Gabe was directing the prospects and inspecting the mess before he decided to quietly watch and listen to these two talk. He inserts himself into the conversation, only he’s not glaring at them, he’s glaring at me.
This can’t be good.
My wheels are spinning at all the scenarios I could be facing. There’s no telling what Ever might have said to Pres. She’s fired up and feeling vulnerable, a dangerous combination with my girl. Whatever it was, Gabe looks frustrated as hell. “Your woman is stubborn as fuck, Mason. Good luck with that one.”
“What’s the problem, Pres?” I ask, both amused and concerned. Few people give Gabe shit around here and get away with it except his blood or his ol’ lady, but apparently Everly has decided to give it her best shot this morning.
“She’s hell-bent on cleaning this place up by herself. Claims she doesn’t need the club’s help since she’s not, and I quote, ‘one of us.’ Keeps trying to take the broom from Austin while shooingboth prospects away.” He chuckles. “I take it she didn’t agree to your idea about wanting to claim her, huh?”
I rub the back of my neck, trying to ease some of the tension there. “She’s just pissed at the situation, Pres. She doesn’t like asking for help. I’ll talk to her.”
“So, you haven’t told her yet?” Gabe arches an eyebrow at me, smiling.
“We’re talking about it. She just needs to warm up to the idea.”
“It’s going to take more than talking to calm her ass down.” Hawk smiles. “Tie her to the bed. She’ll come, and then she will be more compliant.”
“Sex isn’t the answer to everything, you idiot.” Sadie slaps his chest.
“Sure, it is,” he starts. “Or don’t you remember that night I tied your wrists and made you—” She lifts on her toes and kisses him hard, shutting him up and making the rest of us laugh. Hawk reaches down, giving Sadie’s ass a firm squeeze.
“Get a room!” Pres barks and they pull apart. “She’s my niece, for fuck’s sake.”
“Say another word about that night and I’ll tell them about your latest pirate adventure,” she teases. “You know the one where we discovered you like a little pinky in y?—”
“No.” Hawk growls, covering her mouth with his hand instantly. “You swore, Sapphire.” She shrugs a shoulder. There’s a challenge in her eyes, daring him to test her. Hawk lets out a long sigh, leaning his forehead against hers. He nods, grumbling, “You win.” When he drops his hand, the triumphant smile on her face says it all. “Such a brat,” Hawk grunts.
“Jesus. Can we get back to what’s important, please? Doyouknow why the Devils are taking a piss in Oakridge, Gabe?” Mike asks, bringing the conversation back around.
Gabe crosses his arms over his chest, leaning his back against the pickup truck. “I’m guessing they think we had something to do with the three assholes the Feds found dead with Drea in that motel a while back.” He shrugs. “We had nothing to do with it, but you know, old rivalries die hard and so do accusations.”
“Yeah, well, I’d prefer it if there were no more deaths in my town. Especially the kind that’ll bring the Feds back around.” He gives Gabe a pointed glare. “That Agent Galina was a fucking nightmare to work with, man,” Mike grumbles. “I was so happy when they said she left on a special assignment. We all were.”
The four of us look at each other, unsure if Mike knows that Agent Galina is dead or if her ‘special assignment’ is the bureau’s way of covering for their clusterfuck of an investigation. Gabe gives a subtle shake of his head, telling us to keep our mouths shut.
“She was quite the ballbuster,” Gabe replies. Mike nods his agreement.
“If you find any footage of his face, or anything we can use to help identify him, let me know. We can run it through the system and see if we get a match,” Mike suggests.
“I’ll ask Wyatt to send you whatever he finds,” Gabe says, giving a chin lift to Declan.
Dec pulls out his phone and shoots off a text. “I’ll keep this place on the patrol route for a while on all shifts and keep watch in case they come back around.”
Gabe nods his agreement to the plan.
“We will too.” With that, Mike shakes Gabe’s hand and takes his leave.
The windows have all been boarded up. The two prospects are walking out after working inside. “We got everything she would let us.” Colt shakes his head.
“Head back. I’ll be right behind you,” Gabe orders them, then turns to me. “We’re going to head back to the clubhouse.You should probably get in there and settle Everly down. We’ll meet for church first thing in the morning. I want you to get everything together that we’ve got. Hawk, before you send anything over to Mike, I want to see it. Run your shit through their system and see what you can find. Stay ahead of the cops on this one. Kings handle our own,” Gabe growls. “I want to know everything we can about this asshole. Who he is and why he’s in our town. And most of all, who’s giving the orders?” Gabe demands. “Get this security system back up and running and have Sadie work her fucking magic on it since people keep finding ways to infiltrate your shit, Hawk.”
“Hey now. Pres, that’s not fair,” Hawk whines. “They didn’t infiltrate it. It was dumb fucking luck is all. They just turned it off. I can fix it.” Sadie’s laughing against Hawk’s chest. These two have been one-upping each other for as long as I’ve known them. But Sadie’s proudest moment was the night she broke through Hawk’s alarm system, created a video loop, and helped Avery sneak out of her grandparent’s mansion. The guys haven’t let Hawk live it down and constantly ask her to work on shit for them now just to be assholes.
I walk away from the argument I know is about to be stirred up between those two and walk through the door of the salon, where I find Ever kneeling on the floor with a cardboard box full of unbroken bottles of shampoo and other hair products.
“Sprite, why didn’t you let the prospects do that? You’re going to get glass in your hands and clothes.” Her head lifts slightly. Her eyes are red and swollen from crying, and the fact she doesn’t correct my use of her nickname or tell me off like she has everyone else today means she’s given up her fight for now.
“I need to salvage what I can. This was a brand-new shipment. I can’t afford to replace it until I’ve sold what I have.” I squat down, cradling her face in my hands, wiping her cheeks with my thumbs.
