“Unless you want to hand over Cedric.” He adds in.
It’s as if I could feel her heartbeat drop in her chest. She has to keep her expressions limited, the less we show our hand the better the ruse is.
“That would require us to know where he is at,” Rawlings snarls out. Standing up, pushing the chair back, the bar light darkening his stance. He doesn’t ease up, he doesn’t let go of the plan in hand.
“Rawlings, do you expect us to believe that you all knew what businesses were yours to get back? Who else would have that information?” Tavers starts to show his cards. Richard picks up, “Or that our runners mysteriously disappear as well?”
“Didn’t we say, you didn’t cover all of your tracks? How easy was it to tie things together?” Jackson stands up joining Rawlings.
“Joaquin was able to tie your involvement to Lottie’s car explosion. So think, do you think it was hard to find the rest of the bread crumbles?” Rawlings adds in.
I stood up, pushing aside the chair, with my woman hugging my side.
“The dock manager was quite helpful.” I add in, before looking to Rawlings for our next move. We’ve been here longer than we needed. We’ve come to some agreement, but need to get Cedric out of mind and sight, before the Falcons finally call the bluff and act impulsively where it won’t just be a Bronco that is on fire.
The three men met our stance as they pushed from the table, scraping the floor beneath them.
“I think it’s time you all get the fuck out of our bar,” Benny says. I can’t agree with him any quicker.
“Rawlings, I’m not calling off the search for Cedric, he can’t hide forever. If we get him first, well, y’all remember what happened to poor Lucie Lynn,” his final dig into the hurt skin.
The explosion of emotions erupt as Tessa and Greer fight between a barrier of club members. The fury in their eyes as they rage through, animal instincts coming through. Clawing at the barricade of muscles. Shouting echoes through the bar, curses flying out. Tessa holds back the tears that threaten to burst. The shadows of the grief once felt, Greer’s anger burns through like a heated volcano.
“Control your people.” Tavers yells out.
“Fuck you. That name doesn’t shit to you,” Tessa cries out, her nails digging into Jackson’s skin.
“Fucking piece of shit,” Greer echoes out.
Charlotte clings on to my arm, hiding behind me, trying to restrain herself. The barricade of force pushes them back, Jackson finally putting Tessa over his shoulders and Coda and another prospect holding him back.
“Now you know why I tried to keep you away from this world. A world of hurt and ghosts that will come to haunt you.” I whisper behind me, as we usher everyone out the door. It hurts for her. But a ride of emotions is in the long future. “I didn’t want to bring your family into this.”
Her emerald eyes captured mine, “You need to consider ityourfamily now.”
Chapter 45
Lottie
Everythingaroundusseemsto be on fire. My skin itches with the flames of the chaos brewing. We don’t know how much of the bluff was taken seriously. I don’t know how much of a plan or how much we have truly won. I know the intent of everything was according to plan, but the inkling that they know Cedric is with us, that he’s under our protection.
I should be angry, I should be storming through taking back what people took from us. The lives, the danger of it.
I wanted to tear them apart. They have no remorse, no empathy. They are cruel individuals set on the road they created and paved.
The screams of Tessa, the fury of Greer. Their past is thrown in their face at the mention of Lucie, reliving the loss of a friend and innocent soul..
The brute force that it takes to get them both out of the bar and back to the compound.
Jackson tosses Tessa in the truck, telling her to get back to the compound, he’s not angry as he cups her face, wiping the tears off her face. He doesn’t have to say much to her, she nods her head, trying to find the key to start the truck.
Keola opens the door for me, “Don’t say much right now. They’re listening in,” I nod. He presses a kiss to my forehead.
Be strong, stay grounded for him. For them.
It doesn’t take long before we’re back on the road to the compound. Tessa doesn’t speak, her mind focusing on the road.
She’s my friend first, before she’s my boss.
