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I nod. “Lockdown. ASAP.”
Stone nods and takes a step back. “I’ll go shut off the gas just to be safe.”
Joaquin turns to Willow with a wide, flirtatious grin. “Did you drive to work today, Will?”
“I did. Why?”
Joaquin nods toward the front door. “Let’s move it closer to the other cluster of cars.”
“Why,” Maven asks. “What’s going on?”
Joaquin smiles at me with a shrug. “I tried, brother.”
“I appreciate it,” I tell him honestly, grateful that he’d at least tried to give us a moment alone because she wouldn’t like this one bit. Face to face with my woman, I tell her the truth.
“We’re closing now, babe. Ace is enforcing lockdown protocols, which means you and Willow are coming back to the clubhouse with us. Joaquin is right. We need to move the car, so it’s not a sitting duck. Just as a precaution.”
Her skin turns a ghostly shade of white as all the blood drains from her face. “You think this explosion is aimed at you?”
I nod. “Seems likely, and it’s better to make sure you’re all protected than to wish we had. Some of the guys are out gathering info, so I’ll know more when we get back home.”
Maven nibbles her bottom lip, her mind racing with God only knows what. She wants to protest, but she’s not able to come up with a reasonable argument, which is one of the things I like best about her. She’s stubborn and passionate, but she’s also reasonable and logical.
“Ah fuck, let me pack up the rest of the day’s inventory then. At least, it won’t go to waste at the clubhouse.”
“Good girl,” I tell her and press a kiss to the side of her neck before I release her. “I’ll finish up in here, and Willow will go with Joaquin to move her car.”
“I’ll ride back with Joaquin,” Willow says with a grin.
“No can do, babe,” he tells her. “You gotta ride in the truck with Wilder.” He flings an arm around her shoulder and uses his free hand to push open the front door. “Maybe when shit settles down, though, yeah?”
Willow pouts, but the newest patched member uses his considerable charm to keep her manageable.
Ten minutes later, with Maven at my side and Willow in the back seat, we make the short trip back to the clubhouse. Joaquin is leading the way, with Stone pulling up the rear to make sure we have complete coverage. Thank fuck, we make it home safely.
As we turn into the long drive just past Angel Harbor Choppers, there are trucks and cars and bikes in front and back of us, all of us with jobs to do to keep everyone who matters to us safe.
“Looks like a party,” Willow squeals excitedly.
Maven rolls her eyes. “Looks like some shit is about to go down,” she grumbles softly because that’s who Maven is, pragmatic to her bones but unwilling to dampen her friend’s excitement even when she should. She turns to Willow with a small smile. “You can stay with me.”
I put a hand on Maven’s thigh. “I’ll find a place for her to sleep,” I say at the same time Willow gives her opinion.
“I’ll find my own place to sleep.”
This might be a long lockdown.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Maven
Lockdown. It sounds like a prison movie where all the prisoners are forced into their cells or solitary confinement just after a riot. It sounds scary as hell, as if I’m going to spend the rest of my life in that damn room waiting for the other shoe to drop or another bomb, as the case may be.
It takes about fifteen minutes just to get into a parking spot because there are so many damn bikes. Cars, trucks, like all of Angel Harbor has arrived. “Are all of these guys club members?”
Wilder smiles and gives my thigh a supportive squeeze. “Yes. Just like any organization, we have brothers whose skills are better suited to things outside our zip code. They watch over certain businesses, but when it comes to lockdown, it’s all hands on deck.”
Some of these guys don’t even look like bikers, and if not for their leather vests, which they callkuttesfor some reason, I would never peg them as bikers, never mind members of a biker gang. My bad, a bikerclub.
