I jog back to my bike and grab the unopened bottleof water that I’m glad I didn’t bother drinking. I go back to the truck and open the door, handing the bottle to Claire. “It’s not open,” I tell her. “Take it. I brought it for me. It’s hot as the devil’s dick out here. Keep yourself hydrated.”
She makes no move to take it, but I keep my hand out, trying not to stare at the vicious black eye. Jesus Christ. I can’t handle this right now. I shove the bottle at her and close the truck door behind me just as Phantom and Shadow leave the warehouse. Phantom nods at me.
Phantom, Shadow, Mad Dog, and I all exchange handshakes, and then we wait until Viper rolls up and idles the truck on the driveway, the transaction finally concluded. Viper waits while we walk back to our bikes. I’m halfway down the asphalt drive when I hear the ear-shredding creak of the shitty truck door opening.
“Get the fuck out of there.” I hear Mad Dog’s voice, low and mean, and despite the sweltering temperature, my blood runs cold.
I turn back and see that shady cowboy wannabe yank Claire out of the truck by the arm that’s not holding tight to her baby girl. Claire flinches like she’s ready to dodge another blow to the face, and she stumbles on bare feet.
Mad Dog is practically dragging her away from the truck when I stop in my tracks.
“Savage?” Phantom’s voice is low. He knows my history. Knows the highs and lows, the failure, and who I blame for everything. “What’s going down?”
I don’t say anything. I just turn to him and say, “I got to do this.” I don’t wait for a response. I storm across the asphalt, trying not to imagine the soles of this woman’s feet burning while I’ve got inches of leather between me and the road. “Hey!” I shout after Mad Dog, trying my best to swallow every insult my furious brain can conjure up.
“You forget somethin’?” Mad Dog doesn’t even bother to loosen his hold on Claire. He cocks his head at me and flares his nostrils, daring me to say something.
“How much for the girl?” I ask him. “And the baby.”
Mad Dog cocks a brow at me and looks from her back to me. “You see something you like?” he asks.
“All I want to know is what you want for her,” I say. “All in. No strings, no contact. All mine.”
His face drops, and he spits on the ground. He names a price—not even half what we paid for the guns. “Add in another five Gs, and you can have the truck too.”
I look back at Phantom, who’s looking at me like I’ve lost my damn mind. I may have, but I’ve gone too far now.
“Blade’s going to shit his pants,” Phantom says low under his breath.
I know that. Our club treasurer acts like he’s the chair of the Federal Reserve. He manages our money so we can make “investments” like this one—buying weapons—and makes sure we always have more than enough in reserve. The club supports a lot of people,and our numbers are growing. That means our businesses need to grow too. This transaction, though, isn’t going to make a dent in the club kitty. This is a personal debt.
I pull out my phone and text my lawyer. I have the money, and my lawyer knows how to get at it. This is my choice. “My money,” I mutter to Phantom. I don’t want Mad Dog overhearing anything that could make him change his mind or up his price. It’s already steep enough to do some real damage. “This is on me, not the club,” I tell Phantom, ignoring the look on his face. Then I turn back to Mad Dog.
“Cash’ll be here in thirty minutes,” I tell him. “But you can keep your shit truck.”
I point to Claire, so she knows what’s about to go down. “You got anything you need to grab?” I know the answer before she says it. But she doesn’t even speak. Her undamaged eye is wide and red, like she’s fighting back tears.
I try to soften my voice so I don’t scare her, but I don’t want to give Mad Dog or anyone else a reason to look too closely. “Get in that truck. The driver’ll put the AC on. You got a kiddie seat for her?”
Claire again shakes her head, and I do my best not to give Mad Dog a punch that’ll make him wish he had Claire’s injuries instead of the ones I want to give him.
“Go. Get in the truck and stay cool,” I growl. “It’s too hot out here for a baby with no water.”
Mad Dog roughly shoves her away, and with help from Shadow, Claire stumbles over the dry, dead grassand climbs into the truck. I follow her and lean in to talk to Viper.
“Get out of here as soon as the money arrives,” I tell Viper. “Put the AC on. These two are fucking cooking.”
Viper looks at me as though I’ve lost my damned mind, and maybe I have. I can’t think about it now. I’ve got to focus on finishing what I started and making sure the snakes of the Hellfires don’t try to double-cross me before I get this woman to safety. What the hell I’ll do with her then…I have no fucking clue.
Phantom, Shadow, and I don’t talk while we wait for the sleek black car to pull onto the driveway. Finally, a man in a three-piece suit climbs out. I greet him, shaking his hand, while never taking my eyes off Mad Dog. After talking with me quietly, the guy hands me a lockbox. I give Mad Dog the box that contains his money and the passcode to unlock it. After he opens it and counts the cash, he whistles through his shitty teeth.
“If I’d known she was worth so much, I’d have sold her a hell of a long time ago.” Then he turns and signals to his crew to roll out. “Nice doing business with you boys.”
The Heat waits until both Mad Dog’s crew and my drop-off guy have left before we roll.
“You know what the fuck you’re doing?” Phantom asks, lowering his sunglasses over his eyes. I don’t need to see his expression to know what he’s thinking.
I’m thinking the same damn thing, and I say it out loud.
