I whistled low, recognizing the warning for what it was.
“Had the cops crawling around the clubhouse for a week afterwards trying to pin us for something, but luckily Bear and the prospects had already dropped the shipment off,” Prez said, and raised his glass to Bear, who clinked his bottle against JD’s. “Couldn’t pin anything on us and eventually had to move on. But it interrupted business.”
I looked at Bear. “You finished the drop after being jumped?”
Bear laughed. “Fuck yeah, I did. With that dipshit’s eyeball in my pocket and soaking through my jeans the whole time. Fucking disgusting.”
We all laughed, barring Ridge, who scowled and still looked pissed off that he’d missed out on some eye gauging.
“This stays between the seven of us for now. I trust you men with my life—not that I don’t trust the others, but someone is feeding information out and we need to know who.” JD picked up his beer and drank half of it down in one long swallow.
Bear, Ridge, Swampy, Moose, Confessor, and I all nodded in agreement.
“All right. I’ll look around. See what shakes loose. One last question,” I said, glancing over and catching a waitress's eye and gesturing for a round of drinks for the table. “Did the cops ID the corpse?”
JD shook his head. “Man was stripped bare. No clothes, no ID, no tattoos, nothing. Teeth had been removed, fingerprints burned off. All while he was still alive, going off the autopsy report.”
“Fuck,” I replied, “that’s some serious shit. Someone is covering their tracks.”
“They’re definitely trying to,” Swampy said, his expression hard.
JD exhaled like he’d been holding that breath for days. “Well, I have feelers out with our contacts for anything unusual. But right now, business is stopped while we figure it out. Customersaren’t happy, of course, so it’s affecting the club, but I’m not risking any of you.”
“Aww, you really care,” Moose mocked.
JD rolled his eyes at him. “We’ll start work tomorrow. Tonight, just settle back in.”
I wouldn’t fully settle in, though. I couldn’t. Not with the weight of the chapter’s tension pressing in from all sides.
And definitely not with Rowan Hale somewhere behind me, her presence like a tug on a thread I didn’t want pulled. I wasn’t shy to admit that women and whiskey were my weaknesses, and maybe it was the thrill of the chase that had me intrigued: JD stating how much she hated bikers only colored me more intrigued. I finally let myself glance back toward the pool table.
She wasn’t looking at me anymore. She was chalking her cue, talking to a friend, like I hadn’t even registered on her radar. Yet I could feel the tension coming off of her even from here.
JD leaned back in his seat, a tired smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “First, let’s get some whiskey in you and then you get some sleep. You look like hell.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Nah, nothing a belly full of food won’t cure.”
“Well get your fill,” he said, “because tomorrow you need to ride out to the Hale Ranch and see what you can find.”
My stomach tightened. “Hale,” I repeated. “As in?—”
“Rowan Hale,” JD confirmed with a shit-eating grin. “Yeah. That one. Which is exactly why I said to leave well alone. The woman already hates our guts after the shit that’s been going down, and I don’t need you fucking it up even worse.” He nodded toward the woman I’d been staring at moments ago.
I didn’t react. Not outwardly. But something low and unwelcome stirred in my chest.
We fell silent as a waitress came over with a tray of beer and whiskey, placing the drinks down in the center of the table before leaving.
“Thanks, darlin’,” Moose said after her.
I dove straight back into business.
“What’s this got to do with the woman?” I asked, leaning forward.
“Because whatever’s happening to us,” JD said quietly, “is happening to her too. She just don’t realize that she’s in the middle of it yet.”
“Whateveritis,” Moose grumbled. “Everyone speculating when they don’t know shit about shit.”
JD cut his gaze to Moose, his eyes narrowing. “We know enough to say that none of this is a coincidence, brother.”
