“Are you planning on going back to work?”
“Yeah, why?”
“You’re not safe right now. Did King say anything about us?”
Hailey shook her head, but I knew better.
“I just said I built relationships to get the material, but—”
“That’s more than enough for him; he probably already knew about us to some extent,” I said, followed by some cursing under my breath. “We’ll need to send a club member with you when you go back to work. For now, I’ll escort you to the clubhouse as a rendezvous point.”
“But—”
“Trust me on this one, Hailey,” I said. “It’s far better if you do this. I don’t think your life is in immediate danger, but you’re a prime candidate for kidnapping.”
She took a deep breath and sighed.
“You can’t be unwatched right now.”
“I’m not—”
“None of us should be alone or unwatched right now.”
That got the message across well enough. Innocent girl who couldn’t defend herself? Maybe patronizing to her. Bikers shouldn’t be alone either so someone could watch their six.
Point fucking made.
“Understood,” Hailey said, finally grasping the severity of the situation.
“Let’s go, now,” I said. “I’m sure King already knows I live here, but I don’t want him getting any ideas. For now, I’ll drive by the side of your car. If I notice that we’re being followed, I’ll drive behind you. That will be your cue to park at the clubhouse and run inside. You’ll get questions and glares, but I’ll be right behind. If no one follows, stay in your car at the clubhouse and I’ll send someone out.”
We headed right for the garage. But before I popped it open, I peered out a side window to take a look at the neighborhood. As far as I could see, the coast was clear.
I feared it would prove to be the only part of the ride over that was.
There was a second problem. Although Hailey had asked to come over as soon as she could, I hadn’t gotten her message until later in the afternoon. Though it was still bright outside, I knew it wouldn’t be long before the sun had set completely and we were in darkness. At that point, the King’s Men would have a clear advantage of surprise on the road.
But we had no choice. Hailey couldn’t just shelter in place for the rest of her life. We had to move.
And so we peeled out of the neighborhood and onto some of the main roads.
For the first half of the trip, I kept my head on a swivel. I identified every car and scowled at every man and woman who laid eyes on me or Hailey’s car. For every case, it proved to simply be a normal citizen curious about me. But it only took one to have a smirk on his face or reveal himself.
In fact, for the second half of the trip, too, things appeared routine. The clubhouse came into view, and things appeared ordinary. But this seemed too normal. I felt like I’d missed something. Maybe we were being followed from a distance. Maybe—
Two guards stood at the front entrance of the clubhouse. They were wearing Devil’s Patriots gear and even had some of the neck tats.
I didn’t recognize them.
I almost pulled up behind Hailey, but I knew that if I did, she would sprint inside—right into the arms of the two unknown guards. I had to act cool and keep her in the car.
I parked the bike next to Hailey, commanded her to wait there, and walked over.
“Prospects,” I said, pretending I didn’t know any better.
“Satan,” they said, nodding.
“How go things?”
