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"I don't know. But Adler is right down the street, and I intend to find out," Lou decided, dropping money on the table, moving to stand.
And when there was one determined woman in a group, there was a whole gaggle of them.
Not two minutes later, we were on the street, making our way toward the clubhouse.
"Shite," Adler said, shaking his head as we all walked along the gates.
"Shite is right," Lou agreed. "You're in trouble," she added. "How could..."
She didn't get to finish her sentence though because agitated male voices were approaching from the other end of the street.
Pagan and Sugar flanked a man they each had by the arms, only half-conscious, face bloodied.
"You can punish me later," Adler said, unlocking the gates.
"You guys need to disappear," Pagan declared as we approached. "Reign'll be pissed if any of you get involved in this," he added, shoving the man toward Adler.
"I know it's kinda your default, baby," Sugar said, wiping some blood off his cheek. "But don't be stubborn right now. Go home. We'll call."
I expected them to object, to fight, to demand not to be left out. This group of headstrong women who had been on a mission just a moment before. But to my surprise, they all turned in unison, Peyton slipping her arm through mine, half pulling me away, leading me back down the street where we all shuffled into the car.
Lou, this time in the driver's seat, didn't immediately turn the car over.
"He was Third Street," she said in a small voice after locking the doors. "Right?" she asked, looking to Lenny in the passenger seat for confirmation.
"I didn't get a great look, but I'm pretty sure I've seen him around, yeah."
"And he was on the wrong side of town," Liv agreed.
"What am I missing?" I asked, all of them seeming to have some sort of silent conversation without me.
"This town is territorial," Peyton supplied. "Everyone stays away from the docks but the Grassis. Everyone stays away from Third Street except members of the gang. And everyone stays away from Henchmen turf but Henchmen. Especially if they are dealing drugs."
"And even more so if they are selling date-rape drugs," Lenny added. "It never ends."
"What doesn't?"
"Club drama," Lou explained. "There are periods of peace followed by some kind of situation that has everyone on lockdown or partial lockdown. Or has the men tearing out of town, strapped down. Making all the women worry until they get back."
"Come on," Peyton said, suddenly a voice of reason. "Sean said to get back to my place. Let's move."
Girls night started with a humorous high, hit interesting levels of anxiety, then agitation, then worry.
You could feel it in the air as we got back to Peyton's place, all of us huddled in her living room, episodes of Angel playing on the TV, but everyone seemed to be staring through the TV instead of at it.
I couldn't claim to understand their fears, not knowing nearly as much about the town, about the organizations, about how they all interacted, to know what this issue with selling drugs on Henchmen territory meant in the long run.
But the others, well, they seemed to have a lot to think about.
Hours passed.
The knock on the door made us all jolt.
Peyton flew off the couch, knocking the strap-on off the table in the process, clearly excited to see Sugar, to know he was okay.
"Oh," she said, sounding disappointed as she looked through the peephole. "New girl, you're up."
I hopped up, moving into the doorway as Peyton pulled the locks and slid the door open.
There was Ty.
Injury-free from what I could tell.
But there was something in his face that put me on pause, a hard set to his jaw, an uncertainty in his eyes.
"We need to talk."
His hand moved out, grabbing my wrist, pulling me outside with him.
He looked back into the apartment. "Sugar will be here in a minute. If the rest of you want to head back to the clubhouse, you can," he added before turning, his hand slipping down to grab my hand, pulling me along with him.
Ty said nothing as we made our way out of the building, across to the lot, then climbed on his bike.
Uncertainty wobbled in my stomach as we rumbled down the street.
Why did Ty need to speak to me?
Of all people.
Lou and Lenny and Peyton and Liv knew much more about this whole situation than I did.
Maybe he just wanted to explain what I had seen, knowing that I was new to his lifestyle, that - what the records said aside - I knew nothing about crime. He could just want to soothe my nerves, make sure I wasn't freaking out.
That, more than anything, made the most sense.
Maybe his jaw was clenched because he was worried about what my response would be to what I had seen. Maybe his eyes were full of uncertainty because he didn't want me to freak out and leave over this.
