I take it and shake it because he came to the aid of my club. “Saint.”
“We got a lot of munitions in those two vans,” he says. “You got somewhere we can offload them?”
“Havoc,” I shout, waving him over. “Work with Saint to figure out where to put all the weapons.”
“Yippee-ki-yay, motherfuckers,” Niro says, bounding towards me, but it’s the woman to his right that has me most concerned. “Knox. Meet my wife, Cat.”
I’ve heard a lot about this woman. The former assassin and daughter of a rival club member who kidnapped Niro in a case of mistaken identity. What surprises me about her is that she’s dressed in full club colors, wearing a1%patch, and has a teardrop tattooed beneath her left eye, meaning she’s killed for the club. And when she removes her leather jacket and lays it over her bike, for a second, everyone looks, because she’s stunning.
“Cat rides out with you guys in full colors?” I quietly ask Halo.
“Officially became a brother two weeks ago,” Halo says. “Best you don’t question it if you don’t want Niro to lose his shit. But I can assure you, she’s better at everything than pretty much any of us. She took Clutch down the day she met him.”
“Close your fucking mouth,” Niro says to North. “You’re drooling.”
“Babe,” Cat warns, tugging Niro away from the direction of my VP. “Be nice.” She turns to me. “Nice to meet you, Knox. King said you’re the longest-serving president ever. I bet you’ve got good stories.”
I look between the two of them. “Probably not as interesting as yours. Let’s get everyone out back by the dock so we can bring you up to speed on what we know.”
I’m about to turn to walk into the clubhouse when the doors of the black truck that followed the bikes in opens and…
“Son of a fucking gun,” I say when I see Jackal step out. I hurry to my friend and pull him into a hug. “How did you get here?”
Jackal grins. “Flew to Tampa, rented this. We’ll need weapons and a vehicle that’ll withstand a little damage. Don’t fancy returning this to the car rental with bullet holes.”
Shade rounds the vehicle. “Knox.” I shake his hand and notice the matching rings the two of them are wearing.
“Congratulations,” I say.
Jackal grins. “It was hard to make Isla stay home. We’ll bring her next time.”
“Yeah, well, hold on to your hats, because, by then, Maren Caldwell will be my old lady so they can hang out together.”
Jackal’s mouth opens. “She’s your what?”
I huff a laugh. “Yeah, that was my reaction. Let’s get everything settled and I’ll fill you in.”
It takes a minute to secure bikes, unload weapons, and get drinks served. Every club girl has arrived, plus a couple I’ve never seen before who I send packing. Today is not the day to have strangers around. There’s food being served up to hungry bikers. Burgers and hot dogs. Things that are easy to throw onto the grill, and hard to run out of.
There’s a lot of speculation and whispered conversation about Cat. The majority of the men don’t like it. A motorcycle club has never been the place for a woman. But when it’s revealed that she was put up for brotherhood by King, our national president, not Niro, people start to shut up pretty damn quick.
Once everyone has a plate of food and a beer, Lock secures the area, and forces everyone else back inside.
“How’s Vandal?” Jackal asks as I stand with Halo and Shade.
I shake my head. “Not good. He’s stuck in the hospital. Got to have his orbital bone reconstructed. Bone fragments put back together using a metal frame attached to his skull. They’ll literally pull his face away from his skull to do it. Same shit on his cheek. Alvarez shattered his face up bad.”
“Fuck,” Halo curses as everyone starts to come to attention. “That sucks.”
“I feel responsible,” Jackal says. And Shade reaches out to squeeze his shoulder.
“Don’t,” I say. “Vandal wouldn’t want you to.”
I don’t tell him how one of the nurses told me he’s been having nightmares. But seeing we made up a story about a bike accident, we can’t tell them the truth of what they’re dealing with.
Jackal huffs. “Not sure he’d have a song for this.”
“Brothers,” I say, finally, to the assembled crowd. “It means a lot to all of us that you took the time to ride down here.”
