We were wasting time. I had to make a decision.
But my decision was not going to sit well with the other two bikers.
“I think she’s not lying about our chances in there,” I said. “Even if Lucius is the only one in there, he’s not an idiot. He’s not some fatass waiting to be offed.”
I turned to her.
“Come and stay with me. Two days. Tell me everything you know. Do that, and I’ll get you a plane ticket to anywhere in the country you want. You’ll never have to come back here ever again. Your father will have no idea where you’ve gone. You’ll have the freedom you ask for.”
“And why should I trust you?” she said.
She didn’t have any reason to. But that didn’t mean she had a choice.
“What are you going to do instead? Try and make it wherever on your own? You couldn’t even get out of your own neighborhood without us helping you.”
Lilly bit her lip, though some of her anger was dulled by my sympathetic expression. She understood I wasn’t mocking her but speaking the truth.
“Cole,” Patriot said. “You do this, man, and Lucius finds out…”
“He won’t,” I said. “No one else will find out. Only the three of us will know. Not even Lane.”
Patriot looked at me like I was a goddamn idiot. And frankly, I was. Pulling one over my brother at a time when we needed to come closer together was stupid. And so was this notion that this was a good idea.
But…
Well, I had a multitude of reasons for believing this could have some potential. Some more defensible than others.
“You’re the boss,” Phoenix said. “But you had better be making a smart choice and taking every precaution.”
“Find them and find her!”
Lucius’ voice was distant, far enough away that we had time to make our getaway. But the clock had started, and I doubted we had more than thirty seconds.
“I need a decision now,” I said. “Come with me, and you’ll be safe. Do you trust me?”
She looked at me and gulped.
“No,” she said. “But let’s go.”
Good enough for now.
“Turn off your cell phone,” I said. “And any other electronic you have.”
“What about my luggage—”
“Leave it,” I said. “I’ll give you cash to buy more clothes wherever you go.”
Lilly grimaced. I didn’t have time for this. I grabbed her by the wrist, ignored the warm sensation spreading through my arm, and led her back to my back. Patriot and Phoenix had already gotten to their bikes and turned them on. I hopped on mine, patted the back, and waited for Lilly to get on. Her arms wrapped around my stomach.
I had never had such a taboo feeling in my life. The daughter of my greatest enemy, on the back of my bike? And it felt… good?
Was I seriously asking for death to come to me any faster?
“Head back to the clubhouse,” I said. “Tomorrow, we tell Lane that we did recon and realized it was a suicide mission. Not a fucking word about her, understood?”
Phoenix and Patriot gave a thumbs up.
This was one of the dumbest things I’d ever done in my life. Not only was this a risk between the Reapers and Saints, I was trusting Patriot to back me up instead of Lane. At a time when the two clubs needed to unite and stay together, I had just told him to lie to Lane, his best friend and his boss. This not only had the potential to backfire on us with the Saints, it could make us rip each other apart before Lucius so much as pointed his gun at us.
