Page 37

Griffin's Beach Colt

Lex sits on Colt's lap as they all wait for Psycho and Dax to return from their meeting with Ryan. Killing Ivan felt like a relief, but seeing the damage they caused Dani, this feels more important. Like a heavy fog weighs on them all.

Psycho and Dax walk into the clubhouse, and Colt sees the bleeding knuckles on Dax's hands. He got solid hits on that asshole.

“He's fucking dead,” Psycho says. “Death by losing his dick.”

Dani's eyes widen beside Colt and Lex. “What... what did you just say?”

“After I bashed his face in, we hung him up, and one shot to his dick had it off. Hung there and bled out like a fucking deer,” Dax says. “Serves him right.”

She sighs in relief. “What about the rest of them?”

“I wouldn't worry about them,” Mickey says. “They're all scattered in other places.”

Colt snorts, and Lex spits out the water she drinks. Dani stares in confusion. “What?”

“Scattered,” Lex says and laughs. “He blew them up, babe.”

Eyes wide, she stands. “Wait, you... they're... you blew them up?”

“What about any women or children?” Lex asks.

Psycho laughs. “Like any of them had real women. And their club bunnies only show up after dark.”

Nodding, Kara smirks. “It's the only time you can look at them. The dim lights make them look a lot less frightening.”

“I suppose we should say our goodbyes and go and pick up the kids,” Colt says, wrapping his arms around his wife. “It'll take us at least three hours to make it home.”

“Summerville's barely an hour away,” Dax says, and Dani takes his hands to examine his injuries.

“You've never tried to pick up kids from their grandparents, have you?” Lex asks. “It's like a Midwest goodbye. You have to inch towards the door every thirty minutes until you're finally outside. And even then, it might still take at least an hour to leave.”

Her phone rings, and she shakes it in the air before walking out the back door to answer it. “Guess it might take us longer to get out of the clubhouse than I planned, too.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Shep calls, his arm moving Heidi behind him as he looks at the front door.

An unfamiliar man walks into the clubhouse with four large men in suits. What's with the well-dressed bodyguards around here?

“Boris,” he says, his accent heavy.

Jennings raises an eyebrow. “What can we do for you?”

“Jennings?”

“Yes.”

“We need to speak.”

Walking to the Chapel, he opens the door for him. “We'll need a few of our men to join. Dax, Psycho, VP, and Colt.”

Colt looks at Psycho and mouths Boris? Thee Boris?

He takes his normal seat, and everyone stares at the Russian, who stands at the other end of the table with his bodyguards.

“I need your assistance taking out an enemy,” he says.

“What enemy is that?” Jennings asks, his eyes narrowed and glancing at the others.

“The Irish,” Boris says and slides a picture across the table. “I received this.”

Colt looks over and sees Ivan's head in a box. “That really is a head-sized box, isn't it?”

“See?” Psycho says. “And you all acted like I was crazy.”

Jennings rolls his eyes. “What about this?”

“This was sent to me by the Irish. They must pay for this.”

“There must've been a misunderstanding with the shipping,” Psycho says. “This wasn't sent by the Irish. This came from us.”

The older man narrows his eyes. “You killed Ivan? Chopped off his head and sent it to me?”

“Well, no, I didn't do the killing. Not all of it. I did stab him a few times with Eleanor,” Psycho says and looks at the wall with an adoring smile. “But I let the Irish kill him. I chopped off his head to send to you, though. Didn't think we'd see you so soon. My overnight courier is damn good.”

“Why?”

Dax plays the recordings taken from Dimitri, and all of the Drifter men lean back and watch the man's face change with each recording. There has been speculation about whether or not the RIO was working with Ivan, but Colt sincerely doubts this man is even remotely good at acting.

“Ivan put a target on Dimitri's head and played us to help kill him. He didn't start the war, Ivan did,” VP says.

“Then he told O'Malley to kidnap and torture my wife to get to Dimitri,” Colt says.

“My daughter,” VP adds.

“And then Ivan worked with the motherfucker who kidnapped and faked my wife's death. Hurt her when he came to the States as a way of torture for her,” Dax says.

Shrugging, Jennings says, “He planned to overthrow you while working with O'Malley to take over the Irish Mafia. He played everyone like fucking pianos, and this is why he didn't want to help us. He was part of the plan against us the entire time.”

“I see,” Boris says. “This was necessary.”

“So is walking away from the RIO,” Psycho says.

HIs eyes widen. “We have a deal.”

“Your house is a mess, Boris. We're done. We were used as a pawn in a game your man, who you were responsible for, created. I don't like playing games I don't come up with myself.”

“Who will supply you guns?”

“The enemy of our enemy is our friend,” VP quotes.

Clenching his jaw, he glares at them. “The Irish?”

“Correct,” Jennings says. “They're willing to negotiate with us on pricing.”

“You want to take on the RIO?” one of the henchmen asks. “Are you stupid?”

Standing, Psycho walks over and sizes the large man up. “Without the Drifters, the RIO loses half its business. And when word gets out that your own man fucked with your largest client, you'll lose more business.”

“You may have the Russian Mob at your disposal, but we have the Irish and their affiliate clubs as well as friends south of the border,” Jennings says.

“Which, incidentally,” Psycho says, “you get your drugs from to sell. Diego and I are pretty tight, and when you lose your guns and your income, you're not exactly going to be seen as profitable to them.”

The man glares at him but straightens. “I see your point.”

“You don't hold the cards anymore,” Jennings says. “This arrangement stopped working for us a couple of years ago, and it doesn't work for us now. Even with the discount.”

“Is there anything we can work out?” Boris asks.

“We don't trust you,” Colt says. “All the time we've spent working together went down the drain because you lost control and one of your men went rogue. You created a weakness he was able to exploit.”

Tapping the table, he lets out a loud breath. “We will give you six months of supplies at wholesale. After that, we will drop the cost another five percent.”

“You won't be making any money,” VP says.

“Our relationship with you is more than money right now. We can plan for this arrangement for the next year.”

All eyes look around at each other, and Jennings says, “We'll discuss it, but don't get your hopes up. Trust and loyalty mean more to us than making money. We'll take a shittier deal with someone we can trust, and considering who our alternative is, it shows how little respect we have for your organization.”

He nods. “That is all I can ask for at this point, I suppose.”

“I'll walk you out,” Jennings says and walks over to hold the Chapel doors open.

“Are we really going to pass up that kind of deal?” Dax asks, his voice low so no one hears him.

“We'll have to figure out what kind of good faith measure we can get from them to make sure they don't have an opportunity to fuck with us again,” VP says. “But I don't trust them. Not after this.”

There's no disagreement from Colt's end. As great as the money would be for the next year with the discount they're getting, he'd rather make less money than work with people who hurt his family. It's not just his call, though.

They walk out into the main room, and his eyes lock on Lex as she walks back inside, her face pale. “Lex, are you okay?”

“I-I don't know,” Lex says, her eyes blinking rapidly. A surefire sign she's trying to process something big.

“What's going on?”

Swallowing, she looks into his eyes. “I can't... there's... I don't know enough yet.”

That sounds ominous. “That's okay, baby. It’s okay. Ready to go get the kids and go home?”

“Um... no.”

“No?”

“I think... I think we might need to stay in Griffin's Beach for a while, Colt.”

The room falls silent, and he stares at her for some additional explanation, but she doesn’t offer one. Whoever it is who called her seems to have dropped some large bomb on his wife.

“That's fine. We can stay here. How long?”

“It... we... possibly permanently?”

Moving to Summerville has been a blessing for the two of them, and Colt can’t help but worry that moving to Griffin’s Beach will be moving backwards on all the progress they've made to get her into a good place. A happy place. Making her happy again.

“What now?”