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“We believe any of that?” I asked.
Tank frowned. “Hard not to after the year we’ve had.”
“We’ll bring it to church, lay it out, see what everyone thinks,” Ritz said. “But I do believe he wasn’t the mastermind behind this. He gains nothing from a war with us. My gut says he was just a pawn in a bigger game.”
“Mine too,” I admitted. “And I think that game involves Manny.”
Tank grunted. “We need to find out who that bastard is and who he’s working with.”
“We will.” I stared at the closed door to Crush. “Sooner or later, they’ll all come out of the shadows.”
Chapter 36
Becs
Lifting my cup to my lips, I blew on the steaming coffee in an effort to cool it before taking a small sip. I heard footsteps on the stairs and braced. I was hoping that Race would come down and tell me why his bike pulled into the driveway at exactly 1:34 a.m.
He just cleared the landing and turned into the kitchen when the front door pushed open. Sighing, I blew on the hot coffee in my cup once again while I watched the two most important men in my life walking toward me.
Race walked behind me, running his hand over my hip when he passed by before moving toward the coffee maker. Bear stopped in front of the island, sliding onto a stool, but his eyes were locked on Race.
“Morning,” I said over the rim of my cup.
“Mornin’,” Bear returned gruffly, but his eyes were still on Race.
Race turned and moved to stand next to me, the hot liquid causing steam to escape his cup. “You sleep at the clubhouse again?”
Bear sat back and glanced between me and Race. “Think I’ll be doing that a lot more, considering that some new shit has been brought to my attention.”
I glanced at Race, but he looked as confused as I felt. “What?”
“Manny’s gone.”
Race’s eyes widened. “Gone?”
“Yep.”
“Where?”
Bear glanced at me, but then his eyes shifted right back to Race. “Not gonna say more right now.”
I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my coffee, but I almost choked on it when I heard Race speak. “Anything you want to tell me you can tell Becs too, brother.”
With wide eyes, I stared at my brother. He still respected certain club rules, and one of them was that women were not a part of the club. They could be involved in activities, but anything that would be discussed behind closed doors was off-limits.
Bear narrowed his eyes. “It’s club business.”
Race took a small drink from his cup and studied Bear before answering. “Becs is more a part of this club than most of the men.” My eyes shifted slowly to the man beside me, no longer caring what my brother had to say, only wanting to hear Race. “She’s fought every battle, maybe not physically, although she would have, but she’s been there. She stood by you when a lot were turning their backs,” he reminded Bear and tears threatened to fill my eyes. Forcing them back, I listened while he continued. “She convinced Kat to come back, but somehow still defended your actions while doing it.” He held out his cup toward Bear. “She shouldn’t be kept in the dark about threats, considering she’s always going to be a target just because of who she is to you.”
“I’m protecting her.”
Race opened his mouth, but I interrupted. “I’m right here, you two.” I looked up at Race. “Thank you for all the things you said. I appreciate them.” His lips tipped up in a small grin before I turned to face Bear. “And I know you just want to protect me. And I also know you’re still pissed at me, but I was trying to protect you when I went to Elite.”
“I’m not pissed,” Bear replied. “Not anymore, anyway.”
“What changed?”
Bear breathed deeply before exhaling. “Seems you got a lot of fucking cheerleaders in the club, including Pop, who tore me a new one for being a jackass about this.” I giggled softly. “I know what you were tryin’ to do. Can’t fault you for doing the same damn thing I would’ve done and have done.”
