“I’m sure,” Levi said, straddling his own bike, which was next to mine. We may have been facing different directions, but we were both on the same path. “You sure about the Crows?” Levi asked in turn, his golden-brown eyes doubtful.
I started my bike, the deep snarling rumble of my engine slicing through the night air. “I’m sure,” I said, giving my brother a nod. Los Cuervos weren’t like the Raiders. The things I’d learned about them since joining their ranks had surprised me for about two point five seconds before the implications began to race through my mind. Our goals were one and the same, and, sadly, so were our motivations. I wish I had known before I infiltrated their club that we were on the same side all along. It would make what comes next simpler for everyone. They’d never believe me now.
Chapter 30
Bones
“Yeah, Prez, that’s good to know,” I said, relief surging through me and chasing away a bit of the irritation I felt at being left at home for this raid. “I’ll see you when you get back. No…” I didn’t have anyproblemsto recount for Duke on the home front, but there had definitely been somedevelopments. When Lennon and Indi had gotten back from The Goldfinch, they’d wheeled in a leather office chair that Indigo insisted Thor help her move upstairs and into her room. Since then, she’d been uncharacteristically quiet. Before he’d left, Priest asked me to deliver his daily offering to her door, but the white bag I’d placed there this morning was left untouched. “I’ll see you when you get here,” I said, ending the call with Duke and casting my eyes around the clubhouse.
Thor and Knuckles were out making sure there weren’t any issues with our local businesses, but with Rusty’s closed today and Harrison & Son’s Construction working on legitimate jobs in another city, things hadbeen quiet. Savage Delights didn’t have any fights scheduled this week and wouldn’t reopen until Bear came back with Duke. Cricket had Crow’s Landing set up well, and the bar had been running smoothly in his absence. Shiloh was a capable bartender and had worked there long enough to keep the drinks flowing. I knew he had Archer checking in on the bar, but maybe after he saw how well Shiloh handled things in his absence, he’d consider making her his assistant manager.
Lennon had been tight-lipped when she and Indigo got back from Reno, and I got the sense mygatitawas avoiding me. Something seemed to have changed between us since I spent the night holding her after the Iron Raiders attacked her outside Misty’s Diner. I thought maybe she finally understood why I was pushing her away, why this life wasn’t good for her, but now I wasn’t so sure. I wished that my arm was well enough to join in on the Raider attack. I felt useless, and my brothers were out there risking their lives without me to watch their backs.
A few hours later, the roar of engines rumbled through the clubhouse walls as several bikes rode down the driveway. Blaze was operating the gate, and my suspicions were confirmed when Lorna came through saloon-style doors leading deeper into the clubhouse. “Priest is back. They’d have been back sooner, but they stayed to make sure one of the injured Furies was alright. Duke should be back soon,” she said, sliding her phone back into her pocket. She and the ole ladies had been working with the Crows in residence to keep our home safe, and I knew that Lorna had also been stress-baking back at her house. She’d offered to teach Indigo a new recipe to help her pass the time until everyone came home, but Indi had shaken her head in refusal and wouldn’t meet Lorna’s eyes.
I knew from text updates that Priest and our brothers had all survived the attack on the Iron Raiders' Chico clubhouse, but seeing them park their bikes in the lot eased a tension I didn’t know I was carrying in my shoulders. I walked out onto the porch and slapped my brother’s good-naturedly on the back as they filed in. Priest was the last one to climb the steps onto the porch, and he gave me a one-armed hug, careful not to hurt my arm.
“Everything good on this end, brother?” he asked, eyes searching for someone he wouldn’t find at the moment. Indigo was still upstairs.
“We’re good,” I replied, as we walked inside. “Once Duke gets back, we’ll debrief.” He nodded his head distractedly, still searching for his girl. “You should know, something went down at The Goldfinch.” Dark brows lowered over icy eyes as Priest scowled.
“Are the girls okay?” he asked.
“No one was hurt, but when Lennon and Indigo came back, I could tell something was wrong. Indigo has been holed up in her room, and Lennon doesn’t want to talk to me. I don’t think it could have been too bad because no one came back bloody or bruised, but I thought you’d want to know. So…enter her room at your own risk.” Priest sighed, but the sound was lost when the rumble of more bikes sounded at the gate. Duke and the rest of our chapter came riding toward the clubhouse.
“Seems it’ll have to wait,” Priest muttered. Our prez was back, and it was time to debrief. “I’ll call Knuckles and Thor.” Matters of the heart had to be set aside now. Los Cuervos business couldn’t wait.
Priest
As soon as Knuckles and Thor came back from their ride to check on a Harrison & Sons build site, Duke called church to order. I relayed what went down at the Chico Raider chapter house, and the successful destruction of their drug houses. Clover and the Petrov IT guys had been busy over the past few days, doctoring surveillance footage, suppressing noise complaints and concerns from any gunfire heard, and ensuring the explosions were believed to be caused by a gas leak or something equally plausible but equally untrue.
We blew their shit sky-high and left a smoldering pile of ashes in our wake, which was effective but not very subtle. Honestly, subtlety was thelast thing on our minds. We wanted everyone who mattered in our world to know that Los Cuervos were not to be fucked with. Thankfully, the Petrovs owned Halcyon Global Media, a media conglomerate. The news of our attacks couldn’t really spread if the major news outlets never reported on it in the first place, ensuring civilians were ignorant of the example we’d had to make of the Raiders. Indigo would be thrilled to learn I was growing to appreciate the Russian bastards after all.
“Dr. Anders said Calypso would be fine in a few days, so the Frozen Furies stayed in Petrov’s safe house. They’ll head home once she can ride. Other than that, our mission went well. Cricket made sure Pyro suffered.” I paused to let my brothers pound their fists on the table and clap Cricket on the back before I finished up.
“How did things go on your end, Prez?” My father sat back in his chair and nursed a glass of scotch. He had a bruise blooming on his right cheek, but other than a few scrapes, the old man seemed to have fared well up in Bakersfield.
He cast his eyes toward Bear, who gave him a dark grin. “Oh, we had quite the trip.”
My old man smiled over the rim of his glass. “Whatever history Tisiphone had with Riot, well…let’s just say she worked out some of her demons in Cali. She’s such a tiny little thing, you’d never think she’d carry such vengeance inside her.” Sticks shuddered, and Tank looked slightly green as they recalled whatever the Fury had done to Riot. Duke cleared his voice. “Riot is dead. After Tisi had her fun, I put a bullet in his head myself. I had pieces of Riot sent to his allies and left his head on the clubhouse steps. The Iron Raiders are outta business, boys.” Duke nodded to Rook, who cast his computer screen onto the wall.
“Fuck yeah,” Blaze said gruffly, “that’s a lotta X’s.” All of the pictures of known Iron Raiders had been crossed out with red X’s, with one exception. “We have confirmed kills on Riot, his VP, and all the other Raiders of significance, except one. Leviathan, one of Riot’s enforcers, is MIA. Clover has his picture and will be searching for him with facial recognition software. If he made it out of the purge alive, she’ll find him. Otherwise, nothing belonging to the Iron Raiders remains standing.” Fists pounded the table, and a few brothers clapped at the news. Rook clicked his mouse, and the writing on the wall shiftedfrom the enemy we’d left in the past to the one we’d yet to neutralize. Roark Callahan.
“Clover and Ivan have been in contact, and they’ve both failed to trace Nicodemus, but the Astraea chatroom has been active. There haven’t been any new hits taken out on Indigo, at least not that we’ve been able to find.” I needed to find time tomorrow to talk to Rook privately. He’d been brought into our secret and knew that we worked within a network of clubs that actively worked to end human trafficking as far as we were able to in our part of the world. I wanted to ask him if there’d been any hint of The Consortium coming after Indi, but Tank, Thor, and Bard hadn’t been brought into that part of our operation yet. Honestly, Rook shouldn’t have been yet either, but Cricket thought he might be an asset with his analytical mind and technological skill.
“Take the night to eat, get cleaned up, and get some rest. Tomorrow, Priest and I meet with Petrov, and we’ll discuss what’s to be done about the Irish prick. Now, I have a woman to tend to, so get the fuck out.” Duke waved us away, eager to get back to my ma. I suppressed a shudder of disgust at the idea of him “tending” to her and headed up to my room so I could get cleaned up before I found Indi. After a quick shower and a change of clothes, I walked over to Indigo’s door, but something small and white by the threshold caught my eye. The bag containing a maple long john sat, untouched, where Bones had left it this morning, like I’d asked him to. I stared at the bag, nonplussed. Indigo never turned away one of my gifts, whether she knew they were from me or not. Red flag number one.
Careful not to step on it, I rapped my knuckles on her door. I waited for a few seconds, shifting my weight between my feet before knocking again. “Angel? Everything okay?” I leaned my head against the door and waited, wondering what had happened when she was at The Goldfinch. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and sent Indigo a text.
Me:Give me a sign of life, angel, or I’m coming in. If you don’t want to talk right now, that’s fine, but I need you to answer me. Then I’ll go.
I heard a muffledping!and knew she’d gotten my message. Red flag number two.
Ten seconds later, I heard stomping footsteps coming toward the door. I stepped back just as Indigo jerked the door open. “I was asleep,butthead!” My girl certainly looked like she’d just rolled out of bed. In my shirt. Satisfaction rose like a wave in my chest at seeing Indigo in my clothes as my eyes roved up her body, something that I was sure made me a possessive piece of shit. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. We were who we were. The satisfaction wilted, though, when I took in how drawn and puffy looking Indigo’s face was, like she’d been crying. A lot. Red flag number fucking three. Now something a little more sinister swelled in my chest, the need to destroy whatever it was that made her look so miserable.
“What happened?” I demanded.
Indigo’s eyes narrowed at my tone. “You wanted proof of life, here it is, Growly Gus. Good night.” She moved to close the door, but I put my boot in the doorjamb, preventing her.
