“Marietta PD’s been sniffing around him for the assault and murder of a fifteen-year-old girl. The prick was obsessed with her, followed her to school and attended her volleyball games. He has a type.” Slate’s mouth tightened when he slid a wary glance my way. “Word is, the Somba Negra cartel boss is pissed. Ruiz is drawing heatandcosting money.”
Another heavy silence rolled across the room.
“He’s also doing side deals with local gangs,” Slate continued.
“You think he’s trying to take the number one slot?”
Slate shook his head. “Fuck no. He’s just a slimy bastard who likes doing dirty shit. Making deals on the side, feeling like a big man and pocketing the extra cash. He likes that shit but not the responsibility.”
“That’s good,” Diesel said while my own thoughts raced. “It means there are other ways we can get to him without getting too close.”
“Pissed off cartel boss, for one,” Maverick added.
“Yeah or shot caller pissed off because his product is landing in their territory,” Rebel said.
I appreciated what they were trying to do, but that didn’t change shit. “I promised Macy I’d kill that fucker myself. Ruiz and Halloran.” All eyes were on me, and I felt exposed as fuck, but I meant what I said.
“Got something you wanna tell us?” Hawk asked, a teasing smile lighting up his face.
“Not really,” I grunted. “Macy and I both had fucked up childhoods in different ways. Absent and neglectful parents, you know the story. She’s my best friend in the whole fucking world, before the MC and before the Army, and we took care of each other. I was always a little in love with her, but it wasn’t ever about that.” I stared at the table as I spoke, a memory appeared without warning.
Macy, scrawny as hell, curled up on the floor beside the garbage chute with tears streaming down her cheeks. She was trying to make herself as small as possible until she was damn near invisible. But I saw her. I always did.
Some other girls in the building were teasing her about her clothes that were always a little too big or had a few too many holes in them. She didn’t fight back because she’d been conditioned to shrink.
“Did you get those clothes from the dumpster,” one of them laughed.
Macy didn’t answer, somehow, she shrank even more.
I took a step forward until I was right behind the mean girl. “Not everyone’s mom can just open their legs to get new clothes. New shoes. A new phone.”
She gasped and turned to glare at me.
“Get the fuck out of here,” I said, louder when she thought she might argue with me. I didn’t bother watching them walk away, instead I picked her up and took her back to my place where we curled up in bed and slept back to back.
The way we had for years.
“Not before,” Hawk said. “But what about now? What’s it like?”
I didn’t have an answer to that even though I could still taste her on my tongue. I knew what I wanted but we weren’t there yet. “Now I’m not willing to let any fucking harm come to her. Period. I won’t lose her again. I can’t.”
Gio let out a low whistle, a wide ass grin on his face. “Another one bites the dust.”
I frowned. “Asshole,you’vebitten the dust.”
Gio wore a smug grin and shrugged. “That’s how I recognize the signs.”
I rolled my eyes. “I just hate feeling so fucking helpless.”
“Yep, that’s one of the signs,” Gio said, so fucking amused with himself.
I flipped him off and turned to Slate.
He closed his laptop and nodded. “I’ll keep eyes on Halloran and Ruiz, you keep Macy close. And safe.”
It wasn’t the answer I wanted but it was the one I got and I had to live with that. In that way, MC life wasn’t much different from Army life.
The meeting shifted after all my fucking drama to more mundane details like club businesses. Without the shit stirred up by Sledge’s ex, Leather & Chrome’s business was booming. We always had a backlog at Steel City Motors, and Demon Head Guns had private parties booked out for six months. For the first time in a long fucking time, MC life was quiet.
