I’d spent years building control until it was steeped in my bones, but one week with my woman had me acting like a man who’d misplaced every ounce of discipline.
“You planning to paint that tank or mentally impregnate it?” Edge asked from behind me.
I didn’t turn right away. “You walk into a man’s bay and open with that, then act surprised when someone eventually stabs you with shop equipment.”
“Eventually?” I could hear the grin behind Edge’s echoed word. “You’re slipping.”
I looked over my shoulder and found him, Kane, Axle, Jax, and Shifter standing just inside the bay.
Kane’s gaze moved from the tank to me. “Office.”
I stripped off my gloves and tossed them on the workbench, not liking the way that one word landed. “This about last night?”
“Yeah.” Jax rubbed the back of his neck. “And before you ask, I got eyes on them after Edge called. Haven’t had time to dig deep yet.”
Shifter pushed away from the wall, his mouth twitching. “Lark keeping you busy, brother?”
Sometimes, Shifter reminded me a lot of Edge. Lethal and observant, with a slightly underdeveloped conscience. But he could also flip a switch, and suddenly, he was laid back and easygoing.
Jax gave Shifter a flat look. “My wife gave birth to Lincoln two weeks ago. If you’re volunteering for night duty, say so now. I’ll hand you a bottle, a burp cloth, and the tiny human who screams like Nitro wired him to explode.”
Axle huffed a laugh as we headed toward my office. “Shifter on baby duty would last six minutes.”
“Five,” Kane muttered.
Shifter looked offended for about half a second. “I’ve held babies.”
“Yeah,” Jax agreed dryly as we stepped inside my office. “Like they were suspicious packages.”
“Babiesaresuspicious packages,” Shifter shot back, dropping onto the chair by the wall while I closed the door. “Small, loud, and leaking from multiple points.”
Kane’s mouth barely moved, but I caught the faint amusement before it disappeared. That was the thing with my brothers. We could be walking into a mess with another MC, but they’d still find time to talk shit. Not because they didn’t understand the stakes, though. If we didn’t laugh around the edges of the darkness, we’d all end up too mean to come back from it.
I moved behind my desk but didn’t sit. “Tell me what you’ve got.”
Jax set his laptop on the edge of the desk and opened it, the screen waking to a map with highlighted movement trails and a few still images from security feeds around Brake Point Run. “Not enough yet. After Edge called, I tracked them leaving the race, then picked them up on two traffic cams outside Crossbend. They split into two groups, probably trying to see if anyone followed, but they weren’t subtle enough to lose me completely. I have plates on two bikes, partials on a truck, and a couple of face grabs that should give me more once I have time to run them properly.”
“Which you haven’t had,” Axle added.
Jax’s jaw tightened, and for a second, the exhaustion leaked through. “I’ve been handling club alerts between diaper changes and convincing my wife she’s not allowed to chase our toddler around the house two weeks after pushing out a kid. So no, I haven’t cracked their entire family tree yet.”
“Lark trying to take care of Isabella and Lincoln?” Shifter asked.
“Like I’m not fucking there to help the woman!” he snapped before sighing. “She tried to reorganize the pantry yesterday.”
Edge shook his head. “Terrifying woman. Looks sweet, quietly unhinged.”
Jax pointed at him without looking away from the screen. “First. Peas in a fucking pod. Second, say that where she can hear you. I’d enjoy watching you explain it.”
Edge grinned. “Nah, I like my face where it is.”
Kane cut through the banter with a low, “Back to the MC.”
Jax nodded and tapped a key, pulling up a few images. “They’re from Georgia. Name’s Diesel Serpents. They’ve been pushing into regional racing the past year, mostly underground and dirty. Sloppy when they think nobody important is watching, but not stupid enough to come at us directly until last night.”
I stared at the grainy shot of the man who’d stepped toward Saylor like he planned to put his hands on her, and something cold spread under my skin. I could still see the way Saylor’s face changed when she realized he might grab her. My fingers curled against the edge of the desk. If I’d been two seconds later and he’d touched her, this meeting would have had a different purpose.
“I know them,” I growled. “Not personally. Reputation.”
