I begin envisioning stringing Maloney and his band of misfits up on my bike and pulling them down a rocky road. Then I sigh when reality hits me. What I want to do and what I can do are two separate entities. For the first time since joining the Kings, I’m livid that I have to put them first. But a promise is a promise and I took an oath the day I accepted the position of enforcer, so it’s one I won’t break no matter how tempted I am to do it.
“Can we still have Mexican food?” Letti asks, breaking me out of my fantasies.
“Yes, we can. The place I wanted to take you delivers. I’ll place an order for us while you go pick out a movie.”
“Sounds good. You know what I want, right?”
“Sure do. You mentioned it enough when I told you where we were going and you looked up their menu online. I’ve got this, go relax and put your feet up.”
“Thank you, Icer,” she mumbles, shuffling her feet.
“Viking,” I growl. “Remember, I changed my mind. Don’t like it when you call me what everyone else does.”
She giggles before skipping away, singing, “Icer. Viking. Icer. Viking. Kinda like them both.”
“Don’t push your luck, Letti, or I’ll order you a damn salad.”
She stops in her tracks and squints her eyes at me. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I shrug my shoulders and ask, “Is that a bet you’re willing to take?”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Viking. Remember, I’m the queen of paybacks.”
I internally chuckle, thinking,How could I? She’s gotten me good a few times. The minx.
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
Letti
With Icer goingout of town for the final send off for his friend, Gage, I’ve ensconced myself in work. Days have turned into weeks, the holidays have passed, yet my relationship with my Viking has stayed stagnant. We do things most ordinary couples do—we hold hands, we snuggle, we go on dates, yet he hasn’t defined who or what we are to each other and I’m afraid to broach the topic for fear of sending him into a tailspin and causing him to haul ass.
I’ve been staying vigilant. I don’t leave the house unless I have an escort tailing me. I’m not one who needs to be shown the error of their ways. I listen and learn. I know first-hand that racism is a real thing in this Podunk town, the leaders and officials commandeering that—it’s what has me further dedicated to my boss’s honorable cause.
Aaron Bordello, the man I now hold in the highest regard, is a human being to be respected because he puts himself out there and fights for the underdog. He’s a civil rights advocate andafter he found out about my ordeal, he drew up some sort of legal paperwork and stomped down to the precinct where he got in the face of Sheriff Maloney, threatening him with a lawsuit amongst other things.
I wish I’d been a fly on the wall during that confrontation.
Small things have been happening, things I haven’t brought up with Icer because he and the club have enough on their plates. I need to pull up my big girl panties and handle things for myself. War was imminent, a foregone conclusion, then it wasn’t happening on the timeline that was predicted due to the fact that Canton’s chapter of the Kings weren’t ready or prepared enough to defend themselves against the enormous numbers the Onyx assholes have under their command.
They’re like damn bunnies, they keep breeding and producing hate while bringing in new members. They are now forty strong compared to the East Texas chapter’s eighteen. Those odds are nowhere even.
It would’ve been a blood bath, and the win would’ve been one-sided—theirs, not ours. That wasn’t a chance Riptide was willing to take so he did something he hates doing, something that turned him green—he worked with the Feds thanks to Van and her new contact within the eastern border division. Their plan worked, the Onyxs were rounded up and charges were placed against them, ones that stuck. I don’t remember what all they were, but they were plentiful as was the evidence piled up against them. There was no way they could weasel their way out of them, much to the chagrin of Maloney and the town council woman, Jerome and Patrick’s parents. They left with frowns on their faces while we celebrated that night with beers and barbecue.
“Letti,” Mr. Bardello calls my name, yanking me out of my musings. “I need you to hire a courier for me. I have a few things that need to be dropped off at the courthouse and I have a meeting that can’t be cancelled or rescheduled, therefore, I can’t take them personally. They have to be hand delivered no later than one this afternoon so they can be processed today and not stuffed into a bin for tomorrow. Can you handle that for me?”
“I’ll find someone reliable, Mr. Bardello,” I promise, pulling up the world-wide web so I can begin searching for reputable courier companies. Preferably ones who have prior experience when it comes to dealing with legal handoffs.
“I know you will do your damndest but this is a small town so companies like that are a far stretch to find. Janice is holding all of my calls for the day, and she has other duties she’s trying to get done for me so I don’t fall behind, but if you have any problems finding somebody, let her know and she’ll take them during her lunch hour,” he tells me, rapping his knuckles on my desk before turning around and walking away.
Janice is his personal assistant/secretary. The woman sacrifices more than she should for the pay he can afford to give her. A quarter of what she’d make elsewhere. But like me, she’s passionate about what he does and supports him to the best of her ability. Even if that means foregoing her lunch hour three out of five days in the week.
Pounding on the keyboard, I spend the next forty-five minutes scouring the internet, finding nothing helpful. The closest messenger company to us is an hour away, and they’re booked solid for the entire day. Knowing the importance of this task, I pick up the phone and dial Slayer’s number, intent to deliver this documentation personally.
“Letti,” he answers. “Everything good on your end?”
“Yes and no,” I respond. “Do I have a man on me?”
