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“Hiya, Charlie. Jas is in the back; he’s expecting you so go on back.” Maureen’s blue eyes twinkled at the mention of Jasper, and then she was gone, off to flirt with customers or give them a hard time, I never could tell with the fiery waitress.
“Thanks,” I said even though Maureen had already moved on to a table of rowdy college boys who ate up the Irish lilt she put on while showing off her impressive tits.
Jasper sat in the back office, staring at the computer screen though it seemed as if he wasn’t really seeing it. He looked like a man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and I felt no guilt that I was about to add to it. “Hey man, what’s up?”
Jasper blinked to clear away whatever thoughts had put that faraway look on his face and looked up at me with a friendly enough smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Charlie. Thanks for coming.” He pushed away from the desk and stood. “Let’s grab some lunch and talk.”
“I’m always up for food.” And if the cost of that was a conversation I didn’t want to have; it was well worth it.
Jasper took the high-backed booth in the corner that provided a clear view of the entire pub and much of the parking lot for anyone seated in the booth.
“Beer?” he offered when he slid into his seat. “We got a new red ale in that’s already a best seller.”
“Sure, why not?” I shrugged in Maureen’s direction. She’d just sauntered over to the booth with waters for us and her order pad in hand. She nodded, her gaze still on Jasper.
“And a bacon burger,” I said.
“Got it, sweetie. And for you, Jasper? A bit of Colcannon?”
He frowned and then glared at her laughing face. “Funny. I’ll have a bacon burger as well, smartass.”
“I’ve had no complaints yet about the size or intelligence of my arse, thank you very much.” She flashed another of those contagious toothy grins and closed the pad she hadn’t written a word on. “Anything else?”
“Two shots of Velvet Fire, Mo. And a bit of privacy, yeah?”
She gave a short nod, winked, and walked off with a bit more swing in her hips, which Jasper stared at until she disappeared into the kitchen.
“You have it bad,” I told him with a laugh.
Jasper sat taller and smoothed down the already smooth fabric of his dark gray dress shirt. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Fine by me.” I had enough drama in my own life to waste time on someone else’s. “I assume you want to talk about Savannah.”
Jasper nodded and lit up a cigarette, looking around for an ashtray when Maureen reappeared with a tray loaded with a bottle of Velvet Fire, two glass tumblers, an icy mug of red ale, and a heavy-bottomed ashtray with the Midnight Mass logo at the bottom. “Thanks, Mo.”
“Food’ll be out in ten,” she said and sauntered off again.
Jasper poured three fingers into each glass, nodding as he slid one my way. “Yeah, I want to talk to you about Savannah Rhymer. You need to get rid of her. Yesterday.”
“I know why you think that, but I can’t. They’ll kill her.”
I saw the tick in his jaw, the way he ground his teeth in restrained anger. “Keeping her around, hell keeping her alive is bad news for all of us. If the old man finds out she’s still alive, this shit will spill over to the Reckless Bastards as well.”
He looked genuinely worried, which made me curious.
“Why are you so worried about Ronan all of a sudden? I was under the impression The Crusaders were just a nuisance for your family.”
“They are, but the way things are going, Ronan is going to absorb every up and coming gang in the area until he has a full-fledged army.”
Jasper smacked a hand on the table and refilled his glass, shooting back the fifty-four proof whiskey and wincing as the sweet burn slid down his throat.
“If the Jacks find out you have her, they won’t stop to get her back. The Crusaders will think your MC had her all along.”
Both points I’d already considered. “Savannah thinks the old man has disowned her, and I’m inclined to agree. Sadie would have torn the whole fucking state apart to find Kat or any of you, but Ronan didn’t. Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t give a shit why, Charlie. We just killed his son. His only son, and if Ronan knows that Savannah is still alive, he will burn the Earth to get her back, along with everything and everyone that stands between him. You. Your MC. My family. My businesses. I’m talking war, Charlie.”
War. The Reckless Bastards hadn’t been at war in almost a decade, but we were always prepared for the possibility. They didn’t call the city Mayhem for nothing.
