The fear of being unemployed no longer bothered him. He’d find a job. His fears only rested with this man in his arms.
The other worry that came from the video call, how was Dev going to handle his removal from the club? No matter how Dev postured, he’d had the club at his back all of his life. The DOJ’s stance on Dev was they no longer wanted his presence in the club circles. They needed a rewind with the Disciples. All they required of Dev was to get through the funerals, let the masses of outlaw bikers disperse back to their home regions then for Dev to give his resignation to his brothers.
A resignation the DOJ planned to prepare.
The club was too valuable to the justice department to allow any non-trained agent at the helm. Not unexpected, but it hurt Cash’s heart. Dev would have been a good leader.
Dev pushed back to stand on his own feet but stayed close to Cash. Maybe only about a foot of space between them. He crossed his arms over his chest. Cash wound his index fingers through Dev’s belt loops, holding on to him.
“So what does that mean for the future?” Dev never strayed from the hard-hitting questions no matter how badly Cash wished he would.
“They have tentative plans, but we first have to see what’s actually in the storage unit.”
“And what’re those tentative plans?” Dev asked.
“Do you really want to know right now?” Cash asked.
He lifted his hands to Dev’s biceps, trying to bring him back into the embrace. Dev resisted as he brought out a hand, motioning for him to continue.
“Well, I got an explanation on why I didn’t know about your father and the others working for the agency,” Cash said and dropped his hands away.
If he was forced into a corner, then he needed to be as brief and gentle as possible.
After a few long seconds of Dev staring at him, and Cash not saying a word, his biker finally asked, “Are you gonna tell me or do you want me to guess?”
Cash grinned and shook his head. Dev wasn’t fragile. Hotheaded? Yes. Impetuous? Absolutely. But not delicate by any means. “All right, here’s what I know. As part of the original agreement made in the eighties, no one was ever to know of your father’s and the others’ involvement in order to protect them and the entire operation. The Disciples of Havoc is the longest running AGEOS organization on record.”
“Pretty much what I guessed. What else?” Dev nodded to get Cash talking again.
“I don’t wanna hurt you,” Cash murmured.
“Keep goin’,” Dev encouraged.
He let go of a deep breath and set his brow firmly. Of course Dev mocked him. He shook his head and shoulders, pretending to be scared—not at all the reaction he’d wanted, but he laughed and brought Dev to him again.
“They want you to finish the case with me, get the funerals done and the bikers gone from Dallas. Everyone in law enforcement’s worried about all these clubs being here together. Then they want you to step aside.” Cash paused, ready for any outburst the plan might garner from Dev.
“Stop fuckin’ pausin’ like it’s fuckin’ dramatic and each revelation’s worse than the next. Tell me,” Dev demanded.
“Diesel’ll take over as club president. You’ll be out of the club completely. The only Fox left in charge is Shanna. She’ll take over your mother’s role and pose as Diesel’s new love interest. It’s to help give Diesel credibility and keep the Fox name strong within the group, because its reputation in the nefarious circles around the world’s pretty solid.”
“So I’m out of the Disciples, and Shanna’s in. Did she agree?” Dev asked, showing no emotion at all.
“She did.” Cash tried his best to read Dev’s reaction. “It gives her a significant promotion, and both Diesel and your sister have a really good track record with the government. At least, for right now, they’re an honest pair of agents who put their job above everything else,” Cash explained, trying to make Dev see the value in those two running the organization.
“Diesel’s into Daphne,” Dev said.
“I understand that’s not true. He’s protected her, not used her,” Cash said and shrugged.
“So the direct opposite of the last leader, a pedo who was slated for a long sentence in prison when they found him?” Dev asked, talking about his father. “Back when all this was formin’, how did they think this was ever gonna turn out differently? My old man was a piece of shit.”
“I don’t know,” Cash said, reaching out to clasp Dev’s hand as his biker unwound himself, letting his head fall between his shoulder blades to stare up at the ceiling. Cash had no idea what Dev was thinking. The frown Dev gave hurt Cash. He didn’t like to be the bearer of this news. The frown was followed by a belly laugh.
“Thank Buddha,” Dev exclaimed. “I’ve been jealous of Keyes. That he got out and I was forced to stay in. Jesus, what a fuckin’ relief. I don’t think Shanna’s up for everything comin’ her way, but maybe she is. Who fuckin’ knows. Her and Diesel might be able to turn the club around…or not. They should probably keep all the crazy going to help continue to run the drugs through the country efficiently. Crazy hides a bunch of shit.”
Cash grinned at Dev’s ease. No matter what Dev thought about himself, he was a true undercover agent at heart.
“I’m glad to see you feel that way,” Cash said. “I’m sure we can negotiate the ink parlor out of the club businesses…”
