Aria: Why? Want to take me for a ride?
Bender: More like I want you to sit on my face.
Aria: I’m not sure you can handle me doing that.
Bender: You’d be surprised with what I can handle.
“All right,” Fangs said pulling my attention from my phone as we both made our way inside. “We need to figure out our next steps.”
Goose stepped to the forefront. “Our clean-up crew did a damn good job covering things up last night. Police cruised by this morning on their regular patrol route and didn’t even stop to investigate things.”
Fangs pointed at him. “Fantastic. Make sure they do a double-check this evening at midnight when the patrol routes are changing over in their shifts. We need to make sure nothing is found.”
Angel slid his hands into his pockets. “Are we going to talk about how to get our club back now that we’ve practically annihilated half of their fucking club?”
I shrugged. “I’m in favor of storming the nightclub, to be honest.”
Viper nodded. “Bullet is already gonna be pissed that we ambushed his guys and took his girls. It’ll leave him open for attack.”
Fangs tilted his head. “You guys don’t think that’s too obvious?”
Reaper chuckled. “You think those assholes are smart enough to do things like look at schematics and scout out exits? I’m sure they haven’t even found the tunnels we dug out for quick exits.”
I grinned. “We could use our own escape routes to ambush them from below. They’d never see it coming.”
Fangs chuckled. “Well, are you guys up for another rousing night of gunfire then?”
Whether we were all amped up on adrenaline or simply stupid, I wasn’t sure. But we threw ourselves head-first into planning our attack on our own fucking club. Fangs gave me the chance to lead the charge, possibly as a way to redeem myself. I didn’t care, though. I knew we’d get that club back one way or another.
I was just glad the guys were giving me a shot to prove that I was still loyal to their efforts.
“All right,” I said as I rolled out the schematics of Heist. “We’ve got three tunnel exits that we can use as entrances. One of them is a sewer grate right here, the other is a trapdoor on the main floor of this building right here, and the other one is a block and a half to the west through a manhole in this alleyway. We split into teams of seven, work our way through the tunnels, and eventually the twenty-one of us will meet up in this hallway here that goes up a flight of steps and dumps us into that back storage room we never used for shit.”
We drew out four different configuration plans to surround that club and take those fuckers out, and after batting around alternative ideas for well over an hour, we settled on the three plans we wanted to take with us. I rolled up the schematics and stored them back in our weapons cache at the back of the clubhouse, then settled myself on the front porch for a day of reflection and quiet.
And as I watched Aria’s car pull up just after the club’s lunchtime delivery, I stood to my feet.
“Hey there, gorgeous,” I said as I walked down the stairs.
She stepped out of her car with a smile on her face before it faded. “Uh oh.”
I paused. “What?”
She leaned against her open car door. “I know that face. I saw it on my father all the time. What are you guys doing?”
I walked over to her and kissed her forehead. “I forget how intuitive you are sometimes.”
“Bender?”
I cupped her cheek. “Everything is okay.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better. What are you guys about to do?”
I stroked my thumb against her cheek. I knew there was no use in lying to her, especially since I wanted her in my life for good.
So, I drew in a deep breath. “We’re storming Heist and taking it back from Bullet and the Devil’s Rage.”
She shook her head. “Why can’t you just let them have the club? We got the girls. They’re all safe.”
