“And isn’t that a huge thorn in our sides? It feels like those walls are suddenly closing in on us again, Autumn, just when things were starting to calm down. If something happens now, the town and all the trust we’ve built with them will goto Hell.” It seemed like a petty thought to have in the grand scheme of things. Lives were on the line here. Our futures were possibly being threatened, and there I was concerned about what light was being cast on us from the town. The only explanation I had was the waves of chaos still swirling in my head.
Before Autumn could so much as formulate a reply, Libby rushed toward us giving me a sweetI need somethingsmile.
“Everything okay?” I inquired before she had time to say a word.
“That depends on your interpretation of the word.” Libby snorted but smiled again in an attempt to show she was joking. “Nothing to panic about, just the kids getting restless. Sloane mentioned snacks, and I volunteered.”
“That much fun?” I teased.
“I swear, being in that room is the best form of birth control there is. And you can quote me on that.”
“Considering you’re dating my kid brother, I’m very happy to hear that.” I pushed up from the couch I’d been sharing with Autumn, and she nodded in understanding. If something came up while I was grabbing the pantry keys, she would take care of it. There were no words for how much I loved that woman.
Libby and I took our time heading to the back of The Hut and wound our way to Drew’s bedroom so I could get the keys from my bag. I’d put a lock on the pantry door after the midnight raids became utterly ridiculous. I knew who the worst offenders were, and breaking in had become a game to most of the guys whenever the mood struck. The incursions had started after a threat to lock the doors from me, which had instigated even more thievery and left us with absolutelyno food one night—as well as a huge mess in the kitchen for me to clean up. So I’d put a lock on the damn thing and left the challenge unspoken. If someone got in, they’d earned the plunder in my opinion. Everyone else had to hunt me down for the keys if I forgot to unlock the damn thing in the mornings—a rod I’d made for my own back.
Libby leaned against the jam of the door as I dropped my ass on the bed and started to dig for my keys. My purse wasn’t even that big, which made the stab of the envelope against my hand all the more compelling. I’d never kept much in there, so the cumbersome envelope was out of place.
“Ayda?” Libby asked.
“Oh, sorry.” I dug for the keys and unclipped the one for the pantry, which had a skull and bones keyring and tossed them to her. Libby snatched them from the air and smiled at me, not reading my strange mood.
“I hold the power of sustenance.” She rattled the key and gave an exaggerated evil cackle accompanied by a small dance.
I gave a dutiful laugh, and that was enough to send Libby on her way, while I pulled the plain security envelope from my bag and stared at the strange words written in the same scrawl as the other note.
Bullets don’t take corners.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
It was much more cryptic than the last message and more insidious, too.Bullets don’t take cornerswas an asinine statement designed as a warning of sorts. Were they saying that the danger was in plain sight? That seemed too little too late if they were referring to the Nav Rifleman.
He’d already been seen.
I was still puzzling the riddle out when the din of noise from the main room disappeared and left my ears ringing in the unexpected silence. There was only one thing that could cut through the noise like that: the guys had come out from their isolation.
I stuffed the envelope into my bag and left the room, rushing to the bar and pushing the strange warning to the back of my mind. Some things just needed my attention more than others.
Chapter Twenty-Five
DREW
“Well, that was an experience,” Sutton said dryly, blowing all the air out of his cheeks and hooking his thumbs into his belt loops.
I was standing next to him—the two of us looking out at as the wave of Hounds poured out from the meeting room into the bar area. The moment the gavel had landed on the wooden table, the boys had pushed up from their chairs and screwed their war heads on. Not that we were at war. That didn’t mean we couldn’t be prepared just in case.
We’d gotten away with the murdering of the Emps in the warehouse that night. We had the chief of police backing our story after spending most of his life hating us, making our version of the events unquestionable in the eyes of Babylon and the other MCs. We’d killed so many people, buried them in dark ditches, covering them in midnight dirt and stamping on their nameless graves with the soles of our vengeful boots. We’d gotten away with deceit, death, destruction…
Now our good fortune was finally running out.
Our imitation of The Navs to silence our Emperor enemies had always felt like an itch at the back of my mind that would, one day, come back to haunt me.
There were some ghosts I didn’t relish the thought of fighting. The Navs were one of them.
But I’d be ready. I was always going to be ready now.
I’d never be caught off guard again.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I eyed my family of outlaw misfits. “We’re not as scary as the public has you believe,” I told Sutton quietly.
