“You’re Shae’s contact.”
He inclined his head, no emotion in his eyes, no expression I could read.
“Let us in,” he said. “We need to talk…brother.”
All eyes were on me as my father’s other children from his marriage sat at the bar. I felt nothing for them. They’d never been part of my life, or even part of this MC, no matter how high up their dad was. The woman, my sister, Tierney, had gotten in touch with me a few years ago butnothing had happened. Her mother still ruled her with an iron fist and refused to let her be friends with me.
It had been no real loss.
My brother, though, sat there, stubble making him look older than I remembered him. It also made him look a little like me and my dad, but not by much.
“Speak,” I said, my voice taking on a dangerous lilt to it. Shae stood by the wall, watching, her expression unreadable. “I swear to god Dempsey if you don’t speak, I’ll fucking flay you alive.”
“Relax, okay,” he held his hand up. “She’s safe. I made sure of it.”
“What do you mean?” Hawk asked before I could.
“We had to take her,” he said. “He was hellbent on taking someone and when the woman he wanted was gone, he told us where to go. I didn’t know who she was until…”
“Until what?” I asked, my temper getting a rise out of his bullshit.
“Can we talk privately, Alex?”
I looked to Ace who nodded and I showed him outside, where there were members of the club but not where I led him to.
“Speak.”
“He wants the redhead,” he said. “He couldn’t grab her so he went for her best friend. I’ve been able to get him to lay off her for a while, but he’s trying to get her to give in. He wants the redhead to trade places and trust me, he’s not going to stop until he gets that.”
“Then tell me where he’s holed up and I’ll go and blast the fucker open,” I said. “What’s the fucking delay?”
“Alex, you can’t…you’ll be outnumbered and you’ll get yourself killed before you even get close to her.”
“You don’t understand how messed up that fucker is, Dempsey.”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I do, but that’s why I’m there. My men won’t touch her, it’s the others who will.”
“So you joined a rival MC rather than the one your own father was part of?” I shifted the conversation. “I bet your mother loves that.”
“She didn’t,” he said. “But it’s no longer an issue. She died last year.”
I instantly felt a stab of remorse for what I’d said, but I didn't issue an apology.
“It wasn’t my mother who kept us apart as family, Alex, it was yours,” he offered. I wanted to scoff in his face. “I mean it, we tried to reach out, especially after dad died but your Ma pushed us back, threatened our lives if we tried.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“Wouldn’t she?” Dempsey looked me dead in the eye and I realised he may be telling the truth. “Look, that’s for another time, I want to help you. You are my family, whether you want to believe it or not, and I know you love this woman. I will protect her with everything I have and continue to feed back information until you guys can come and get her.”
“You know she’s mine.”
He nodded. “She told me. Before she realised I was there to help her, she told me that Bear would rip me limb from limb if I touched her.”
I smirked, loving how that felt that my woman knew I’d go shit crazy on anyone who dared to hurt her and that she would use that to warn people.
“She’s got fire in her veins, Alex, don’t worry. I’ll keep her safe, but I have to get back to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”
“I need her back, Dempsey.”
