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CHAPTER ELEVEN

MANE

Hydro’s roar of outrage can be heard all the way down the stairs and into the common room. I wince when something shatters behind the closed doors. I hold my hand out to my mom and wiggle my fingers. “Pay up, woman.”

“I never would’ve thought he’d react so aggressively. He’s so mild tempered anytime I’m around.” Mom scowls, digging in her purse and pulling out her wallet. “Are you sure you want to take from your mother? This is all the spending money I have.”

That’s bullshit. All she’d have to do is bat her eyelashes at my dad and he’d hit up the bank to give her whatever amount she needs to keep a smile on her face. I mean, he lives to keep her happy at all times.

“Puhlease…” I draw out the word, halfway rolling my eyes at her attempt to guilt trip me. I don’t let them completely roll because even though I’m an adult, she’d smack me in the back of the head. “Don’t be a sore loser, Mommy Dearest, how many times have you taken my allowance from me after I lost a bet?”

“That’s different,” she says, waving her hand through the air.

This time, I turn my head away from her so she can’t see me and let the roll fly. A sudden whack to the back of my head has me turning around and scooting further away from her. “What was that for?” I ask as I lift my hand and rub the sore spot where she struck. The woman has some power in her arms.

“You rolled your eyes,” Mom sasses.

“I would never,” I say, attempting to sound innocent.

Mason chuckles beside me as he hangs his head. “Busted.”

“Hey, don’t throw me under the bus, you’re supposed to be on my side, mister,” I chide, as he wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into him.

He kisses the top of my head and states, “I’m always on your side, baby girl. But moms have a superpower, they see things that should be next to impossible for them to, and you can’t ever hide eye rolls from them.”

“Fucking X-ray vision,” I grumble.

“Church! Right now, fuckers!” Hydro roars as he ushers Ella into the room. “Kings, y’all’s attendance is required.”

“Have fun, dear,” Mom snickers as she pats my shoulder in commiseration. “The girls and I are off for a mani and pedi while you deal with all of that.”

“That’s not fair,” I whine, sounding like a petulant five year old. “Can’t you wait for us so we can go with you?”

“Don’t be a spoil sport, daughter. There are times when messes need to be cleaned up, and this isn’t one of mine. See you for dinner?”

“Maybe,” I say, pouting. “I may be busy, you know, cleaning up my mess.”

Mason is silently laughing as he laces his fingers through mine and helps me stand. “Come on, beauty, let's go see what kind of damage control we need to do.”

“You going to shield me from Hydro, Mason? Because he looks livid.” I wave to the moms over my shoulder as they gather their things to head out.

“Hydro’s not a threat to you, Mane. Stop stalling, the faster we get in there and face the music the quicker we can come up with a game plan.”

As we make it into the room set up for church, I swallow past the lump in my throat because Hydro is pacing, stopping every now and then to shoot Ella a venomous look. Judd and Jagger come strolling in behind us, their feet pausing as they take in the scene. “Well, this is going to be fun,” Jagger moans.

“We knew he’d get worked up,” Judd exclaims. “Anything that puts Ella in danger gets him riled.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t usually look at her like that,” I point out.

“It’s because he can’t protect her from this,” Mason mumbles, squeezing my shoulder. “Even though we’re all well-aware she can take care of herself and doesn’t need a man to do that job for her, from a man’s viewpoint, it’s his honor to stand between his woman and any threat against her.”

Mason moves, which forces me to move with him as he ushers me deeper into the room, dragging out a chair for me. I sit on instinct and reach out for his hand as he takes the one directly beside me.

The second our skin touches, my anxiety settles. There’s something about holding hands with Mason that eases me. All of my worries dissipate and float away, which is a foreign feeling because I’ve never experienced anything like this before he entered my life.

Hydro starts the meeting off by announcing that Julia has come back from the dead to bite the club in the ass. Ella picks up from there, telling the brothers our current issue. Since this blows back on them, it’s classified as club trouble not a Kings problem alone. Both factions are equally affected by this ‘supposed’ officer of the law.

“So what’s our play here?” Master asks, twisting in his seat to face Hydro and Gunner where they sit at the head of the table.

“That’s what we’re here to figure out,” Hydro answers, twiddling his thumbs and sighing. “Do we gather intel and turn it into the big guns and let them take out their own trash, or do we handle this the way the club and Alvarez organization would?”

“Since they’re now one and the same, I don’t see a reason for separating them,” Gunner teases Hydro. “But if you want my vote, I don’t trust the government to punish him to the fullest extent since he’s got some contacts that’d keep him from doing hard time.”

“My thoughts precisely,” Bruiser adds. “And every time we try to trust someone on the outside to take care of business, we get screwed.”

“It’s why outsiders are forbidden to have anything whatsoever to do with the club and its inner-workings,” Gunner excuses, looking at Mason. “This is the first time we’ve brought you in so I wanna lay down some ground rules for ya. Anything said or discussed in this room isn’t talked about outside of it unless it's with one of the members you see in this room. It’s like Vegas, your lips should be like a vault… this room is sacred, if ya catch my drift.”

“Understood and I do,” Mason agrees, nodding his head. When my dad gets serious about a topic you know because his you’s get dropped to ya’s. “But I’m glad you informed me about the rules and regulations because I would’ve trusted anyone wearing the patch.”

Dad nods his head and scans the room. When he looks pointedly at Hydro, I know it’s his way of giving him back the floor. Before we go any further with this discussion, there’s something I want to point out so I clear my throat. When all heads swivel my way, I say, “We need to be careful with the way we approach this guy, if that’s what your plan will be. He’s narcissistic and I believe he has an attachment disorder. He’s flailing without Julia there to direct him. He’s going to do whatever he has to in order to figure out where she is and nobody is safe where he’s concerned. If there’s someone out there that he can use for his benefit, he will. He’ll have no regard for their life.”

“That’s good information to have,” Hydro inserts.

“What does that mean for Cotton?” Mason asks, tilting his head. “Is he in danger? What about my family?”

“I wish I could say they’ll be left out of his plot to get to you, and us through you, but I can’t. I’m sorry, Mason. If he’s desperate enough, and he doesn’t have any other alternative, he’ll hurt them if he thinks it’ll get us to town,” I explain.

“And I will come running to their aid, any good son and brother would,” Mason mutters.

“This is why we’re meeting now,” Hydro states. “Until we fully investigate this threat, no one is to go off on their own against this fucker. We all understand about protecting our family, but the last thing we need is for anyone to become a renegade because that’s the surest way to ensure blood flows red. Y’all know if Pops finds out, no one associated with Julia will be safe. He’ll wipe their whole bloodline out in order to protect the club and the Kings. Judd and Jagger, y’all are to focus all your energies on researching her, her family tree, and especially this fucker. I don’t care what y’all have to hack as long it doesn’t blowback onto the club of course, just find us something we can use!”

“We don’t know how she gave him information,” I add. “She could have verbally told him, or there might be emails or even text messages.”

Jagger cracks his knuckles, gives Judd a grin and pulls his laptop closer before he opens it and grins. “Looks like some of the searches I started are yielding results,” he says after perusing his screen.

“Care to share with the room?” Hydro questions, his tone deadly.

“I have all her passwords for everything she did electronically,” Jagger replies, not looking up. “Hang on while I check her email. Hmm, they’re wanting to discuss her car warranty for a vehicle she doesn’t own. Think I can skip that one.”

“Just do a fucking search for key names, asshole,” Judd sneers. “And pass me her password for her cell phone so I can delve into that while you’re at it.”

“Okay, so while these two dumbasses do that, we’re at somewhat of a standstill. Mason, you’ve talked to your brother based on what Ella said and he’s checking on your friend’s wellbeing, correct?”

“Yeah, and he’ll be discreet. They’ve been friends for a long time so it won’t seem odd if he drops in on him to get the lay of the land,” Mason says.

“So, we’re not just heading to Trucktown all willy nilly,” Ella interjects. “Should I still make sure everything’s good with Baby? I just got a new scope that’s supposed to give me a better range.”

Hydro shakes his head while pinching the bridge of his nose. I know he has a hard time balancing his need to keep Ella safe and secure with who he knows she is, and I feel some sympathy for the position he’s currently in. “I guess everyone needs to make sure they’re ready while we get the information together. Once we’re sure we have everything we can possibly find, then we’ll formulate a plan.” He glares at my dad and adds, “And nobody, including the Originals is going anywhere until we’ve got that in place as well as several contingency plans. We can’t go in there half-cocked, especially since Pops is retired and in Italy with Shayne, Luca, and Curley Sue. I don’t need him and Luca blowing the fucking town off the map. It’ll defeat what we’re building with Kings.”

Gunner gives Hydro a scathing look before asking, “Does this end church? Only asking because apparently, you’ve forgotten the hierarchy of things.”

Leave it to Hydro to completely overlook the fact that technically Dad is his boss, not the other way around!

Hydro returns Gunner’s look, bangs the gavel, and calls out, “We’re done.”