Instead of being offended, because apparently, being offended wasn’t a thing Blayke was capable of, his grin just widened until a dimple appeared in each cheek. I swear to fuck, I swooned internally. Those dimples gave him a boyish charm that wiped away some of his rough edges, andChrist, I wanted to know what’d it’d be like to make those dimples appear more often.
“Fuck, I love it when you get all pissy with me.” He grabbed my duffel bag from the floor by my feet, then jerked his chinin the direction of the staircase. “Let’s go, mama. Time to get settled in and shower. You stink.”
I glowered at him as he began ascending the stairs. “And right now, you’d make onions cry,” I retorted.
His cackle echoed down the staircase.
“Are they going to be like this the entire time?” Gidget asked, his voice low and deep, with a hint of a rasp from lack of use. He’d barely said five words the entire drive from Texas to Oaxaca.
“Probably,” Geek responded. “She’s been at everyone’s throats since the moment she showed up at the clubhouse. Even went off on Johnston. Woman’s got balls.”
“I like her,” Halo said. “I hope Blayke convinces Johnston to patch her in. She’s gonna be valuable.”
Damn right I was going to be. And I was going to prove to Blayke that I was more than just a big mouth and what laid between my legs. I was just as cold and deadly as they could be, and they’d find that out soon enough.
7
Blayke
Noah leaned forward and grabbed a cookie from the tray Alejandro’s housekeeper had brought into the sitting room for all of us. I wasn’t in the mood for anything sweet. I liked the particular brand of spicy sitting across from me on the other couch, but she wasn’t letting me anywhere near her to taste her, so I just had my imagination to work with.
“Do we know anything new yet?” Halo asked, reclining back into the couch with a beer in his hand. “I mean, besides what we already know, what else do we have to work with? Johnston just sent us all down here a bit blind.”
“No,” Alejandro told him. Halo dramatically sighed, even going so far as to lean his head back to stare up at the ceiling. I bit back a laugh. “I have people digging to find out more information on this uprising group. But as of right now, I have not heard anything. Since I was unaware of them up until now, I imagine finding information on them will be difficult. They’re not like past groups I’ve dealt with. They’re sneakier and more advanced, clearly.”
“Well, that’s not helpful at all,” Geek muttered, already fucking around on his laptop. He’d gotten his shit set up the moment we walked through the door. “I haven’t been able to find much on my end either. If I just had a starting point…”
“I need someone to bring me up to speed,” Noah said, holding a half-eaten cookie in her hand. “Because I’ve been dragged into the middle of this shit so I can prove to your sexist ass president that I’m not just old lady material, and I have no idea what the hell is going on.”
Fuck, I loved the balls on this woman.
“We’ve been at war with the Russians for quite a while now,” Halo began explaining. “They partnered with the Ghosts of Chaos MC. It came to Scorpion’s attention when they began hedging in on our territory, and Scorpion got in touch with Johnston. Geek did the digging for us. Things were quiet until they began targeting businesses that used Scorpion for security.”
“They attacked—” I used the term loosely because what had happened to Sophia, the Texas Charter’s VP’s old lady, had beenbrutal—“Sophia, Chase’s old lady. Left her naked, bloody, and beaten on the floor of her bookstore. It officially triggered a war.”
Noah’s eyes turned flinty. “Are the people who did that to her dead?” she asked, her voice cold.
“Yes,” Geek assured her, his eyes never leaving his laptop. “Tortured, then killed. The only one left alive that was involved is Gabriel, Tango’s boy.”
She scowled, her eyes narrowing on him. “One of your members iswithone of the assholes responsible for what happened to her?”
“Easy, mama,” I soothed. She swung her angry gaze to mine. I met her eyes calmly. “He would’ve been taken out had we not found out he was just as much a victim as she was. And I’m leaving it at that.” It wasn’t my story to tell, and the last fucking thing I needed was Tango finding out I’d told his boy’s business.Tango’s loyalties lay with the club, but he’d turn on us in a split second if it meant protecting his boy.
Halo snorted. “Yeah because if Tango finds out we’re spilling the beans about his boy without his consent, he’ll slit our throats.”
“It might shut you up for a while,” Gidget grumbled. But instead of being offended, Halo just winked at him and lifted his beer to his lips. A small chuckle escaped my lips. Something had definitely shifted between them. I didn’t know what, and it wasn’t my business to pry. Couldn’t deny I wasn’t fucking curious though. Time would give me all my answers though.
“Trigger and I wiped out a good number of the ones in the top ranks,” I went on. “So we’re assuming they came here to regroup. We just need to find out where they’re holing up and go from there. If we find out where they are, we can do recon, then Geek can get us floor plans and security info, and we can strategize.”
“If we need to find them, why don’t we go searching?” Noah asked, finishing off her cookie. “Surely, they’ll know who you guys are. And if they see one of you guys, maybe they’ll get cocky and come out of hiding. Or at least reveal where they’re at.”
“Gidget and I can go first,” Halo said, leaning forward now. When action got involved, Halo was usually the first one on board. I was pretty sure he had ADHD and might even be a little autistic. He always needed something to hyperfixate on, and he couldn’t stand sitting still for too long. He needed to go-go-go.
“Just volunteering me for shit now?” Gidget drawled, arching a brow at Halo.
Halo smacked Gidget’s thigh, and the look Gidget shot him could’ve put Halo six feet under if looks were capable of killing. “It’ll be fun. We’ll rest up tonight and head out at daybreak. Just ride around. Maybe walk some towns. They have to go out for food and water at some point. If we don’t find anythingtomorrow, then we broaden our search the next day.” He looked at me. “Solid plan?”
I shrugged one shoulder. “Best I’ve got for now.”
