At the time, I thought they were my men going to look for me.
But it never struck me until right that moment that the sounds of the bikes had been coming from the wrong direction.
Those bikes I heard had belonged to the members of this MC, led by the first female outlaw biker president I had ever seen.
Fuck.
Just when I thought things were calming back down.
"Anyway, we just wanted to stop by and introduce ourselves. That's what new neighbors do, right?"
"Depends on what kind of neighbors they are going to be," Huck chimed in.
"Careful," she said, her gaze cutting to Huck. "Or I will get all kinds of ideas about opening up a new chapter in your neck of the woods. Florida is nice and warm all year round. I can think of some men who would like it down there. And I don't think you want that kind of trouble, right? You have so much on your hands already."
Shit.
This woman had done her research.
Worse than that, we were completely in the fucking dark.
I had no idea who she was, who her men were, if they were connected to another club somewhere.
"I didn't catch your name, babe," I said, getting her gaze off of Huck.
Her smile was smug as she did a once-over of me before holding my gaze again. "Danny," she said, not offering her hand. "And I don't think we are going to be fast friends, even if that is the proper thing to say. Oh, look, it's Reign Jr.," she said, glancing toward my side where Fallon was making his way out.
"Fallon," he corrected.
"Yes, of course. The president in training. How cute," she added, smug in her position. "I look forward to seeing a lot of you guys in the coming months and years," Danny said, gaze moving back to me. "Aren't new beginnings so fun?" she asked, smiling wide before turning and making her way back to her bike.
And just like the engines cutting off, as soon as hers roared to life, so did the others, the noise almost deafening before they pulled away.
I waited until I was sure they were gone and not coming back before I turned.
"Church," I demanded. "Cash, get your woman on the fucking phone. And your kid too, while you're at it. We need to know everything we can about them. And fast."
"Already on it," Cash agreed, his phone up to his ear as we all filed inside.
"Why don't my men and I take one of the cars out? Drive around. Get eyes on the headquarters, any information we can get about it?" Huck asked, body tense, not liking her threat any more than I did. It was bad enough she was hitting the supply chain in Jersey. We didn't need her fucking with the one in Florida as well.
"Yeah, that'd be great. Pictures, if you can get them without being seen," I added.
With that, his men set off, leaving us standing there in stunned silence.
It was Maze, of all people, who finally broke it, barreling into the room after Brooks went down to tell the women that it seemed safe for the moment.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Did I hear right?" she asked, looking around. "The club had a female president?"
"Yeah," I confirmed as her gaze cut to me, and I knew exactly what was coming.
"Gee, looks like some clubs are progressive, after all. Maybe I should try to prospect over there," she said, shooting me playfully annoyed eyes.
"Christ. This is a mess," I said, raking a hand over my eyes. "I need the rest of the men back here," I demanded, looking at everyone at large.
"What about the women and kids?" Sugar asked.
"I think they're alright for now. If their intentions were to kill anyone, they'd have done it out there. They would have had an advantage in numbers alone. And they wouldn't have delivered Miguel to us either. I think they are just flexing, letting us know they got the better of us. For now, let the women and kids settle back in so long as Lo has men and women to spare to act as guards."
It was about forty minutes later that everyone rolled in, faces masks of the confusion I felt.
"I already ragged on him about the female president thing," Maze declared to Lo and Chris as they walked in.
"Oh, good. Saves me the trouble," Lo agreed, smirking. "My biggest question is how the fuck these people got into town and set down roots with no one knowing about it."
"It shouldn't be possible," Chris insisted, and you could practically hear her gears turning, wondering which cog of the finely tuned wheel she called her operations at Hailstorm was not working right.
"This is Navesink Bank," Cash said, shaking his head. "A lot of impossible shit happens here."