“Ah, fuck, Prez, why me?”
“Because you’ve already made contact. If I send someone else, she’ll get suspicious.” I grinned at him. “Pull up that Southern charm you’re always bragging about and win her over.”
LA crossed his arms, pouting like a petulant child, and the table roared with laughter at his muttering about uppity city bitches. I wasn’t sure Perryville, with its population of less than fifteen hundred, could be considered a city, but it was fun to watch LA squirm.
“How are the prospects making out?” I asked, switching to something a little less intense.
“Brian is solid,” B said, and I agreed.
Brian would make a great addition to the club when his year was up.
“Nathan and Peter, I’m not so sure about,” Dutch said.
“Why?”
“Both boys have their heads up their asses. They think this is some kind of frat house.”
Dutch was another old timer; he was younger than Smokey but older than Banshee. And as far as someone having their head up their ass, Dutch was the authority on that.
What most people didn’t know was that Dutch had a traumatic brain injury. He’d been medically discharged from the army after an IED took out his jeep. He’d never wanted anyone to know, so he let people think he was an idiot.
“Then maybe they’re due for a little hazing,” Krypto said, rubbing his hands together.
“Just don’t kill ’em,” I reminded him. “What about the other two?”
“Vincent and Colson,” B announced their names, knowing most of us wouldn’t remember them. Until you were patched in and given a road name, your name just wasn’t important enough to remember.
“I’ve run checks on all of them. They both came back clean, but there’s something about them both. They’ll either make great brothers, or they’ll end up dead before the year is up.”
“Why do you say that, Omen?” Ambush asked.
“I can’t put my finger on it, but they’re both shady as fuck.”
“Then why were they brought in?” Monty asked with a pointed look at Omen.
“Because I haven’t figured out yet whether that shade will protect us or bite us in the ass.”
“Then, until we know, keep an eye on them.” I looked around the table as the men nodded. I took a deep breath and said, “Jenna is becoming a problem. Not sure how much longer I can let her stay.”
The men grew quiet. No one wanted to kick her ass to the curb, but if she didn’t get with the program soon, we wouldn’t have a choice.
“I’ll keep a better eye on her,” Eagle said.
“She breaks into my fucking room again, and I don’t care who she is, her fucking ass is gone.”
“Yes, Prez.” Eagle looked at his brothers, and they both nodded.
I gave him a curt nod when he looked back at me. “Now, Thanksgiving is next week. My old lady and her mother want to have a big dinner. I expect each and every one of you to be at their beck and call. They tell you to jump, you ask how fucking high and you do it with a goddamn smile on your face.”
I rubbed at my chest and added, “O’Malley and his men will be here.”
“Fuck!”
“Seriously?”
“Jesus Christ.”
Groans went up around the table, and I understood. I wasn’t happy about it either, but he was Morgan’s father and if having him here helped me get on her good side, then I was going to play the best fucking host anyone had ever seen.
