We moved in silence through the clubhouse. I could feel the eyes of the members and the prospects watching in surprise, perhaps shock, at what was happening. I couldn’t ever recall bringing in another club through our doors.
Then again, I couldn’t ever recall someone taking potshots so brazenly at the club walls. I needed to nip this shit before someone died.
The three of us Devil’s Patriots took our seats. We brought in one chair, which Cole took. The other two, their names already forgotten, stood behind him.
“Tell us everything you know,” I said.
“And what do we get out of it?”
I grimaced.
“We’re not fucking joining you,” I said, “so if that’s on your list of demands, you can leave now and save yourself the time.”
“It would be ideal, but we understand that’s not available at the moment,” Cole said.
That seemed suspiciously…political of an answer. Like a dodge that was meant to be interpreted literally as nothing bad happening now, but things could change quickly. I didn’t fucking like it, especially when it came from a biker’s mouth.
But we had other shit to worry about.
“We want you to ally with us when we strike at King’s Men.”
“So you think they’re vulnerable?” I said.
“As vulnerable as any man,” Cole said. “But they’re well fortified. Even with two chapters in our club, we won’t suffice. We need another one, like you, to go after them.”
“And if we don’t join?”
“We’ll find someone else,” Cole said in a blunt tone.
Well, he’d have a hell of a time finding someone else, especially someone near Las Vegas. I was pretty sure there were some clubs in Utah, but when you were as self-sufficient as we were, you didn’t concern yourself with whatever the fuck happened out there.
“We’re open to the idea of striking back at these fuckers and having a deal in place where we can share resources,” I said, and I knew immediately Spawn and Sonny were tense. But I was better at negotiating than they thought. “But understand this. Whatever we give you, we get back. When this is all said and done, we’re going back to our little spot here in Phoenix and living our lives. So we’re allies of convenience.”
“Shake on it.”
OK.
So be it.
I stood up, met Cole halfway at the table, and squeezed his hand as hard as I could. For a dude so tiny, he had a hell of a grip. Perhaps I’d underestimated these fuckers.
“Now then,” I said. “Tell us everything you know about the King’s Men. And how we can wipe out these assholes for good.”
Hailey
One Week Later
Satan had lived up to his promise.
When things had settled down a bit and life had gone from wondering what would happen in the next fifteen minutes to instead the next fifteen hours, he came over to my place and I to his a little more often. We always made sure to visit in the dark so no one would catch a glimpse, but heavens, that man could work my body like no one else. Maybe I had the wild side Leigh had always suggested I had, but I’d just never found the right guy for it.
And now, I had.
But more than that, as great as the sex was, something else was happening—something more emotional. Call me crazy, and you’d have every right to after what happened to Melissa and from what I knew, but I felt like there was something deeper with Satan.
Sure, it could have just been youth. I always felt a little attached to the people that I slept with, even if I knew rationally there was no chance of it working out. I was probably more predisposed to relationships than not. But I could justfeelit.
I could see it in moments when Satan would briefly drop his guard. I’d almost gotten him to admit his real name a couple of times. The closest he’d come was when he told me his first name wasn’t far off from Satan. I asked if that meant his name was Sebastian or Sam or Stephen, but he gave no indication either way. Once he wanted to put on his poker face, nothing could make it come off except himself.
