Page 5 of Savage (Lotus MC: San Antonio #1)

L aura finally gave over Phillip’s computer yesterday. She was hesitant at first because she wanted to believe he would come back soon and that this was all just some big misunderstanding.

I wish she had given it over sooner, but here we are now. No need to dwell on decisions already made.

The problem is that I can’t seem to break his password. I have tried everything I can possibly think of. I even looked at videos on how to break in and still nothing.

I’m at a standstill.

I know what I need to do. Hayes will have the resources I need, but after the other night, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. We are both still so hung up on what happened in the past that I don’t see how we can ever overcome it.

“Come on,” I groan as I try yet another birthday.

This time it’s his first girlfriend. Thankfully, Laura had left me a list of important names and dates hoping to help.

So far, none of it works.

Knowing my luck, Phillip is one of those crazy people who let the computer suggest a password to them. I have no clue how people like that remember their passwords.

Finally giving up, I pick up the phone and dial.

“Savage,” he answers all gruff like.

“Hey, Hayes, it’s um, me. I’m having an issue,” I start.

I hear him moving as muffling comes over the speaker. After a moment, it’s clear again.

“You okay?” he asks.

“Yeah. I have Phillip’s laptop. I can’t get into it, though. I was hoping you knew someone that could help me.”

He’s quiet so long that I think he might have hung up. I check the phone to be sure.

Then he speaks. “I’ll send my tech guy, Dex. He’s a bit odd, but he can get into it. If he can’t, then the dude was a tech genius and no one is getting into it.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The phone clicks off before I can say anything else.

I wish things were better between us. I didn’t realize how much having him in my life again would affect me. Being in that room with him the other night showed me that maybe my feelings for him never truly died and I just buried them really fucking deep.

When they say out of sight, out of mind, they mean it. Sure, I thought about Hayes over the years, but having him away meant he lived in the part of my brain that still believed in fairy tales and happily ever afters.

Now he’s back in reality, and I have no idea what to do with that.

I felt bad when Lance died, but now I feel even worse. He always said I seemed like I was distant. That sometimes I would go somewhere in my head and leave him without a word. I always thought he was making it up, but maybe he was right. Maybe he was trying so hard to love me when my heart already belonged to another.

The day he died, I was upset, but nowhere near how I felt when Hayes simply left. For a while after Hayes left, I had to force myself out of bed, yet with Lance it was almost as if life carried on. What does that say about me?

God, I’m a terrible person.

I’m still spiraling when someone knocks on the door. The man on the other side is one of Hayes’s bikers, but he is peculiar-looking.

He is wearing his cut over a long-sleeved black shirt. In this heat, that’s killer. His jeans are black as well. He’s even wearing riding gloves. Dude has to be dying in that outfit.

“Do you want water or something?” I ask as I let him in.

“No thanks. No offense to you, but I don’t drink water that I don’t know where it has been sourced from. Did you know that sixty-two million people have been exposed to water that doesn’t meet government health guidelines? That’s just since 2004. Charles Duhigg did a piece about it in the Times a while back. You shouldn’t trust your tap water either.”

I nod slowly. “Noted. Thank you. The laptop is on the dining room table. I’m not sure what to do.”

“Don’t worry. Leave it to me.”

I watch as he goes over to the laptop and sits down. Then he wipes the entire thing down with a disinfectant wipe that he pulls out of his bag. When he opens the laptop, I expect him to start typing in passwords, but instead he plugs something in before taking out his own laptop from his backpack. He starts typing on his laptop, making the screen on Phillip’s go black with scrolls of typing all along the screen.

After several minutes, he turns to me. “I’m in. What are we looking for?”

“Oh, I already took too much of your time. I only needed to get in.”

“Ma’am, you seem sweet and all, but my boss is kind of a dick. In a good way, but still. He said to stay until you found everything you needed.”

“I have no clue what we are looking for,” I admit.

He nods. “Well, let’s start with his password. It was May 21, 2000. Does that mean anything?”

I look through my notepad. Not a single date that matches.

“I have that they moved here in April of that year. Nothing about that date specifically.”

“Well, it was important to him. Let’s see what he has on here.”

I start to pace as Dex continues to look into the computer. The clacking of the keys is the only noise in the room, causing my nerves to only get worse.

“Would this man you are looking for have a reason to hide anything? Do you know if he is into anything shady?”

“Hayes.” At his sharp look, I clear my throat. “Savage told me the other night that Happy found out about some side poker thing he was running. I think that would make him likely to have a reason to hide something.”

“Hmm. There’s a folder I cannot access. It’s going to take me some time to break into it. Can I take this with me? I work better in my own environment.”

I frown. “You’ll give it back though, right?”

“Of course. I won’t keep it a minute longer than I need to. I don’t enjoy having foreign objects in my space. I’ll work as quickly as I can.”

“Okay, sure,” I say as I study the odd man.

How in the hell did he end up in an MC?

He stands, gathering his things.

By the time I walk him to the door, I feel like a storm just came through leaving nothing but confusion in its wake.

Where the hell are you, Phillip?

My mind is still on Bailey. I hate that I had to send Dex over there by himself. He is peculiar on his own, but if I were there, at least I could be a buffer for them. I hope Bailey isn’t too freaked out by his behavior.

I have gotten to know Dex pretty well. The guy likes his space and is a bit of a germaphobe. Still, he has been instrumental in installing new security measures with the guys. Starting with the phones that the club pays for. Uncle Rogue never liked technology, but it is necessary in this day and age. I want to be able to track our members if something happens. I don’t want any of them to go missing, and no one knows what happened like it did the last VP, Fend.

They all thought he was the one who killed Rogue until they found him dead as well. It was a messy situation. I want to know for sure if one of my men is betraying me. I don’t want to find out he wasn’t by finding his body outside my home.

“We have to make a decision. We can’t keep floundering like we are,” Tiny says.

“Savage is still getting things settled. Shit was fucked up before,” Crank spits back at him.

“Enough squabbling. Jesus fucking Christ.” I rub my forehead. “We aren’t doing business with the Crossbones. Not after what happened with the Saint’s Outlaws crew down in Pensacola. They are our allies. They will not look kindly on us doing business with their enemy,” I tell the table.

“I agree with him. I’ve been meeting with Gunner for months now. I don’t know what they got going down there, but it has to do with one of their women. How would you feel if they came at your girl?” Fang asks, glaring at Tiny.

He wanted to get rid of Tiny, but I kept him around. He is confrontational and annoying as hell at times, but he’s what I need. Someone not afraid to tell me when I’m doing something they don’t like. Tiny never hides his feelings. He makes sure they are well-known.

Tiny scoffs. “I don’t have no pussy tying me down, so that’s not an issue for me.”

“I cannot wait for you to fall. It will happen one day, and she’s going to tear you to shreds. You will reap what you have sown, my friend.” Rex chuckles, patting him on the shoulder.

He shrugs him off, looking at him with disgust.

“I think we have a good thing going with the Medina Cartel and the Saints. Let’s keep cultivating that. It’s been profitable so far. Happy is still running the gambling thing. Where are we with getting the garage back up and running?”

One of the things that fell to the wayside with all the shit that went down after Rogue died is that the one form of legitimate business went to shit. Now we have to rebuild from scratch.

“We are slowly rebuilding,” Rex starts. “It’s been hard, but business is getting better.”

“We need to add new businesses.” Loyal speaks up.

He has really come into his own as VP. I was surprised when Colt vouched for the kid, but he made an impression on my cousin. He assured me that while he would need time to grow, he could handle the position.

He is proving that now.

“Do you have any ideas?” I ask.

He nods. “Strip club down on fifth is for sale. We could also invest in Shauna’s beauty salon. I know she’s been having a rough time at home. A little money could get her some ads online. Drum up business for her.”

“Who is that again?” I ask.

“Brazz’s sister.”

“Where is he anyway?” Fang looks perturbed.

It was a mandatory meeting for all the guys. I understand his annoyance, but he did call me beforehand to tell me he wouldn’t be here.

“Alisia had a fever. He’s at the hospital with her.”

Everyone nods in understanding. This club comes first, except when children are involved. They are our future.

“What about Dex? He’s not here either,” Tiny points out.

I don’t want to admit what he is doing. Thankfully, I don’t have to.

Loyal answers instead. “You know we don’t force him to join us where he hates small spaces with too many people.”

“Dude’s fuckin’ weird,” Tiny grumbles.

“Yeah, well, he actually brings something to the table, can you say the same? We can’t break our most valuable asset. Without him, we can’t launder our money online. That’s all we got going for us right now,” Loyal snaps back.

He’s right. Dex set up a system of filtering money into the stock market then pulling it out at the right time. It helps us explain our large jumps in cash if the government ever came looking.

Speaking of Dex, I’m itching to check on him and Bailey. I wonder if they found anything useful.

“Listen, let’s all go out and bring back one possible business venture to the next table. I’ll give you a week. Loyal, I want you and Fang to go to the strip club and check it out. If it passes inspection, let me know, and I’ll make a trip out there myself. I think that’s a good idea. I’ll contact Brazz about his sister and send a care package for his kid. Let’s all stop and check in on him. It can’t be easy taking care of a four-year-old on his own.”

“I’ll take first shift,” Dagger says after staying silent the entire meeting. “We all loved Louanne. She treated us well. We can make a schedule so he always has support.”

If things hadn’t been bad enough when all the shit went down before, Brazz was dealing with his wife having terminal cancer. He lost her and didn’t even have any support because everyone was scrambling. I made a vow the day I found out that I wouldn’t let that happen again. Everyone will always be seen in my club. No brother left behind.

“Good. Pencil me in. I’d like to spend some time with him as well. Axel, Toker, and Kite, keep working on the outside of the clubhouse. It’s looking real nice. See if you can get a firepit out there somewhere. It’ll be getting cold at night before we know it. Tiny, send the message to the Crossbones that we will be declining their request. The rest of you have your orders. Get to them.”

I bang the gavel, watching the guys disperse, and I wonder for the millionth time if I made the right decision taking all of this on.

“They respect you,” Fang says from next to me.

“I never planned to lead. I’m worried I’m doing a shit job at it.”

“Nah, you ain’t doing that bad. How about we throw a party tomorrow? I think it will be good for morale,” he tells me.

“Yeah, all right. Set it up.”

He knocks his knuckles twice on the table before leaving.

At least one person doesn’t think I’m fucking this all up.