Page 17 of Wild Side (Vicious Reapers MC #3)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

MAVERICK

“You want to just run protection as my guys move product?” Robin asks.

Viking smiles, and I can tell it is killing him not to laugh in this guy’s face.

But this is business, and business isn’t funny when it comes to paying our bills.

He tilts his head to the side, clearing his throat before he places his palm on the center of the desk that separates us.

Well, it’s more like a table than a desk.

“I’m a road captain. I’ve been watching your crews for a while, and I can make this shit a lot more productive,” Viking states, but he doesn’t expand.

Robin doesn’t say anything as his gaze shifts between us. I watch him for a moment, wondering what he’s thinking, because I know he’s got something rolling around inside his brain.

“What can you offer me?” he asks.

Viking’s lips twitch, but he doesn’t smile. “I can offer you a quicker route, a protected route that will save you more than we’re going to charge you. This is money in your pocket, Robin.”

Robin leans back in his chair, his eyes focused on Viking’s. This is some kind of pissing contest, and I feel like maybe I shouldn’t be here watching it. I’m not sure if there’s some intimacy happening here.

“You can promise me that?” Robin asks.

Viking smirks, then finally smiles. “Yeah, Robin. I can promise you that. Faster route, less time on the road for your drivers. Safer.”

Robin dips his chin once, reaches for the contract, and I watch as he signs it. He doesn’t even read it. That would normally be a red flag, but Robin has been working with us for years. He knows we won’t fuck him over.

And we don’t fuck him over. Robin has a crew of about a hundred truck drivers who will go to war for him. So, fucking him over wouldn’t be in our best interest, and he wouldn’t do that to us, either, because he knows we’ve got the same kind of firepower.

It’s a mutually beneficial situation. Robin’s lips twitch into a smirk, his gaze flicking between us, then he leans forward. “We gonna seal this with a good suck and fuck down at the clubhouse?” he asks.

“You got it,” Viking grunts. “You want two?”

“You know I fuckin’ do,” Robin grunts.

“I’ll call down there, get you a room and two girls for the night.”

“You’re a good one,” Robin mutters as he stands to his feet. “I’ll be down there in about an hour. Gotta take a pill first,” he mutters.

I watch him for a moment. He moves out of the room, then I hear the bell above the door jingle.

When the door is closed, I stand and walk over to it, locking it.

I can hear Viking talking to one of the girls at the clubhouse.

It’s Lolita, by the sounds of it. She’s a good choice for Robin.

When he ends the call, he lifts his gaze to mine.

Pressing my lips together, I let out a low whistle. “That was a big promise,” I point out the obvious.

Viking chuckles, jerking his chin as he places his phone down on the table.

“It’s one I can deliver,” he says. “We’re going to do this, Maverick.

I worked on it all night long, been thinking on it longer.

Robin’s operation is huge, and we can save him a grip while making a grip at the same time.

We need three more jobs like Robin’s, and we can make exactly what we did with the shop without having to worry about the logistics of our own product. ”

“I like the sound of that.”

“I knew you would.”

We stay at the shop for a few more hours, combing through the inventory on the shelves and making lists of what we can offload and what we have to take a loss on. Viking and I finish half of the shop.

I’m sure Bullet will want to take another look at this list before we actually do anything, but after the halfway point, we decide to head over to the clubhouse since Robin is probably on his way as well.

Climbing onto my bike, I head straight for the clubhouse. It’s been too long since I’ve seen Zadie. Since I’ve touched her. I need to feel her body. I don’t know how I went months without touching her, without being inside her. I’m not sure I could ever do that shit again.

When we pull up to the clubhouse, the gate slowly opens. I ride through and head straight for the parking lot beside her rental Jeep. Kicking my stand down, I kill my engine before I throw my leg over the seat and straighten.

There is some commotion behind me, but I know it’s just Viking and maybe even Robin. They don’t hold my attention, though. I don’t give a fuck what else is going on right now. My primary focus is on Zadie.

Only Zadie.

ZADIE

I’m not sure what I expected daily life to be like down here at the clubhouse, but it certainly wasn’t the mundane scene in front of me. After making and eating a breakfast of Greek yogurt, fruit, and granola, I make my way out into the bar, albeit reluctantly.

My gaze slides over the space, and I am taken a bit aback. There aren’t naked women and people having sex. It’s actually almost empty. Whatever debauchery they were up to last night, it’s been cleaned up and no longer in action.

Twisting the cap off my bottle of water, I lift it to my lips and take a drink. There is a man sitting at the end of the bar. He’s a bit older, probably around my grandfather’s age, though he still looks like he can hold his own if need be.

There is another man behind the bar. The patch on his cut says PROSPECT. He lifts his eyes to me, jerking his chin in my direction, but otherwise doesn’t say anything. I’m not sure what to do, where to go, so I move farther into the room, stopping at a small table and chairs.

Taking my phone out of my back pocket, I glance at the screen. It’s still decently early in California, but I can’t help but wonder if my father is here yet. I don’t have any new notifications, but when I log into my social media, the first thing I see is a picture of Sable.

It’s a selfie, and in the background is an airplane. She’s tagged the location, and my heart slams against my chest. It’s the same airport I arrived at. Greensboro. That means they’re here. Glancing at the time stamp, I cringe. They landed about an hour ago.

I don’t have much time.

I start to look for Chase’s number, but I realize I don’t have it. A throat clears beside me, interrupting my internal panic. Turning slightly, I look over to see Chase’s brother standing in front of me. His arms are crossed over his chest, his chin dipped slightly as he looks down at me.

At a quick glance, I realize that it could be very easy to mistake one for the other.

They aren’t just twins, they’re almost completely and totally identical except for a few subtle differences.

One of them being that the man standing in front of me looks pissed at my existence.

The other being that Chase has different facial hair. But otherwise, they are the same.

“Hey, I don’t think we’ve been introduced. I’m Zadie.” I give him as big a smile as I can muster.

His facial expression doesn’t change. In fact, I think he might actually glower down at me. I decide that I don’t want to be sitting down as he towers over me, so I stand, though he’s still a good bit taller than I am.

“Know who you are,” he grunts.

He doesn’t say anything else as he stares at me. I’m a bit unnerved by the way he’s silently watching me, but I try my hardest not to show it. Then he clears his throat and drops his arms to his sides.

I know he and Chase have been having some issues, all of which stem from me, so I really want him to like me, or at least be able to tolerate me. I’m under no illusion that it won’t put a strain on our relationship if Chase’s brother hates me.

“I’m Goose,” he grunts. “Can’t hate you because you got my niece or nephew inside you, but also don’t trust you just because you’re knocked up with my kin.”

Well then.

“That’s okay,” I say. “I know trust is earned. We don’t know one another yet. Hopefully, we will.”

He presses his lips together, showing me zero emotion at all. He doesn’t give me anything really other than disdain, which he doesn’t hide. Instead of letting it get me down, I decide that I’m going to make him like me.

Maybe not today.

Maybe not tomorrow.

But eventually, Goose will like me, maybe even think of me as a sister one day. What I don’t do is say any of that. I have a feeling Goose wouldn’t appreciate my wants, my desires, or any of that. He doesn’t seem like he’s a very emotional guy.

I start to ask him if he knows where Chase is, but he speaks before I can. “Only people in the world I trust aside from Maverick are my brothers here at the club. Not sure you could earn a fuckin’ thing,” he says, his voice rumbling with each word.

As quietly as he arrived at my side, he turns and walks away, moving toward the hallway where the bedrooms are located. I feel a slight heaviness. Goose is not my number-one fan. He’s probably not even my millionth fan, but maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t completely hate me.

And perhaps one day, he might even tolerate me.

I think that’s about as good as it’s going to get between us, and although it would be nice if he liked me, I will take toleration as long as it means he doesn’t hate me, and he and Chase are good.

Of course, if he loved the baby and was the best uncle in the world, that would be the cherry on top.

I start thinking about cherries, and then those thoughts turn to cupcakes, and I wonder if that bakery delivers, because I could use one of Dakota’s buttercream heaven cupcakes.

But my thoughts are interrupted when the door to the bar opens and there, live and in person, is my father with Sable standing right beside him, like that’s where she belongs.