Page 45 of The Riders’ Reign

19

ACE

The mood at the compound is somber as we contemplate what is coming tonight. This isn’t going to be easy in any way, and lives are most likely going to be lost. I’m alone in the office, and the quiet settles over me like a heavy blanket.

Rook has taken Cash, Phoenix, and two other bikers to Jarrod’s house. Zoo, Tank, and Becker are with Camile over at the hospital. I’ve been poring over maps and trying to figure out the ways we can plot the routes to have a group of us go directly to the airstrip for the exchange. Then we’ll have a larger number of us take the back roads and surround the damn place so we can ambush them.

It’s one advantage we hold over Hector—we have pre-knowledge about where he’s holding Ghost. It’s unlikely he realizes that we’ve figured out where they are.

Planning routes is my role in the club, but doing it for a fun ride out, and doing it when lives will be on the line, are two entirely different things, hence I’m psyching myself out.

Big Mike left a while ago to go nurse a beer in the bar, saying he was thirsty. I told him to stick to light. We’re all going to need our heads on right later tonight. That’s if we do the exchange then. It would suit us better to do it in the dark, but Hector might insist on it being the morning. Then again, I’d think he’d want his son back as soon as possible.

Sighing, I stare at the maps, marked with various colored routes, and chew on my cheek.

A few minutes later, there’s a soft knock at the door, pulling me out of my focus.

I lift my chin. “Yeah?”

One of the barmaids, Kelly, pokes her head around the door. “You want a drink, Ace?”

“Just a lemonade, please. Lots of ice.”

“Gotcha. Shelley is in the bar and asking for you.”

“Oh?” I straighten in surprise. “Send her through, I guess.”

She gives me a quick nod and vanishes from view.

I don’t know what Shelley wants, but she’s a sweetie who has been more welcoming to Camile than any of the other women here, so I’ll gladly give her a moment of my time.

I hope she’s not wanting relationship advice, because there were rumors last year that her man, Bear, had been flirting with one of the bar staff. I’m not sure I’m the best qualified for that shit, especially with everything else going on.

Shelley appears in the still open doorway, and at the sight of her, all thoughts of lending her a moment for her relationship woes disappear. Whatever Shelley is here to see me about is fucking serious.

“Hey, Shelley. You look like you’ve just been beaten black and blue by life.”

She shrugs. “Things aren’t good, Ace. I, um… I need to talk to you about something.”

Her voice is shaking. Her cheeks are pale, and even her lips look almost white, as if all the blood has left her upper body. What the hell? I've never seen her like this. Shelley is a real sweetheart who always brings warmth with her into any room she enters. She's been with her partner for a long time, and they were members of Jack’s previous club, before they took the chance to join this one and moved back into the area.

Because she's a nurse, it was easy enough for her to move hospitals, and she said it gave her a chance to start afresh and to be closer to her remaining family. I'm not sure if she has parents left alive, as she is probably in her early forties, so they might have passed already, but I’m sure she has a sibling.

She's still wearing her scrubs and has a bag thrown across her body, and she fiddles with the buckle on the strap nervously as she chews on her lower lip.

I pull out a chair to the side of the desk where the prez normally sits. Rather than taking Jack’s seat and sitting behind the desk, which I feel might be somewhat hierarchical, I sit beside her on another chair that I pull around. She looks so damn scared that I want to put her at ease and make her feel as if she can open up to me. I'm getting a bad feeling about this, and my stomach churns as I wonder what the heck this is about. Shelley sighs, and, just as I'm about to speak, the door opens and Kelly walks in from the bar, holding a large glass of iced lemonade for me.

She places it beside me on the desk and gives me a flirtatious smile. I’m with Camile now, and I guess most of the club knows, but Kelly will always have that flirtatious side to her. I don't mind smiling and flirting back a little with anybody, but it would never go any farther than that now I'm with Camile. She owns my heart and soul, and I can't imagine looking at another woman again. I guess I've always been loyal; it's just that I've never met anybody I wanted to settle down with. It was the strangest thing, but the moment I saw Camile, it was as if part of me already knew her.

I wonder if we'd met each other in a previous life. Perhaps had even been married. She just felt like home, and I knew I wanted her to be mine straight away.

Dragging my mind from thoughts of my Princess, I focus back on the here and now.

“Would you like a drink?” I ask Shelley, thinking she looks like she could use something stiff and strong.

But she shakes her head.

“Thanks, Kelly.” I smile at her, but it’s in dismissal.