I nodded in response. “I’ll be ready.”
He slapped me on the shoulder again. “I know. Bull has faith in you and I trust that motherfucker with my life. Need to cut out the juice for a couple days though, brother.”
“Not going to happen,” I replied without giving any room for an argument. I hadn’t been sober in six months, and I didn’t plan on being sober for the next six either.
“At least I can tell Bull I tried,” Hammer grumbled, and walked away, meeting the two men halfway and leaving me to feel awkward and uncomfortable about the suggestion of not drinking.
I wasn’t an alcoholic or anything, I just couldn’t imagine my life without the booze. I know, I know, that sounds like something an alcoholic would say, but this was more about self-preservation than anything else. I could live without the drink, I just couldn’t live with the guilt burning inside of me, and the drink numbed that.
Stone was nowhere to be seen, but Patch gestured for me to follow him outside and I did. Outside Hardy and his men were already heading away from the clubhouse in a loud series of throaty Harley roars. I headed to my own bike and sat down as Bull, Wolf, Hammer, Thor, and Patch did the same.
Bull looked over at me, his expression serious. His gaze moved over the other men as he scowled. “We got a snake to kill. A lowly motherfucker by the name of Click that’s been taking from the club and dealing it out for himself. We’re sending him to ground today.”
Everyone nodded their approval, and by the look on Patch’s face, I was guessing that was the first he’d heard of it too. Despite him being patched in, some private business only got discussed with Bull’s closest confidants. Still, it said something that he had both me and Patch there with him, I guess. I looked around for Stone again, but he was still nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Stone?” I asked. Normally I wouldn’t have noticed, but since Patch had been patched in, Stone and I had been partnered up for almost everything.
“Rehab,” Bull replied bluntly, his face hard and serious and giving no room for further discussion on the matter. “Let’s move out. When we get there, keep your eyes and ears open and your mouths shut. Click thinks this is just a checkup, so he won’t be surprised to see me. But you brothers…” He nodded in mine and Patch’s direction. “That’s going to make him suspicious. And suspicious motherfuckers do stupid shit, especially when they’re guilty.”
He started his engine and we all followed suit. Bull and Wolf rode out of the clubhouse grounds, with Hammer and Thor next and Patch and I at the back. We threaded our way through the busy streets of Las Vegas, passing tourists and street entertainers before heading out onto the freeway.
This was what I loved most about this life, and if things didn’t work out with the Highwaymen, it was the thing I would probably be most grateful for: riding. As we picked up speed and leaned our bikes into the curves, I felt the freedom that only my bike could give me hit me hard. I took in great lungful’s of the humid air, sucking it in and letting it wash away the hangover I had, and wiping away the tiredness I felt behind my eyes.
The last of my mother’s screams left me as we pulled off the highway twenty minutes later and headed into more of a secluded area. A wooden fence went all around the place as we drove up the long, winding path to a huge barn. There was land on every side, large boulders and dirt in every direction, perfect for blocking anyone’s view of what was going on there, but also perfect for anyone hiding too.
I felt awake now and ready for whatever Bull needed of me as I scanned the area, on the lookout for anything that seemed out of the ordinary.
I spotted it almost right away: a beat-up gray car hidden in some bushes by the back fence. It was barely noticeable, unless you were actually looking for it. Though it did look like it should probably have gone further back than it was, it made me wonder if Bull had given Click an early morning warning that he was arriving for a checkup that day in the hopes of a slipup just like this. Bull was a smart man—probably one of the many reasons he was the president of the club. He ran a tight ship, and he was unforgiving in his brutality if you pissed him off. It was one of the many reasons he had everyone’s respect, including mine.
But most of all, you knew exactly where you stood with him at all times. He was firm but fair, and he always had the club’s best interest at heart, which meant every brother in it was under his personal protection. Which made Click’s betrayal even worse. Bull would do anything for his club and his brothers, and from the small clips of story I’d so far heard from my brothers, he’d rescued more than just me from a life on the run. Couldn’t imagine how pissed off Bull must have been feeling right then. I knew betrayal and it wasn’t a good feeling.
The large wooden barn door opened and Click strutted out of it. I’d only met the man once before, at my welcoming-in party the night after I killed that man on Bull’s orders with a rusted old crankshaft in the basement of the clubhouse.
He was a short man, reaching only around five foot five in height, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in width. He was overweight, without a doubt, but beneath the fat there was no denying that the man had some serious strength. I’d liked him, that one time I had met him, and it seemed a damn shame for things to have gone south so badly for him. I couldn’t help but wonder what in hell’s name would have made him steal from his own club like that. Man had to be either desperate or have a death wish.
We pulled to a stop, with dust from the gravel- and dirt-covered road flying up around us. I turned off my bike and we removed our helmets. Bull climbed off his bike immediately, gesturing for us to stay where we were as Click came over and shook Bull’s hand. Click gave the heavy crew Bull had brought with him a nervous once-over.
“What’s all this?” he asked, nodding to us. “Something you need to tell me?” He threw the accusation at Bull’s feet, but by the way he was sweating and checking the gate for an exit he was the one that should be worried.
Wolf and Hammer climbed off their bikes and shook Click’s hand as smoothly as possible, but it was obvious to anyone watching that Click wasn’t buying any of it. He was suspicious, and a light sweat that had nothing to do with his heavy bulk trailed down the sides of his face. The quick glance he gave to the area where I had seen the car on my way in sealed his fate for me, and I knew I had been right.
“On our way out of town for a couple a days. Killin’ two birds with one stone by passing through here on our way,” Bull replied with a heavy frown. “That all right with you? Or do I need to run my plans by you first, Click?” he snapped.
“Yeah, yeah, course Prez. Just seemed strange is all, bringing such a big crew with you.” Click cracked his knuckles on both hands, making a clicking noise as he did. It was clearly a nervous gesture which had probably gotten him the name.
“Then get to showing me my stock and my money so I can get on my way. I got important shit going down.” Bull slapped Click on the back and started toward the barn. Click gave a last look back at me, Patch, and Thor still sitting on our bikes before following Bull.
Thor was smoking a cigar, a nonchalant look on his face as the three men walked away, heading inside the barn, but there was a tenseness around his eyes and a hardness to his jaw. As soon as the heavy door slammed behind them, with Click giving one last nervous glance toward us, Thor climbed off his bike.
“Get moving, we’re looking for—”
“Already found it,” I interrupted, “by the back fence. There’s a gray car in the bushes and by the looks he was throwing in that direction, it ain’t holding dead cats in it.”
Thor nodded his approval. “You two, go check it out. I’m going to do the rounds on the exterior, see what else this traitorous fuck is hiding.”
Patch and I headed to the car, stomping through the overgrown bushes, half dead from the burning sun and lack of water. At first I thought I was completely wrong and that perhaps the vehicle did only house dead cats and rust. It was in worse shape than I had originally thought, and didn’t look like it had been driven in a long-ass time, but as Patch popped the trunk, the view inside showed me that I had been right.
“Nice catch,” Patch said, his tone hard. He pulled a block of drugs out from under the scruffy brown blanket that had been hastily thrown over the top of it and tutted as he weighed it in his hand. A scowl formed on his face. “Fucking hate thieves. And brothers stealing from brothers is even worse.”
