the next twenty minutes, the club would change or he would no longer be a part of it.

“We cannot sit on the sidelines while our people are in danger. Scrap, if you can’t see that, you need to step down. ”

Wolf was ready for a fight, but Scrap’s next statement caught him off guard.

“You’re right. I’m old, and I’m tired. I don’t have the same energy I used to, but this ain’t no walk in the park.

Decisions either keep us breathing or could get us dead.

Anyone got the balls for this shit, have at it. Who’s it gonna be?”

Baghouse and Melter both shook their heads and grumbled, “Not me,” under their collective breaths. This was good, as they were Scrap’s contemporaries and didn’t have leadership qualities. The rest of the club stayed silent, waiting to see who spoke up first.

Scrap continued. “I thought so. When someone has the guts to take a bullet for a brother, then we’ll talk. Until then, we’ll keep a low profile.”

Some muttering undertones came from the members as they turned away from the tables and went about any business they could find.

Wolf’s temper relaxed as he reasoned out his response. Yeah, he could explode and make this meeting into a bigger shit show, or he could strategize and come up with a better solution.

He turned to Quillon with a raised brow. “Want a shot at it, brother?”

Quillon blew out a breath. “I’ve wondered about it, but I’m not the leader we need.

I think you’re the guy for it, Wolf. We need a restructuring with a solid core statement of who we are, where we came from, and what we’re becoming.

That’s what you do best. That said, I agree with you about the Slaggers.

We need to do something before someone else gets hurt or dead.

I also agree with Scrap. We don’t have the arms or the funds to go for a long war.

My first suggestion is we find out how to get the tools we need to take on this fight, then plan our strategy. ”

Wolf nodded. “We need to get on that now, with or without Scrap. Do me a favor and put some of your gray matter to work. I don’t want to wait until someone bleeds for us to get off our asses.”

* * *

The house was quiet when Wolf got home. Camshaft was on duty, which was a good thing because there was no way he’d leave Jazz by herself tonight. He found her at her computer desk, talking to some internet dude over a microphone that modified her voice into something else.

“So, do I press Enter now?” Her tone was singsongy and high like a goofy college girl. “When do I press it?”

A heavily accented man’s voice came back frustrated as hell. “No, no, no, no! Do not press Enter!”

“Whoops, I did it. Sah-ree! My bad. Goodness gracious, I never thought payin’ my cousin’s bail over the phone was this complicated. What jail is he in?”

“He was caught in the city of New Jersey.”

Jazz pursed her lips as her hands moved. “The city of New Jersey? I thought New Jersey was a state.”

“Don’t you know your own country, ma’am?”

Wolf smiled as she cast her eyes to the ceiling, her mouth puckered in a thinking manner, and tapped the side of her face.

She was so totally in character, and it was fun to watch.

“I never was very good at geography. Which cousin is this again? I have a lot of them, and you know, some of them I don’t care enough about to post a bond. What’s his name?”

“How should I know his name? He’s your cousin. What kind of idiot are you?”

“Uh, rude!” She swiped her hand and snapped her fingers in the air.

Wolf had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing at her.

She spotted him and grinned. “My boyfriend is here. I think I’m just gonna leave my cousin in jail.

He needs to atone for all his sins and everything.

” Her fingers rapid-fired over the keyboard, and Wolf watched in fascination at the running screens.

“But, ma’am, your relative needs you to post this bond or else he will stay in jail for many nights.”

“Not my problem, dude.” She pressed Enter again and clapped her hands in delight. “Check your screen, Sparky.”

“How? Where?”

“You’re a fucking thief, and you’re done. I reversed your money transactions, dude. Everything you took from people in the last few days has been returned. Find another way to make a living. If I catch you again, I’ll break you into pieces so small, you’ll never be able to touch a computer again.”

The foreign curses cut off abruptly as she hung up.

“I fried his computer. He won’t be taking anyone’s money again for a while.

” She sighed as she leaned back in her computer chair and rubbed her eyes with her fists.

Her character disappeared, and all that was left was a tired woman.

“It seems the more we shut down, the more pop up to take their place. Email scams, phone scams, text scams, phishing, and every day a new one. It makes me feel useless, like I’m trying to bail out the ocean with a teaspoon. ”

Wolf reached for her hands and drew her out of the chair.

“You’re not useless, babe. It might not seem that way to you, but think for a minute how many people you’ve helped and how many people you’ve saved.

Delia would be in a world of hurt if you hadn’t interfered.

She’s just one of many.” He folded her in his arms. “You can’t save them all, but you take care of the ones you can. Did you talk to Hugo today?”

She wrapped herself around him, hugging him close. “I called him earlier. He’s still pretty shook up, but he worked his shift. Madge and Bill had the insurance adjuster come over today. Madge is thinking about giving the bakery up if they get a good settlement, so there’s that.”

He tucked her head into the spot between his shoulder and chest and gave a long sigh.

It hadn’t gotten old yet, the sensation of her body fitting against his so perfectly.

He marveled for the four-hundred-thousandth time how well they meshed on multiple levels. “We’ll see that they come out on top.”

He loved that they had the same core values, work ethics, and common interests.

Her generous nature matched his needs, and his did the same for her.

Sex with Jazz was over-the-top good. It was the most genuine intimacy he’d ever experienced.

When she gave herself to him, it was all of her.

Nothing held back. He’d exposed the deepest parts of himself to her, and she accepted it without question. It made him love her even more.

Love. Yes, it was time he admitted it. He loved her. This beautiful, quirky, smart, talented woman had become the most important person in his life.

He leaned down and took her mouth softly. She molded her lips to his, opening up to his questing tongue and letting him in. He tasted sweet cherry from the hard candies she kept on her desk.

Yes, he loved Jasmine Hickling. Every last part of her.

He whispered against her lips. “I need to be inside you, babe. Right now. Can you take me?”

“Always,” she whispered back.

They left a trail of clothes on the way to the bedroom.

She lay back on the mattress, and he entered her immediately, plunging deep into her wetness.

His movements started slow, then became more frantic, as if he needed to feel all of her at once.

He came apart in her arms, filling her with himself until he couldn’t tell where he ended and she began.

* * *

They lay in the bed, Wolf on his back and Jazz curled into his side and over him.

His fingers stroked up and down her side, massaging and lightly squeezing her supple skin.

Freya was sleeping in her basket near the open window.

Cool breezes from the river wafted through the room, bringing freshness along with the city lights.

Somewhere, a barge’s horn sounded as it made its way across the water. All was well—at least at that moment.

“What happened at your meeting?” Jazz asked as she nuzzled into Wolf’s side. “Are you allowed to tell me, or is it a big biker secret?”

“We used to have rules, but no one pays attention to them. That’s the big problem with the club now.

Too many workers and no leaders. That has to change.

” Her head rose and lowered as he took a big breath and let out a huge sigh.

“Quillon and I have talked a lot about it, and someone needs to step up. The only ones that make sense are either him or me.”

Her hand came to his abdomen, and she ran her finger over the feathers of his tattoo. “Do you want to be the president?”

“Honestly, no, but I might not have a choice. The Slaggers need to be taken down before someone else gets hurt or worse. When I think of what could have happened to you or Hugo? Fuck me, I want to kill someone.”

She paused in her tracings. “Wouldn’t that get the club into trouble?”

“Potentially, but I can’t see a way out of it.

The Slaggers were allowed to run rampant for so long that they’re out of control.

It’s gonna take some serious firepower to knock them down.

” He jammed a hand over his face. “They have us outmanned and outgunned, even with the new people our ally sent us. Scrap has his head buried so deep he won’t deal with it.

” He let out a heavy breath. “If we don’t do anything, more people like Bill and Madge are going to suffer.

If we step in, the club will face bloodshed and probably have to fight the police too.

Denny has been a friend of ours for a long time, but he’d have no choice but to arrest one or more of us if we go to war and bullets start flying.

” He stared at the ceiling and huffed a short laugh.

“Christ on a cracker, it doesn’t matter how we handle this, it’s lose-lose. ”

Jazz’s fingers pulled at his nipple piercing as she listened to him. When he’d finished, she was quiet for a few moments, then said, “Just a suggestion, but there are other ways to deal with this besides guns and bullets.”

He ran his fingers over her hair, gently lifting and smoothing the colored strands. “I’m all ears, babe.”

She cleared her throat. “No matter what, everyone has to have an income and a way to get to it. If they’re into extortion and other illegal shit, they have to have a place to clean their money. It shouldn’t be hard to find it and mess it up.”

He shook his head, unwilling to even consider it. “I’m not putting you in the line of fire, babe.”

“They would never know it was me. I can get in and out without them finding me. Without their finances, they’d be crippled. I can leave an obvious breadcrumb trail for the cyber police to find. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.”

“I don’t want you involved in this. It’s too dangerous. These people are not joking.”

“I’m not either.”

He shifted to place her on her back while he hovered over her. “I will not risk losing you, Jazz. Stay out of it.”

She stared up at him, and the tears forming in her eyes nearly undid him. “They already hurt my family. Bill and Madge. Hugo. Please don’t ask me to sit back and watch them hurt you, too, when I have the ability and power to do something about it.”

Wolf heard the earnestness in her voice. He could argue his fear more, but he recognized her need to help protect her people, and that included him. “I need to wrap my head around this idea and talk to Quillon and the boys. Can you hold off for a bit?”

“Yes, I can hold off for a bit.”

He leaned down and kissed her. “I love you.” The simple words weren’t enough to describe what he had in his heart and mind, but they were all he had. “I love you so fucking much, Jazz. I’d go crazy if something happened to you.”

“Okay,” she responded, her voice a bit quavery.

He squeezed her. “You gonna say it back?”

“I love you too?”

“Babe, now’s not the time to ask a question.”

She smiled. “I love you too.”