“What is your family name, Indigo?”
“It’s just Indigo,” Thor replied in a bored tone. “I saw you watching her downstairs. If you brought us up here just to hit on our girls, you’ll be disappointed. They’re both going home with us tonight.” Deciding to ignore the “our girls” comment, I chose to back Thor up anyway.
“Yeah, we told Spike we were on our way home. Lennon and I are all tuckered out. Thanks for the chat and hand kisses and stuff, but if that’s all, we’ll be going.”
Riordan looked at Spike and raised a brow in question. Spike let out an exasperated sigh and gestured to himself. “FromBuffy the Vampire Slayer,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
Riordan suddenly barked out a deep laugh. “Oh my God, youdolook like Spike, Ivan. I can’t believe I never noticed it before.” Riordan snickered as Spike/Ivan rolled his shoulders and looked annoyed. “Yeah, that moody look isn’t helping.”
Suddenly sobering, Riordan turned back to me. “You don’t look tired at all,lisichka. Why don’t you stay here, and we can get to know each other a little better?” His words sounded like something an interested man might say to a woman he wanted, but they lacked heat. I was pretty good at reading vibes, and Riordan wasn’t giving off any sexy-time vibes. He was interested in me, for sure, but not to fuck. For some reason, he had noticed me on the dance floor from his privileged perch on the mezzanine. Alarm bells started ringing in my ears, drowning out whatever Cricket was saying to Riordan in response to his offer. Thor, Cricket, and Riordan were talking, and Lennon and Spike were having some kind of stare off while I silently panicked. His last name was Russian, I think… but Riordan was definitely an Irish name. What if he was connected to the Callahans in some way, and he recognized me? What if he knew Uncle Roark…what if he told him where I was…I couldn’t stay. I needed to get out of here. The urge to run was so strong, but I couldn’t leave my friends here if there was any risk of Uncle Roark coming here and identifying them. He’d slaughter them just because he could, and because it would gut me.
My breathing must have become loud and erratic because when I snapped out of my panic and back into reality, all eyes in the room were on me.
“My ne prichinit tebe vreda, lisichka.” Riordan was observing my reaction to him; his eyes narrowed slightly as he took a step back to give me space.
“I don’t speak French,” I snapped. “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Petrov, and you too Spike, but we’re leaving now. I suggest you let us.”
Cricket held his hands up to temper my crocodile snap. “We’ll let our prez know that the Petrov family has a new representative in Nevada. I’m sure you’ll hear from him soon so he can welcome you. Los Cuervos doesn’t want any trouble with the Petrovs.”
Cricket grabbed Lennon’s hand and started towing her to the door. Thor gently placed his hand on my lower back and nudged me toward the exit, noting as I did that Riordan had a real staring problem. The dude’s eyes bored into my face, and it was starting to piss me off. As we crossed the threshold, Riordan called out, “I’ll be looking forward to his call. And Indigo? We will be seeing each other again. Very soon.” Thor could feel a shudder run through me at his words, causing him to usher me faster toward the exit and our waiting vehicle.
The ride back to Sagebrush wasn’t nearly as fun or lighthearted as the ride to Reno had been. Thor drove us quickly while Cricket quietly spoke on his cell phone. Lennon and I sat in the back seat, all traces of our fun and dancing buzz a distant memory. Thor’s shrewd eyes kept catching mine in the rearview mirror, unasked questions filling the air in the SUV. I didn’t know who this Riordan Petrov was or why he was interested in me, but the entire situation got my spidey senses all tingly. He was dangerous, and if he was involved with Uncle Roark, then he was also an enemy. I couldn’t risk putting my new friends in danger anymore. It was time for me to leave Sagebrush in Sheila’s rearview mirror and hit the road before my past caught up with me and burned my present to ash.
Chapter 12
Priest
“Explain it to me again.” Bones and I had wrapped up our business at Savage Delights faster than we had anticipated and decided to stay and watch the fight after. Bear was announcing for the night, which was rare now that he ran the underground fight ring for the Crows. Way back when, he was a fighter in The Pit, but now he ran the most popular illegal fighting ring in the state. Talk about the American dream.
Halfway through the main event, an MMA-style cage fight, Bones’s phone started vibrating in his pocket. One look at his text messages caused him to catch my eye and give me the “we need to leave” head jerk. Fuckin’ great. Could we not get a few hours where we didn’t have some kind of club bullshit coming our way? Maybe I was just being an asshole, and someone’s old lady got a flat tire and needed us to come help put on a spare. Either way, it pulled me away from the first fun thing I’d tried to do for myself in a few weeks. With my research and babysittingher, VP responsibilities, and trying to help Bard organize theupcoming meeting with the Alvarez Cartel, I’d been all work and no play for far too long. I wasn’t in the mood for a hookup, so watching a fight was the next best way to blow off a little steam. It beat getting into an actual fight, which would have been much more cathartic but potentially have unexpected consequences if I lost my temper and hurt someone more than I meant to. There was stress relief, and then there was murder. I had to draw a line somewhere, or else I was no better than scum like Slyzec.
As soon as we left the fight, Bones called Cricket and had a terse conversation while I smoked a cigarette. Hanging up, Bones informed me that there had been a complication with Lennon and Indigo’s little girls’ night out. Apparently, she had been invited to meet the new Mr. Petrov in town, and he had paid her special attention. Bones quickly paraphrased Cricket’s explanation about how the night went down.
“Cricket said the girls danced and had a good time, no problems. As soon as they were about to head home, they were stopped in the parking lot and told they had to go see Petrov. It's not Mikhail. Apparently, his son is running The Goldfinch, and it was him who seemed particularly interested in chica loca. Cricket said he only had eyes for her, and Thor looked like he wanted to bury his hammer in the guy’s head. Anyway, chica loca started acting cagey. Cricket couldn’t get a read on why.”
I scoffed. “More cagey than usual? Don’t pretend that girl ever behaves normally.” The bitch was nuttier than squirrel poop. I saw her talking to a cactus once, I swear to God.
Bones gave me a look, one of his disapproving dad glares that he always broke out whenever I said anything less than complimentary about his gal pal. I wasn’t sure how it happened, or why, or even exactly when, but Bones started looking at Indigo the way he used to look at Ellis. Like she was a little sister or something, and he was equally amused and exasperated by her sassy antics. And damn if that didn’t make me hate her just a little bit more. He looked at Ellis like that; he shouldn’t see anyone else in the same way. She didn’t deserve it, and she definitely wasn’t worth it. I’d prove it to Bones and Duke and everyone who thought the crazy chick was justsoprecious. I’d expose her for what she was, and they’d see that she didn’t need or deserve our help. Once she left, things would get back to normal.They had to.
“Anyway. He spoke to her in Russian, acted like he had met her before or was connected to her in some way. They’re on their way home now. She and Lennon are both fine. Quiet.” Oh, I bet she was being fuckin’ quiet now. A surge of vindication coursed through my veins at being proven right. I knew it! I knew she wasn’t an innocent little victim like Duke thought or a survivor-hero like Bones believed her to be. She had a connection, and to the Russian bratva of all things. Everyone else thought she was some down-on-her-luck victim who overcame shit and persevered or whatever crap she was spouting. I knew from the beginning that she was hiding something, and this was the proof I was looking for. I needed to research Riordan Petrov and determine how Indigo was connected to him. If I could show Duke proof, he’d have to rescind his job offer and kick her out at the very least or subject her to club justice at the worst for her deceit. I bet the bitch staged the entire Slyzec thing just to con her way into the clubhouse. Slyzec could be a Russian name, right? I bet the Petrovs knew all along what their man Slyzec was up to and turned a blind eye until it suited them to get rid of him. Bastards.
“I fuckin’ knew it,” I said as I jerked the strap for my helmet under my chin.
“We don’tknowanything yet,” Bones replied, sliding on his own helmet and starting his bike. We pulled out of the lot bordering Savage Delights. The fight ring operated in an old warehouse the club owned, and the heroic Reno PD was paid to ignore it twice a week as long as nothing got out of hand.
“You don’tknowanything, amigo. Let’s go home and debrief Cricket and Thor. We’ll talk to Duke and go from there.” I nodded and peeled out of the crumbling parking lot. I revved my engine, eager to get back to Sagebrush and prove to my brother and my dad that this girl had to go. She wasn’t good for the club, no matter how funny or sexy or peculiarly interesting she happened to be.
“So there’s a young Petrov in town and he had a hard-on for the girl, erm…Indigo. So fuckin’ what? He’s got a cock, and she’s not hard to look at. I fail to see why you woke my old ass up to hear this nonsense, Priest.” In my excitement, I forgot what a crotchety prick my dad was when he didn’t get enough sleep.
I gritted my teeth together. “It’s more than that. I’d bet you anything he knows her or, hell, even sent her here. Maybe she’s a bratva spy?” Duke rubbed his hands over his eyes, and Bones had the absolute audacity to look embarrassed of me. I wasn’t making shit up, goddammit. She was hiding something! “Jesus, at the very least, this proves there’s more to her than we know. I’ve always felt like she was hiding something. Maybe it has to do with the bratva.”
“We’ve never had any beef with the Russians, and if she was a bratva spy, why would he draw attention to their connection?” Duke’s eyes pleaded with mine to see sense, but I wasn’t going to budge on this.
“Look,” Bones interjected, “we’ve all been watching chica loca. Other than this incident at Allure, we can all agree that she’s never outwardly done anything to draw suspicion, yes?”
Duke nodded, and I reluctantly bobbed my head. My gut instinct had never allowed me to trust the girl, but I had to admit that since she kicked the shit out of Pyro and smacked that one douche who grabbed her ass, Indigo had been a model prisoner. She’d kept to her routine and been friendly with just about everyone except Pyro and maybe Mindy, who’d disliked the girl. She’d been on her best behavior, which made tonight that much more significant. If I could just get the go-ahead to question her, I was sure I’d have her confessing all her sins.
“Come on, Prez. Let me question her. I’ll get her confession.” Ten minutes, that was all I’d need. I’d earned my road name. When I questioned someone, I got their confession. Every. Single. Time.I’d get her confession, prove I had been right about her, and then maybe I could finally stop feeling so god-awful. Since the moment she’d opened her mouth and said she’d killed Slyzec, I’d known no peace—my mind never able to completely stop thinking about her. She distracted me like nothing had, and I knew deep down that it was because she didn’t belong in the club. She wasn’t safe to have around our home. Los Cuervos meant family. It was a generational bond that touched each and every member and their families. The thought that I had allowed a viper in our midst made my stomach flip.
