“I said shut the fuck up, Tex. I’m talking to your woman, not you.”
“I’m not his?—”
“She’s not my?—”
JD stood up abruptly, cutting us both off. He stubbed his cigarette out into the ashtray and glared at Rowan, and I felt every hackle in me rise. What the hell was happening? Had he lost his fucking mind? She was just a woman—a woman he had told me to help because she was caught up in club business.
“I did some digging of my own, RowanHale,” JD began.
Rowan glanced across to me, her eyes wide, anger and fear warring inside of them. “Okaaaay,” she said, dragging out the word with enough sass to almost make me laugh. “And?”
“Did you ever wonder why he fucking shipped you off to college across the country? Why he and your mom did everything they could to keep you away from the ranch?”
“They didn’t, they?—”
“Don’t bullshit me, Rowan!”
“Prez!” I barked out his name, standing up as I did, but JD kept his gaze firmly on Rowan. “What the fuck is going on?”I slammed my fist against the table and JD looked over my shoulder as the door opened and Swampy and Gods came in.
I had never seen JD like this before. For as long as I had known him, he had always been cool, calm and composed. It took a lot to shake him, and right now my president was shaken.
JD lit another cigarette as Swampy and Gods stood behind Rowan. I felt the tension growing even further in her, and I wasn’t sure whether she was going to start swinging or break down crying. But if I had to bet on it, I would have bet she’d start cracking skulls anytime now.
“What’s this all about?” I asked JD as calmly as I could.
JD stood by the window looking out onto the yard outside. “Her daddy used to run with us. Well, with the men before us, anyhow.”
My stomach dropped. “What?”
Rowan stared at him. “That’s not possible.”
“Oh, but it is, kitten,” JD said. “He wasn’t patched. But he rode with the club for nearly five years. Did some work for us back in the day too.”
Rowan shook her head. “No, that’s not right. He’s got a bike, but I’ve never seen him ride it. Not once.”
JD gave her a long look. “Funny thing about men,” he said, “they ain’t always who they say they are. And they’re definitely not the men their kids think they are.”
My mind was already spinning. “What kind of work did he do?” I asked slowly, aware of Rowan’s stare on me.
“The kind we don’t talk about much anymore, brother,” he replied. “You know the club’s history. You know the past.”
My blood ran cold. I knew what he was talking about—transport routes.
The Hale’s ranch sat right between two highways. It was the perfect corridor. I’d been thinking it myself, and the attacks onher property had all but sealed it for me, but now there was no denying it. Not if JD said so.
JD continued. “Back in the late seventies, early eighties, the Kings ran freight.”
Rowan went pale. “Drugs?” she whispered.
He didn’t bother to sugarcoat it. “Yeah, kitten, drugs, and worse.”
“What could be worse than drugs?” she said, but her words cut off abruptly. “No, my father would never?—”
“Well, he didn’t start it,” JD said, “but he sure helped finish it. The Kings were earning good money. Hell, everyone was earning good money, but you know what they say about the greed of man—it’s never fulfilled.”
I rubbed my hand over my jaw. “So what happened?” Because I could already see where this was going.
JD shook his head. “Well, that’s the problem.” His eyes darkened. “They wanted to stop. Dearest mommy and daddy had themselves a little kid and decided they wanted out of the life.”
