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“Anyway, that’s not what this is about.”
“What’s up Dies?” Grey asked, slipping away his phone to give our old man his full attention.
“I’m going to need you boys over the next couple of weeks. I know you have your own shit going on, but that’s all going to have to be put on hold. I’ll need your focus. All of it.”
My skin bristled and without warning, a mental image of Ava Jade surfaced in my head. Put her on hold? I wasn’t sure if I could do that. But for Diesel, if he needed it, I’d try.
“What do you need?”
“I’ve set up a gun deal with the Reapers MC. They have a shipment for us, coming in next week. We need some more firepower and I have a buyer for half the order down south.”
Damn. I thought it was the last timelast timewe made a sale to the Mexican cartel. I didn’t like being involved with them. But neither did Diesel. He wouldn’t be setting this up unless we really needed it.
“I need you boys to case the trade point and find out where they got the guns. The Reapers don’t usually run guns. Drugs are their MO. I don’t want fucking blowback after the deal is made. Make sure their source is legit and report back to me.”
“You got it.”
This was something I could do. Something I was good at. Planning. Recon.
The things Diesel used to do himself before I came along. His need for controlnearlyrivaled my own. Trust no one but family, that was his adage. And I had no doubt it was the only reason he was still alive at almost fifty.
“I don’t want you missing too much school,” he added before I could start asking more questions to flesh out the situation. My jaw clenched.
We all knew how Diesel felt about our education. It was a stipulation for us to join the ranks of the Saints. He didn’t give two fucks about college but wanted us to do what he didn’t in his teens and finish high school. Graduate. The whole idiotic shebang. He made a very generous contribution to Briar Hall to get us in. So generous in fact that they even took his suggestion of a motto change and ditching the antiquated uniforms.
They didn’t know they were letting a pack of wolves in to have their way with the sheep. Or maybe they did but didn’t care. The antiquated academy was on the verge of going under. Itranon hush money and bribes from wealthy parents now.
“We’ll swap out,” I offered. “Two of us on the job, one in class to pick up assignments. Good?”
“Good.”
He leaned back, blowing out a breath. There was more.
We waited.
“That’s not all,” he admitted. “I’ve set a meet with the Aces.”
“What?” I growled, fists clenching beneath the table. “When?”
“Two weeks. Right after the gun deal.”
“Is that smart?” Rook asked and his trepidation lent weight to the question. If he of all people questioned the sanity of the decision, then I felt fucking justified in my rebuke.
Diesel’s jaw set and he lifted his chin. The minuscule movement undetectable to most spelled the wordsno fucking reproach allowedclear as day to me. He’d already decided this. It was too late to change his mind.
“I want you three there. I can’t trust the others to keep level heads. Randy was...he meant a lot to them. Like a surrogate son to some.”
He didn’t have to elaborate. Though we did larger jobs with the other members from time to time, we were a unit unto ourselves. Joined and yet somehow also separate from the rest. We didn’t form attachments. Not beyond this.
Not beyond family.
“We need to know if they were involved… If that mark carved in Randy’s chest was theirs, then they’ll own it. Why else make it so obvious? And if it was them, we deserve to know why. If the bastard who did it acted alone or on behalf of Lenny Ace. We’ll have to retaliate. I need to keep my men under control. This needs handling.”
“Bloodshed?” Rook asked, his brows lowering, but not enough to shadow the gleam in his dark eyes. “Or a trade?”
“If the person acted alone, a trade. The killer’s life for Randy’s. If Lenny doesn’t agree to that then, yes. There will be blood.”
“And if it was them? If Lenny sanctioned the kill?” I asked.
