Page 87 of Lodestar (Dark & Dirty Sinners’ MC)

34

STAR

As Conor got his ink, I found myself being dragged outside by Quin and was shortly surrounded by the Sinners’ council. Well, sans Rex and Maverick.

That meant I had Nyx, the VP, Link, the Road Captain, Sin, the Enforcer, Steel, the Secretary, Cruz, the newly-patched Reaper, as well as Hawk and Quin who were hovering around because the latter worked at his sister’s ink studio.

It was a lot of leather-wearing man meat to be surrounded by, but that didn’t stop me from scowling up at them and demanding, “Why did you leave the party?”

Nyx cracked his knuckles. “What the fuck were you thinking just taking off like that?”

“Who are you? My dad?”

“If we had been, you’d probably have been better behaved,” Link joked, sliding his arm around my shoulder as he tugged me into his side.

I peered at him. “I’ve already spoken to you since I got back so why are you a part of the delegation?”

“Just in case you need backup.”

Oh. That was sweet. But?—

“I don’t need backup.”

He winked. “They’re wicked pissed.”

Folding his arms across his chest, Steel growled, “Star, you can’t just take off like that?—”

I sniffed at him. “I know.”

He paused halfway through what appeared to be the beginning of a diatribe then muttered, “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I know I can’t just take off like that. But I did. I went, I saw, I got captured, then I conquered. I won’t be doing it again.”

Nyx’s gaze, always dour, grumpy, and semi-insane, sharpened upon me. “We ride together or not at all.”

“I’m not a Sinner,” I denied, even though his statement made me feel… weird.

“You are by proxy.”

My brow furrowed. “Then you should have patched me in.”

“You lived with the fucking Road Captain, treated the clubhouse like it was your home, and sniped at our Prez without getting your tongue cut out—what more of a memo could we have given you?”

“When you put it like that…”

“Yeah, I’m putting it like that,” Nyx snapped. “What happened? Maverick’s told us some shit but he claims there’s another goddamn secret society out there. But they’re good cops where the Sparrows are bad cops?”

I grimaced. “That’s one way of describing them.”

“And your grandfather is the head, right?” Cruz queried.

“Yeah.”

“What happened in Russia?”

“Tried to kill him.”

Link chuckled. “Because he was your grandpa or the head of the United Brotherhood?”

“The latter. I only found out the former when I met him.”

“With a view to a kill.” Hawk whistled. “You’re more entertaining than a Bond movie.”

The guys, apart from Nyx of course, laughed.

Steel scratched his jaw. “You didn’t kill him though?”

“No. But his guards held me captive until Conor showed up.”

“Don’t talk to me about that fucker.” Nyx grunted. “Now I find out you’ve gotten with a Five fucking Pointer!”

“This is getting weird,” I complained. “I don’t need to ask permission for dick.”

“Literally,” Link teased, cackling until I elbowed him in the side to shut him up.

“Look, I know I shouldn’t have cut out how I did and I won’t do it again. But if you want a pinkie promise outta me, then you can screw off,” I declared with a sneer. “I’m pretty sure you didn’t ask permission to brand any of your women. Why the hell would I ask you if I could date a Five Pointer?”

“That ring on your finger says you’re doing more than dating him,” Sin drawled. “And I know the O’Donnellys, don’t forget.” His mom—a shitty one at that—was related to them and was married to a high-ranking Pointer. “They don’t stick rings on fingers if they don’t mean it and now he’s getting ink? Are you branding each other?”

Link chuckled. “You picked up on Sinners’ traditions, Star, for someone who claims she ain’t a Sinner.” When I just glowered at him, his brow furrowed. “You became family, Star. Surely, as big as that brain in your head is, you figured that out?”

“I mean, I… No?” Uneasily, I fiddled with my engagement ring. “I wasn’t invited here. I-I stormed my way in and usually stuck my nose where it wasn’t wanted.”

“True. Then you fucking left. Without a word to anyone but your kid.” Nyx scowled at me. “Who does that?”

“Me, apparently.”

“What’s going on now? With the Sparrows, I mean?” Cruz inquired. “We’ve all seen the headlines. Figured you’d have clued us in by now.”

Ouch. The guilt trip was real.

Grimacing, I muttered, “I should have stopped by and attended a council meeting. It’s been busy since I got back.”

“Understandable,” Sin reasoned. “There’s such a thing as a cellphone though? You know, they’re this nifty invention that means you can talk across long distances.”

My nose crinkled. “You think you’re funny.”

“I am funny. You’re the one who has to eat humble pie.”

I huffed. “My grandfather created this Interpol department that’s geared in its entirety to decimating the Sparrows. Conor and I figured out how the Sparrows communicate with one another, and from there, we’ve found evidence that annihilates key people from not just the New World Sparrows, but the European and Asian operations too, while also letting us infest the network so we can identify who’s who. This is going global. They’re all going down.”

“Knew they were making so many arrests because of you,” Nyx crowed, for the first time sounding anything but pissed off.

“Conor and me.” I shoved my hands in my pockets. “He’s a good man.”

Nyx scoffed, “He’s a mobster.”

“You’re a biker. In the hierarchy of the criminal underworld, I think he outranks you.”

“No one outranks me apart from Rex,” he rumbled.

I sniffed. “You never thanked me for that pedophile I sent you.”

“I didn’t deal with him. Priest did.”

“He’s dead?”

Link cleared his throat. “It went wrong before it went right. He’s dead now though.”

My mind whirred with the possibilities. “He fucked up? Lost his mettle?”

Sin pulled a face. “Neither. If he lost anything, it was his sanity for a while.”

“You’re saying he channeled Giulia, then?” I drawled.

Nyx chuckled. “Yeah. My little terrorist.” Then, his chuckle faded. “I might be out of the ‘hunting’ game because of Samael, but I swear to fuck, if that prick hurts you, I’ll boil his blood, do you hear me?”

Quin muttered to me, “The big brother act gets fucking old fast, doesn’t it?”

I stopped gaping at Nyx to cut his younger brother a look.

Is that what this was?

Studying the men who had most of Jersey under their control, who were all, to a one, studying me with no small amount of disgruntlement, I had to accept that they were mad at me.

For leaving.

Without a word.

For leaving them .

Without a word.

“I…”

“I think she’s speechless,” Cruz rumbled, but his stormy gaze pinned me in place. “If anyone understands, it’s me. Sometimes, your family chooses you before you can choose it.”

Nyx sniped, “Just don’t fucking leave without telling us. You got me? Katina heading off to Manhattan to bring in a goddamn hacker is bad for our rep.”

“Yeah,” Link said with a wink. “Because that was what mattered.”

I blinked a couple times, still feeling like this was an out-of-body experience or something. “I won’t leave again without clueing you in,” I assured each of them.

“You getting yourself an Old Man?” Steel asked, his voice softer than before.

“I mean, yeah.”

“So you do know you’re a Sinner,” Sin pointed out.

“Do you see me wearing a cut?”

“Like you’d wear one. You might think you’re a lone wolf, Star, but you ain’t.” Nyx grunted. “I got a woman and a kid who are more terrifying than you waiting for me. I have to get back.” His eyes narrowed. “Stay safe in New York. You hear me?”

“Yes, Dad,” I mocked because it was easier to do that than to freak out about what was happening here.

Quin was right. This was a big brother showdown. Even if I wasn’t their blood, they’d still drawn me into the circle as if I were…

Link hauled me in for a hug, as did Sin, Steel, and Quin. Cruz dipped his chin at me and so did Hawk. Most of them retreated to their hogs, but a strange thought whispered into my mind.

“Hey,” I called out before any of them had the chance to kick their legs over their bikes. When they turned to me, each wearing various expressions of inquiry, I asked, “You heard anything about organ harvesting?”

Nyx’s brows lifted. “You in the market for a new heart, Lodestar?”

I flipped him the bird. “I’m being serious.”

“Figured as much,” Nyx quipped, still smirking. “And no. Never heard much about that kind of shit. Least, not around these parts.”

“You think it’s tied to the Sparrows?” Cruz demanded, his scowl dark.

I didn’t have an answer for that. I wished that I did.

“No,” I said slowly.

“Then, why ask?”

Studying Link, I sighed. “I heard a whisper. Nothing more. But I can’t let it go.”

“If you infested the Sparrows’ network, surely there’d be something on there?”

“There would,” I agreed with Sin.

“So, what’s the problem?”

“Bad feeling.”

“Want us to put some feelers out?”

Did I?

Or was it a waste of time and favors? ‘Feelers’ usually came quid pro quo.

“Star?”

With my eyes locked on Nyx, I nodded.

Though his brow furrowed, he agreed, “Consider it done.”

That was the cue for them to get on their bikes.

As they raced out of Verona, where Indy’s tattoo studio was based, they left a cloud of noise in their wake as they returned to Lily’s place. Only Quin stayed back, his gaze where mine was—on the dust storm that settled once they’d gone.

“You ready for your ink?” Quin prompted, his tone kind.

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “What the hell just happened?”

He snorted. “I told you—the big brother experience. You’re lucky that O’Donnelly is an ally. They’d probably tie him to a lamppost and let cougars bite his balls off or something if he weren't.”

“I’d kill them if they did,” I growled. “Those balls belong to me!”

“That wouldn’t deter them,” he drawled with a laugh.

“I didn’t…” I hesitated. “That was unexpected.”

“Really?”

Warily, I nodded.

“Why? The club doesn’t need blood to bond. We’re all brothers, whether or not we share parents. And guys have been patched in who haven’t been around as long as you.”

“You calling me a brother, Quin?” I asked, aware my voice was hoarse. Unaware of how badly I needed him to say yes.

He hitched a shoulder then clapped me on mine. “You shouldn’t need me to tell you that you are, Star.”

With that, he walked into the ink studio, leaving me hovering there until Conor called out:

“Indy, if you stick that in me one more time, I’ll hack into your?—”

“No hacking!” I called out, storming inside before he could finish his threat. “Definitely no hacking into the Sinners.”

They were family now, after all, and family got a free pass.