Cambry just rolled her eyes.
Obviously, I’d missed something, per usual.
“You girls need to come with me,” he said, and I raised an eyebrow toward Tillie who just sighed.
We stood and followed him down the hall and into his office. He closed the door behind us and waved to the chairs in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”
“What’s up?” Tillie asked as we sat down.
Cambry stood off to the side and Hatch gave her a little head shake before lowering himself into the chair across from us. Leaning back slightly, he tugged on the lapel of his cut. “Y’all understand what this stands for, right?”
We nodded in unison, but my heart started to race.
“Tell me then, Tillie.”
“It means you’re in a club. That you ride with the Dogs of Fire.”
I swallowed convulsively. That’s not all it meant, but I kept my mouth shut.
He shook his head. “It means I’m a member. And even though I’m the club president, first and foremost, I’m amember. A member of this club, a member of this brotherhood, a member of this family. Even though none of you wear a cut, you are alsomembers of this family and when members don’t look out for other members, or put themselves into dangerous situations, I get itchy, because it’s my job to get itchy. But when that itching turns to burning, we have a problem.” He speared us all with a look of death. “And ladies, we have a big fuckin’ problem.”
I bit my lip and squirmed in my seat.
He focused on Tillie and demanded, “What’s this I hear about you gettin’ fake IDs for underage kids?”
“Oh my god, my dad knows no bounds,” I ground out.
“Hush,” Hatch growled, and I immediately hushed. “Matilda, answer the question.”
“It was only for a few friends, and I haven’t done it for a while… well, until Teagan.”
“So, you sent your friend, yoursister, into Spiders’ territory, alone, all so she could get into a club less than six months before her twenty-first birthday?”
“What?” Tillie squeaked, turning to me. “Spiders’ territory? Why were you in Gresham? Lou lives in Hazel Dell.”
“I don’t know, that’s the address Lou texted me,” I said.
“How much did you pay for this shitty ID, Teagan?” Hatch asked.
“Two hundred fifty.”
“It was supposed to be a hundred. Lou charged you two-fifty?” Tillie asked me.
“Lou wasn’t there,” I said. “I had to deal with Hooks.”
“Who the fuck is this Hook guy?” Hatch snapped.
“Hooks,”I corrected. “You know, because he hooks you up with whatever you need.”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” he hissed. “Focus, Teagan. Who the fuck is Hooks?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “Just some creepy guy I never want to see again.”
“He was creepy?” Tillie asked. “Oh my god, T, you should have gotten out of there.”
“Like, oh my god, Tillie, she totally shouldn’t have been there in thefirst fuckin’ place,” Hatch bellowed, losing his fake Valley Girl accent.
“But—”
