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“Right after I switched your ass so the sting of sitting down constantly reminded you of how badly you fucked up.” Hayley gaped at him. “Seeing you on the back of Prior’s bike was not a good thing, Hayley. Prior’s not like us. Not respectable. Doesn’t give a shit about what belongs where. If he wanted you, he’d have chained you to his bed. But instead he used you, and I’m not sure that’s much better.”
Hayley’s eyebrows knitted together. “Used me how?”
“Brought you back here. Now Shooter owes Jack. And that, Slick, is not a good thing, either.”
“What does that mean? Chris owing Jack. What would Jack want? What could Chris give him?”
Tex shrugged. “Could be anything. Money. Weapons Jack wouldn’t normally have access to.” He paused. “Shooter’s skill set.”
Hayley gasped. “He wouldn’t- he wouldn’t ask Chris to…kill anyone.”
“He might. The thing about Jack is, he’s always playing chess. That’s how he got to be President in the first place. Always two or three moves ahead of everybody else. A favor to Jack wouldn’t just be a favor. It’d have implications. Consequences. It’s a step closer to him getting what he’s wanted for years.”
Hayley was almost afraid to ask. “What does he want?” But she already knew.
“He wants Shooter, Slick. He always has, since they were kids. Jack always saw himself as VP and Chris as Prez. And it burned his ass something fierce when Shooter enlisted and left him behind. But now? Chris is our lieutenant. Always will be, whether we’re enlisted or not. Where he goes, we go. We’d follow him into Hell if we had to. If Shooter patches into the Buzzards, we patch in. All of us. To protect his ass. Even Doc and probably Easy, too, now that he’s not so sore-assed at us. Five ex-Army special operatives for the price of one.”
Hayley felt numb all the way to her toes and half walked, half stumbled to the office chair and sat down. “He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t get Chris to join just for pulling me off a bus.”
Tex sighed. “Two or three moves ahead, Hayley. Suppose he asks Chris to get him weapons? Or worse, take out an enemy of the MC. Then gets photos of it. Or video. Either Chris can go to prison or he can patch into the Buzzards. And I don’t think Chris is going to face 25 to life and leave you unprotected. Hell this way works out even better for Jack ‘cause he gets to stay Prez, leading Shooter around by the nose with evidence of a crime stashed away somewhere where we’ll never find it. And we wouldn’t even be able to take him out, ‘cause Jack’d have a contingency plan for that.
“Fuck, the man doesn’t piss without a contingency plan in place. Word is, even his boys don’t know all the ins and outs of the MC. So if there’s dissention in the ranks and they’ve a mind for mutiny, they’d lose his contacts and half the money he brings in through ‘em. Jack Prior is a devious motherfucker, and as if he wasn’t scary enough to look at, he’s also amazingly smart. Don’t let the GED fool you. The man is a fucking genius. I’m sure he’s had eyes on you the minute Shooter staked his claim. Probably got a contact at the bus station set to give him a ring if you showed up.”
Hayley sat down in the office chair and dropped her backpack on the desk. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
Tex’s face softened and he came away from the door to sit down on the couch situated across from her. “What happened, Hayley? Did you get scared? Did you just decide it wasn’t gonna work out? He doesn’t deserve a face to face conversation that you’re leaving?”
Hayley shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. “It wasn’t like that! I swear!”
*********************************
Chris headed for the office door. Both men were left looking a little worse for the wear with Chris having a cut above his eye and Hawk nursing some bruised ribs. Some of his anger had dissipated from the fight, which he realized was the point of the whole thing. Hawk was protecting Hayley from Chris’s wrath and even if Chris wasn’t sure he saw the need for it, he appreciated the man’s willingness to put himself out there for her. He was still pretty angry when he opened the door but whatever was left took an instant ice bath as he saw Hayley sobbing at the desk.
He was barely in the room before she launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his waist and crying into his chest. Chris sighed and wrapped his arms around her. Slick blubbered all over both of them, apologizing, and he was able to pick up words like “Buzzards” and “prison”. He looked over the top of her head at Tex. “What did you say to her?”
