The motherfucker was going to pay for that.
Link met us at the front door. He knew Carly from the bar, so I introduced him to Trent.
“You’re a soldier, too?” Trent asked, eyeing Link’s tatted up arms.
“I was. Come on, bud, I’ll show you around.”
“Thanks for helping us out, Link,” Carly said. “I… I really appreciate you opening your club up to us.”
Link flashed her a smile and squeezed her shoulder. “That’s what we’re here for. We take care of our own.”
“Your own?” she asked. “I’m no soldier.”
“I don’t know about that. I think you’ve seen more than your fair share of battles, and I’m glad you’re letting us help you with this one.”
Brow furrowed, she looked at me, no doubt wondering what all I’d told him.
I shrugged. “He’s the president. He makes it his business to know everything about everyone in the club.”
“I’m not in the club.”
I draped my arm over her shoulders and pulled her against me. “Yeah, but you’re with me.”
“Do you have fire trucks?” Trent asked, sliding his hand into Link’s as we headed inside.
“Nope. But we do have lots of motorcycles. Would you like to see them?”
Link gave Carly and Trent the grand tour, and then I took them up to my room.
“Wow, you have two houses?” Trent asked, plopping down on my bed.
My room at the club wasn’t much. Just a bed, dresser, and television. Link was the only one with a private bathroom. The rest of us shared locker room style bathrooms on each floor. “Kinda. This is more of a bedroom where I sleep when I stay at the club. You and your mom are gonna stay here for now, though.”
“But I want to stay with you,” Trent said.
“Trust me, I’m not going anywhere. You and your mom are my top priority.”
The depth of gratitude in Carly’s eyes made me want to build a goddamn fortress to stick them in. Nobody was ever going to hurt them again, and I didn’t care what I had to do to make sure of that.
My phone dinged with an incoming text. Tap was on lunch and headed to the station. He was taking the rest of the day off work to help us. Once again, I was struck by the generosity of my brothers. The way they circled the wagons when someone needed help made me damn proud to count myself as one of the Dead Presidents.
This, right here, was why I wore the patch.
I set Trent up with cartoons and surrounded him with his toys before pulling Carly aside.
“Do you have Nate’s phone number?” I asked.
She nodded, pulling out her phone. Scrolling through her contacts, she stopped when she found it and handed the phone to me. “I got a new phone and number when we got here, but kept all my contacts just in case. Unless he changed it, this should be right.”
I copied the number to my own phone. “Good. We’re gonna track it and see if we can’t find this asshole.”
Concern flooded her eyes. “Be careful.”
I would never grow tired of the way she looked at me. I wasn’t a black sheep or a fuck-up in her eyes. Carly looked at me like I was her white knight, making me want to don the fucking armor and get on top of the horse. I planted a kiss on her lips.
“I’m always careful. I’ll bring you and Trent up lunch. Call me if you need me.”
As I turned to leave, Carly’s phone rang in her hand. Startled, she almost dropped it, before she recovered. Staring at the screen, she said, “It’s Jess.” Putting the phone to her ear, she said, “Hey Jess, how’s work? Oh, yeah, I was gonna message you. I didn’t expect you to come home for lunch. Sorry, that must have looked bad. We’re totally fine, though. Wasp came and picked us up and we’re gonna stay with him for a few days.”
