“No, brother. Shadow go to those meets with you?”
“Never,” Sway says. “I’ll let Trey know you’re both coming to this one.” Sway reaches for a pen and scribbles down the address, phone number, and a dollar amount.
“You behind on payments?” I ask.
“Probably.”
That’s just fucking great. I bury my irritation and pat Sway’s shoulder. “Thanks, brother.”
“That’s Tawny’s number. I’ll have her text you with a time.”
“All right.” I think I’ve gotten as much as I can out of Sway. Time to let him rest. “You take it easy. I’ll keep you updated.”
“Appreciate it, Z.” His gaze lands on Rooster. “You too. Always knew you were meant to be an officer.”
“Thanks, brother,” Rooster grabs Sway’s outstretched hand.
In the hallway, we run into Tawny. Sure, now that she’s back it doesn’t seem she’ll be more than a few feet away from Sway’s side.
“How you doing, sweetheart?” I ask.
“Hanging in there.” She taps my cut, more specifically the president’s patch. “You look good in this.”
“Not planning to stay, Tawny. The job’s waiting for him when he’s ready.”
She tilts her head. “You sure about that? Rock’s gonna die at the head of that table. Unless you want to move out west, this might be the only chance you have to run a club.”
Fuck her and fuck everyone who keeps assuming I even want to run my own club. She’s a brother’s wife, though, so I try to keep my temper in check. “I was perfectly happy as VP upstate, Tawny. I’m just here to help out.”
“Well, we appreciate it, Z.” Her gaze shoots to Rooster. “Although, I see you’ve already made changes.”
“Necessary changes,” I growl. She’s treading too close to club business that doesn’t concern her.
I’m not one to get snarly with old ladies, or hell, women in general. Always been a lover, not a fighter. But fuck if Tawny’s going to tell me how to run the club that her husband’s been fucking up for years.
Enough menace radiates off me that she puts her hands up and takes a step back. “Rooster will be a good VP. Better than Shadow ever was. You made the right call.”
“Thanks,” I answer with a healthy dose of I-don’t-give-a-fuck-about-your-opinion.
“I better get back in there, or he’ll wonder where I ran off to.”
We say our awkward goodbyes and I wait until she’s back inside the room before storming away.
Outside, Rooster bursts into laughter. “Christ, she’s always been a ballsy bitch.”
“Knew that mousy act she put on when she came back was fake as fuck.” I throw a scowl at the building we just left. “She’ll be back to queen bitch on wheels in no time.”
Rooster shrugs. “I’m sure Lilly can put her in her place.”
I don’t want Lilly to have to deal with any of that petty bullshit. Upstate, where Lilly is friends with all the other old ladies, is where we belong.
Irritated again, I cram my helmet on and barely wait for Rooster to catch up before roaring out of the parking lot.
Chapter Twenty
Z
We’re almost at the clubhouse when the text from Tawny comes in. The meet’s in less than an hour. Annoyed I have so little time to prepare, I pull into the first parking lot I see and Rooster follows.
“What’s wrong?”
I show him the text.
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.” I nod to the store. “I don’t think I’ll be able to pull enough out of their ATM in time.”
“Shit.” He yanks out his phone. “I’ll call Hustler and ask him to meet us with some cash. We probably shouldn’t go in alone anyway.”
Good point. “Call Jigsaw too.”
While he’s busy doing that, I send a text to Teller and Murphy asking them to join our little party. Strength in numbers and all that. Not that I want to spook this cop, but I also don’t want him thinking he can fuck with me because I’m new.
Less than half an hour later, the four of them rumble into the parking lot. I wait for them to shut down their bikes before signaling for everyone to follow me to a secluded area behind the store.
“What’s going on, Z?” Teller asks.
I nod at Hustler before answering. “Bring the money?”
He taps his chest. “Right here. Envelope of Benjamins. That okay?”
“That’s fine.” I motion for him to hand it over and quickly count out one payment, then hand the rest back to Hustler. “We’ll see how much of an asshole this guy is before I hand over the rest.”
“Sounds good.”
I fill Teller and Murphy in. “Sorry, brother. I probably shouldn’t have asked, since you just got out.”
Murphy shrugs off my concern. “I go where you go, brother. Let’s do this.”
“Hopefully, it’s smooth and the guy isn’t a prick.”
Jigsaw snorts. “Show me a cop who isn’t an asshole.”
“I think it’s a basic requirement,” Hustler adds.
“Let’s leave that attitude here,” I warn. “We’re not fans of each other, but let’s at least pretend we respect the guy until he gives us a reason not to.”
I wait until I have everyone’s agreement before signaling it’s time to go.
We cruise past the junkyard and execute a lazy U-turn at the end of the road. It’s deserted. Far from any houses or other businesses. Perfect spot for this sort of meet-up. Especially if they were regular.
The gate’s open and we park right inside. A massive Rottweiler hurtles toward us. While the rest of the guys back up, I go down on one knee and call the dog to me.
Startled, the dog blinks and approaches me slower, sniffs my outstretched hand, and gives me his rump to scratch. “Good boy, huh? Good guard dog?”
“I don’t know about that,” Rooster jokes.
“Ignore him, boy.” I scratch his chin and behind his ears. “Who else is here? Anyone?”
The rottie eyes my brothers but finally trots off toward the building. We follow and around the corner spot a Union Police vehicle.
The officer steps out. He’s alone and doesn’t seem pleased to see a whole pack of us.
His hand grazes his gun and I mutter to the guys to back off. Holding my hands out, I walk closer. “Sway said this was a good time to meet?”
Still wary, his gaze ping-pongs between me and the brothers behind me. “Yeah. What’s going on? Usually, we met alone.”
“He didn’t mention that.” I won’t apologize, but I hold out my hand. “I’m Z. Taking over for Sway as president while he’s recovering.”
We shake and he nods. “Yeah, that was fucked up what happened to him. How’s he doing?”
“Better.” I motion Rooster to come forward. “Rooster’s our new VP. Not sure how often you interacted with Shadow, but—”
Trey sneers. “Someone shoot him too?”
“Nah, he took off. Going nomad for a while.” I shrug. “Not the best time for it, but can’t really stop a brother from chasing wind, you know?”
He grunts. “You’re probably better off.”
If you’d like to pass that story along to your cop buddies, be my guest.
On the take or not, I have no illusions that whatever I share with this guy won’t go straight into a file somewhere. We’re not friends. An arrangement between any outlaw and cop is always tricky. Each side only there to advance their own interests.
“So, what’s new?” I ask, unsure of how Sway usually conducts these exchanges.
He stares at me for a minute. “You’re the one out on bail, right?”
“Yeah,” I answer slowly.
“I don’t know anything about your case. Sheriff’s office is conducting it.”
I already knew that.
“They got a stick up their asses lately about cooperating with city cops.”
Can’t imagine why.
“From what I heard, someone on the for
ce has a sister who used to party at your clubhouse.”
“Really?” This trip might not be a waste of time after all. “Got a name?”
“No, it’s just a rumor. She was out of town, traveling for a while. Hooked up with a lot of MCs around the country.”
“Big rumor.”
He shrugs. “Not sure it’s connected. But I thought I’d mention it.”
There’s more he’s not telling me, but I don’t want to push him too far since this is our first meeting. First thing I’ll do when we get back to the clubhouse is start having Steer run background on all the girls who hang out at our club.
“Any word on Sway’s shooting?” Shit, while I’m here, I should at least look like I don’t know who pulled the trigger.
“Nothing. Couple officers have a theory the wife did it since no one’s seen her.”
As much as I’d enjoy shoving Tawny into the cops’ radar, I can’t do it. Yeah, she’s a pain in the ass, but she’s still the wife of a brother. “Nah, she’s volatile, but she loves his ass. She’s been by his side the last few times I visited.”