I chuckled as I took another long pull from my well of caffeine. “Too much drama, too much risk. Though, if we’re splitting hairs? We aren’t completely out. We still get all of our weapons illegally.”
He shot me a look before leaning heavily against the kitchen counter. “We do, yes, and we do supply some to our local contacts to help keep them in line around here.”
“Help keep the gangs at bay, yes, yes.”
He closed his eyes. “But none of them are our main supplier. We make sure of that so that the club doesn’t look like it’s being thrust back in that direction. Especially now that more people have things to worry about.”
“So, are you saying we give the money back to the Devil? Because that will just cause more problems than there are now.”
“No, no, I’m not talking about that. But…”
“But what?”
That telltale grin of his slid across his face. “What if we could make itlooklike we gave them back their money? You know, buy us some time to find Bullet and end this once and for all while they’re rejoicing over money they don’t actually have?”
All at once, my mind jumped into the game, running a thousand miles a second. “You know, I could initiate a transfer which would be placed on hold for a few days to buy us some time. Then, once we find Bullet, we stop the transfer before the hold lifts.”
He pointed at me. “Do it, and come find me the second you’ve got that transfer initiated. We can’t afford to waste any of the time it’ll give us.”
“On it.”
I rushed around the kitchen, pulling out plates and another mug so that I could bring Rose some coffee as well. I filled a small tray with all sorts of things to munch on that I figured she might like. Fruits and some toast with peanut butter and jelly, because I knew she liked both of them at once on her extra-crispy burnt-ass toast that made such a damn mess whenever she ate it. I sloshed some creamer into her coffee and dumped what seemed like half of a fucking pound of sugar into her steaming hot mug, then decided to grab some pop tarts as well, just in case.
And that was when Fangs decided to get cheeky.
“So, you and Rose are just friends faking an engagement, huh?”
I paused, feeling my shoulders flex as a chuckle rolled off my lips. But I knew I’d never be able to lie to him. He was a fucking walking lie detector sometimes, so I just shook my head and kept walking.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought!” he called out after me.
I expected him to leave it at that. To leave it at some sneaky little comment that told him everything he needed to know. But instead, his jogging footfalls sounded behind me as he tried catching up.
“Reaper,” he said.
I turned to face him as my brow furrowed deeply. “You good, Fangs?”
He placed his hand on my shoulder. “Are you sure you want to get her more involved in all of this?”
The smile on my face faltered. “Honestly?”
“Always.”
I shrugged. “I don’t really know what the hell I’m doing right now. I just know I can’t leave her vulnerable like she is. To this or to her narcissistic ex-husband.”
He leveled his stare at me. “You let me know if you need anything, all right?”
I nodded. “I will.”
He patted my upper arm. “Good. Now, get to work. We have a lot to do, and a very short amount of time to do it.”
As I turned to head back to the room, his question kept rushing through my mind. Maybe this was something Rose didn’t need to be involved with. And I sure as hell didn’t want to put her more in danger than she already was with everything else swirling in her life. Plus, was the engagement thing really necessary? I mean, we made our point. Maybe Blake would finally stay away from her if I simply kept tabs on him. Let him know that I was watching. Maybe a little letter in his mailbox or on the windshield of his car. Something to keep up the ruse that me and Rose were together while I got her out of town and somewhere safer until all of this was settled.
Either way, no matter where I stepped, someone got hurt. Whether it was me, her, or the club, someone came out with the shit end of the stick. So, whatever I chose to do, I had to commit. I had to stick to whatever plan I chose and follow it through until the very end.
And I had to do it quickly, just in case the Devil’s Rage were mounting an attack on us.
16
