“Angela.”
My eyes cocked at that one.
“You’re taking a really big risk bringing outside people into club business, man,” I said, doing my best not to get frustrated. “You know how much the brotherhood means. Angela’s a great woman, and I’m glad you got her, but you’re foolish if you think that bringing her in for something like that is smart.”
“I know, I know.”
I defended Lane in a lot of cases when I felt people just didn’t bother to understand him, but this was a spot he’d fucked up. Too late to do anything about it now, though.
“In any case, she warned me that anyone, even you, could be the spy, but just to be one hundred percent clear, I don’t think you’re the spy.”
“Good,” I said. “I’d have to kick your ass anyway if you thought I was, man.”
Lane laughed at that, and I smiled back to be polite, but this wasn’t a conversation I was particularly enjoying. It was just reminding me how much I hated what had happened in my past, and how futile my efforts to date had been to deal with it. It reminded me that I couldn’t escape those failures.
“I am thankful, though, that you have that level of trust in me.”
“Of course,” Lane said easily. “You’re the closest thing I have to a brother in here.”
No, that’s Cole. But I get what you mean.
“So if you really think there’s a spy among us,” I said. “If you really think that someone is ratting out our secrets to the Saints, what do you want me to do? I can get some equipment to test for bugs, maybe I can put tracers on people’s phones to listen in to calls, but it’ll take some time and some sneaking around. And if we do this wrong...”
“I know, I know,” Lane said. “Why don’t we discuss this later? I don’t want someone to barge in at the wrong moment right now.”
“Brewskis?” I immediately suggested.
“Think it might be hot after what happened?”
“Could be,” I admitted. “But I doubt it. We both have gone to that spot for ages now, even after some pretty ugly incidents. It would have to take someone really stupid to end that peace. It would be the equivalent of invoking World War Three. So long as we both show up at the same time.”
Lane smiled.
“I guess right now, I’m just being extra cautious about how we handle things,” Lane said. “There’s a lot that I’m realizing I used to believe in, but now, I can’t say for sure if I do anymore.”
Like your own skill and confidence, for example.
Okay, that was perhaps a bit brutally harsh. But it’s not without reason.
“By the way, did you zone out during the club vote?”
Shit. Okay, yep, you can’t hide that anymore. That’s a good sign you don’t have it like you used to.
“Yeah,” I said after a hesitation. “Just thinking about some shit. What was the vote on again?”
“Do you...”
Lane thought better of asking if I wanted to talk about it first. Unlike him, who seemed to not mind opening up and confessing his fears, I had trouble doing that. I could barely fucking have a conversation with myself about those matters.
“The vote was on if we should go and reach out to some of the medical staff at the hospital and see if we can get them on our payroll,” Lane said. “I don’t like having to have our men go all the way to the hospital for treatment, dragging the club away from here and splitting us apart. I want us centralized as much as we can.”
“Well, I said yay, didn’t I?” I said with a laugh.
“Yeah, but I think you should have had a bigger role in it,” Lane said. “I sent Axle to do it just by default since he and Butch are usually the outreach guys, but such outreach usually entails a harder touch with those two. I should have asked someone with a softer touch—”
“You’re saying I’m soft, aren’t you?” I deadpanned.
Lane raised his hands but couldn’t help his smirk.
