Page 116 of In Death, Love Survives

With his attention fully on me, one of his knees bounces up and down.

“It’s just a lot. Fuck. We’ve never had it this bad.”

“Makes me wonder if we need to…” I start.

“Need to what?”

“Go legit only.”

Caleb scoffs.

“No one in the club would ever go for that. We make too much money the way it is.”

“Maybe it’s the end of the club as we know it.”

A pained feeling shoots through me.

“What? You’re in prison for a couple of months, and suddenly, you want to give all this up? For a woman?”

“Fuck you. Shut that mouth, and don’t you dare talk about Nova like that.”

He hangs his head and then scrubs a hand down it before regrouping.

“Where is this coming from?”

“Aren’t you just tired of it all?”

“I think I don’t have time to be tired with what I’ve been dealing with while you’ve been gone.”

I lean back and try to see where he’s coming from. He’s right. Caleb has never wanted to lead, but he’s like the brother I never had. He stepped up when I needed him to; he always has.

“You’re right. Let’s deal with this situation and then take a look at the books on everything.”

“Thank you for that.”

“It’s the truth. I get it.”

Caleb mimics my pose and tilts his head to the side.

“Maybe going legit would stop some of this stress,” he says with a chuckle.

“Maybe.”

Caleb gets serious as he nods his head.

“The brothers will know the symbol. Someone fucking will.”

“That’s all we can hope for.”

“Some of them were asking why we weren’t meeting at the clubhouse.”

“What’d you tell them?”

“You wanted to do it here.”

“They pry?”

“Naw. You’ve done it before.”