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15
TYKE
"You wanted to see me, boss?"Rigs steps out into the morning light, shirtless with his nearly blacked-out torso on display above his buckled jeans.
"Got something I need you to do." I take a drag of the first cigarette of the day and puff the smoke into the warming air. The sun goes a fair way toward lifting the chill off the dewy yard, but I wouldn't have gone as far as to say it was shirtless weather. "Gonna need you to test your connections at the D.A.’s office." I eye his half-naked form again and shiver.
"This about the new girl?"
I nod. "Rae. And I'd prefer you call her Digger’s girl over the 'new' girl.”
"Why?" He absently swizzles the end of his pointed mustache.
"Because callin' her that makes her sound like she's general property.” She'd fit right in as a sweet butt, but that’s not the deception we cultivate. "Digger tells me she was declined witness protection. I want to know why."
"Usually because they don't deem the threat big enough," he states.
"I know that." The butt drops from my fingers to the ground with a fine orange spray, embers flicking over my boot. "But why don't they believe Terry to be a threat? He's been on their shit list for years."
Rigs pops a shoulder, arms folded across his chest. "It's not unheard of for law enforcement to knowingly put a non-compliant witness into a dangerous situation hoping it'll twist their arm into co-operation."
"Now why don't that surprise me?" I tug the collar on my jacket a little higher.
I've never been the type for cooler weather, always preferring the heat of the desert over the snow-capped mountains. How I ended up in a fucking town bordered on each side by the things is beyond me. Just because my granddaddy built his business here was no reason why I had to do the same, but I guess when you're young and overwhelmed with the responsibility placed on your shoulders, doing anything the easy way is the best way.
"I'll talk to Davis and let you know what he has on her," Rigs says, snapping me out of my daze. "What did Terry have to say about her being here?"
"Wants what's his," I state with a pop of my eyebrows. "Like I'm gonna give him that."
"Never have before, so why start now?” Rigs tips his head and then pushes off the edge of the picnic table to head indoors. "The girl's out of bed and looking like a lost lamb in the common room, boss. Hope you've got a plan on how to keep her busy."
"Sure." I got plenty, but none of them are appropriate for my daughter's best friend. Fuck knows it pissed me off enough when Digger said he'd seen her downstairs for a chat during the night. Not that it's any of my business who she spends her time with as long as she ain't stirring shit. Girl's free to do what she pleases while within our walls as long as she adheres to our code of conduct.Fuck.Suppose I should introduce her to the bylaws.If she's going to be around the men for a good long while, she's gonna need to know how to get on with the uncultured fuckers.
The rules might mean the brothers must treat women with due respect, but I wouldn’t go as far as to call the clubhouse a safe place for a young, unattached woman. Especially one as pretty as her.
I discharge a stream of hot air into the space before me and rise off the wooden seat. What kind of world do I leave my kids? What kind of world did I put them into? Not that life with their mother would have been better...
The smell of fresh-cooked bacon and eggs assails my nostrils as I step inside the clubhouse. Sweetie's been cooking up a storm in the kitchen; large silver dishes filled to the brim with everything a man could want for breakfast are laid out on the wooden cover for the pool table. A handful of men mingle around the feast, filling their plates with whatever tickles their fancy. I swipe a waffle from the tray on the end and dip it into the jug of maple syrup before cutting a path directly toward where two of the newest members find themselves needing to keep an eye on our newcomer.
One of which is my oldest son, Kane.
"You boys finished spot-weldin' yourselves to the front of your pants?" I rip a chunk off the waffle and wait for their excuses.
Kane rolls his eyes and steps away with a lazy gait. "Someone's got to keep an eye on the chum."
"Fuckin' best not be you." The handsome fucker's got a reputation with the ladies that he spends a lot of time keeping. "You need me to give you somethin' to do, Merrick?"
Tall and as lean as a distance runner, the kid's deceptively strong. He rises from his stool beside Rae and shakes his head. "No, boss. Got work already."
"Best you get to it." I catch Rae watching the interaction from the side of her eye, head down, as she fidgets with a piece of bacon on a plate. "Merrick." I stall the kid halfway to the exit. "You eaten?"
"Yeah, boss. Thanks."
"Good." I drive them hard and teach these boys a decent work ethic that'll be sure to get them through life, but I'm not unreasonable. "They bother you much?" I return my focus to the subdued woman picking at barely enough food to break my hunger.
She shrugs. "Not enough to need saving."
This goddamn woman.She's got a chip on her shoulder the size of Arkansas. "You know, people can do nice things for you. They don't always have tosaveyou." I tear another quarter off the waffle and chew it with far more force than necessary.
