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I straddle my bike out front and scroll through the text thread between Lilah and me from this morning while waiting for him to finish.
Ever since her chat with Pebbles, she has been in much better spirits. When I’m not working in the garage, I’ve been gutting the bakery with the help of Lilah, Reaper, and Sasha. It will take a lot of work and time, but it makes me happier than hell to see the smile back on her face.
At times, it looks like Lilah is still upset that we won’t be able to restore it exactly as it was. While I understand that pain and frustration, I know that, in the end, it’s going to be so much fucking better.
When the three of us pull up to the clubhouse, I take stock of all the other bikes lining the sidewalk. There are still a few missing, so it’s nice to know I won’t be on my brother’s shit list for being late. I’m already on his shit list for enough as it is.
Wes nods at us as we enter. I throw him a chin lift in greeting and follow my dad toward church. We drop our phones in the bucket, and I drop down into my seat, giving Patch a hardy pat on the shoulder. Of course, the kid’s already here.
He hasn’t gotten to participate in many Church meetings yet. When the President called church, he sure as shit raced over here to make sure he wasn’t late.
Ghost glares at me from his seat at the head of the table.Huh.What the fuck did I do this time?
Texas and Razor are the last two to amble into the room, only a few minutes late, and take their seats at the table.
Ghost slams his gavel right in the middle of the Desert Outlaws insignia carved into the table.
“Please tell me someone can tell me what the fuck is going on,” my brother roars. He leans back in his chair with his elbows on each armrest, bringing his steepled hands to rest against his mouth. The way he taps his pinkies against each other tells me he’s overwhelmed.
When he was a kid, his pinkies twitched whenever he had too much emotion. Anger, excitement, sadness– when it becomes too much, his pinkies are his tell. The fact that his right pinky is tap, tap, tapping against the other tells me that my brother isn’t as calm as some may think he is as he sits before us, his face showing indifference.
Tiny leans forward in his chair, his fingers clicking softly against the keys on his laptop. “The Ace’s have been a little too quiet since all of this shit started happening. I, for one, am starting to get a little fucking suspicious.”
“I’ll try to set a meeting up with Power to see if I can find anything out,” Razor pipes up from my other side.
“I was able to get footage of an all-black van with no plates leaving the grocery store about fifteen minutes before Maria called Tank.” Tiny clicks open a screen, and after pressing a button, the large flat screen on the back wall mirrors his screen. “I lost it after it turned down this alley behind the gym.” Tiny points to the screen he has playing in slow-mo.
A couple of days ago, while we were working on one of Dad’s restoration bikes, Tank got a call from Maria. She was pissed as hell that she came out with a shopping cart full of groceries to find all four of her tires slashed.
Tank flew up there like a bat out of hell after yelling over the phone for Maria to go back inside, afraid that whoever caused Horse’s crash and the fire at the bakery was after her now. She was only mildly shaken up about it, which blows my fucking mind. It sure as hell made me go home and tell Lilah to watch her back at all times.
“Fuck,” Ghost growls. He goes around the room and ensures that everyone has someone in place to protect whatever family they need help with. When he gets to Reaper, I narrow my eyes at him.
“Lilah?” my brother says to his VP.
“Lilah’s fine. I’ll be with her until we can get the bakery fixed and running,” I glare at him.
It pisses me the fuck off that he turned to Reaper. I get it; he’s her dad. But she’smyfucking wife. My woman. My fucking ol’ lady. And he fucking knows it. The fact that he doesn’t acknowledge it is real fucking disrespectful.
He isn’t acting like my club president when it comes to recognizing Lilah’s role in my life now. He’s acting like a big brother, which, when we are in this building, should not fucking matter.
I grind my molars together and sit back in my chair. At the beginning of this meeting, I actually felt bad for him and the burden of the weight he has to carry.
But that doesn’t give him the excuse to be a fucking prick.
My anger causes me to zone out until Ghost says my name again sometime later. “Ring, you think you can go with Razor to meet with Power and see if he knows anything?”
I nod while glaring at him. His chuckle in response makes the hair on the back of my neck raise.
The only time that happens is when I’m in the ring and about to fight. I can feel the adrenaline rising through my system.
At the end of church, when Ghost bangs the gavel again, I’m out of my chair faster than hell. I slam the door to Ghost’s office open and stand in the open space, clenching my fists together, waiting for him.
I grin sinisterly and shake my head when my dad and Reaper walk in behind Ghost. Reaper pulls the door closed quietly behind him.
“You’re so scared you had to bring Daddy in with you?” I sneer.
“Shut the fuck up, Ringer,” Ghost scoffs. “You’re acting like a child.”
