“How do you know all that?” Heidi asks.
Charlotte shrugs. “I saw it on the news. Their whole story was sensationalized nonsense about the ‘outlaw motorcycle gang’ in the sleepy Vermont town.”
“You see any of them, let us know,” Teller says.
“Oh, trust me, my ears always perk up when I hear a Harley.”
Teller leans over to whisper something in her ear.
“Can we dance?” Heidi asks.
Like everything else, I can’t say no to her. “Glad you wore those.” I gesture to the black cowboy boots I’d bought her in Texas.
“Glad I finally had a reason to wear them.”
I spin her into my arms and out again. “Your man doesn’t take you out enough, does he?”
“My man does plenty for me.” She thumps her body into mine, and I curl my arms around her, swaying from side-to-side. After a few minutes, she peeks up at me. “Do you need me to pay more attention to stuff like Charlotte does?”
“No.” I don’t need time to think over my answer.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had trouble when we were at the track?”
“No trouble. Just a conversation.”
“Yeah right.”
“Only thing you need to worry about is finishing school.” I dip down to look in her eyes. “Okay?”
“I’m your old lady. You should keep me in the loop, so I can tell you if I see anything.”
“You know enough to mention if you see patches who don’t belong riding through Empire.” What more do I need? She’s either at college or medical facilities. Not exactly biker hot spots. I don’t need her distracted with club stuff for no reason.
“Where’d you learn to dance like that?” Teller calls over to us.
Heidi shakes out of my tight grip. “We went dancing with Rooster and Shelby down in Texas.”
Teller laughs. “I can’t wait to see Rooster.”
Charlotte presses her hand against Teller’s mouth. “Don’t you pick on Rooster. And don’t be jealous Murphy has better moves.”
That’s enough of a challenge for Teller to spin her away and back with a hard thump into his chest. After that, they end up doing more groping and whispering than dancing.
Heidi side-eyes them and turns us, so her back’s facing them.
“I don’t want to see it either,” I protest.
She slides her hands from my shoulders to my cheeks. “I can’t wait to marry you.”
Everything in me calms. My anxiety about the meeting. The nerves from trying to talk Remy and Griff into starting a support club. All of it vanishes, at least for a few seconds.
I lean down and press my forehead to hers. “Same.”
There’s a tap on my shoulder. “Head’s up. Two dudes on Harleys just rolled in,” Remy says. “One old. Never seen ‘em before.”
“Two, huh?” Can’t fault Whisper for bringing a brother. Surprised he didn’t bring a whole crew. “Thanks.”
“Gotta be Whisper.” I lift an eyebrow at Teller.
“I’ll keep an eye on your girls,” Remy says. “If you need to talk business or whatever.”
“Thanks.”
Teller watches Remy return to the bar, and I tap his shoulder to get his attention. “You with me, bro?”
“You trust him?”
I get what he’s implying right away. “Remy? Shit, yeah.” The guy’s a player for sure, but he’s not suicidal.
We return to our table and wait for the Wolf Knights to join us.
Whisper ambles in maybe five minutes later. I stuff down my annoyance and stand to shake his hand. “How you been, Whisper?” I refuse to call him “brother.” Rock said I had to be diplomatic, not kiss the guy’s ass.
He flexes his hands before taking a seat. “Getting old sucks. I don’t recommend it.”
“I think it’s inevitable,” Teller says.
Whisper tosses him a cool look. “Aren’t you a poet.” His grouchy expression disappears when his gaze lands on Charlotte. “Good to see you, sweetheart.”
“You too,” she answers quickly.
He’s polite enough to Heidi but clearly wants the girls to get lost.
Teller tilts his head toward the bar.
“Good to see you, Whisper.” Charlotte reaches over and captures Heidi’s hand. “I promised Heidi a game of darts. We’ll be over there if you need us.”
The waitress stops by, but all Whisper’s interested in is a beer. After she leaves, I lean forward.
“So, what’s on your mind?” Time to find out what he wants.
“Warmer climates.”
“It’s been in the eighties all week,” Teller points out.
Whisper grumbles and slashes his hand through the air. “Winter’s coming, and I’m sick of it.”
The waitress drops off a beer and scurries away. My gaze sweeps the room, landing on Heidi and Charlotte over by the bar. As promised, Remy’s making sure no one bothers them.
“Real talk, Murphy.” Whisper taps the table in front of me to grab my attention.
“Well, I hope you didn’t come all the way out here to bullshit me.”
He doesn’t laugh at my attempted humor.
“We got permission from our mother club to close down the Slater New York charter of the Wolf Knights MC.”
The news settles over the table like nuclear fallout. I don’t even have to glance Teller’s way to know he’s as stunned as I am.
I sit back and let it sink in. Our clubs have occupied territory next to each other for years. We’ve had rough patches here and there, but most of the time, we’ve been allies. Even joined up against the Vipers MC when it was necessary.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
He nods once. “Been over and over it. We just don’t have the numbers or the dedication these days. I can’t keep it together on my own and only got one guy who’s willing to step up.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t an easy decision.”
“Can’t imagine it was.”
Again, he drums his fingers over the table. Am I making him nervous or does he have something else to share that might piss me off?
“National slapped a condition on us closing.”
“Always something, huh?” Te
ller says.
Whisper’s not in a joking mood. He glares at Teller before focusing on me again.
“They don’t want any rumors that Lost Kings pushed us out of our territory.” He cocks his head, a slow smirk twisting his mouth. “It’s well-known Lost Kings evicted the Vipers.”
“That so?”
He tilts his head. “Don’t insult my intelligence, son.”
I sit back while staring him down. “What would you like us to do? Send out a press release?”
“You know as well as I do how rumors spread throughout the MC world.”
“Ninety-nine percent of it is bullshit.”
“True,” he agrees. “Look, we don’t want South of Satan taking over what we worked so hard for all these years.”
Too late, they’re already trying, but I keep that to myself for now. “Weren’t they just arrested?”
“Not all of them.” Whisper’s gaze darts between the two of us. “They’ll think it’s in play.”
“They have to go through our territory to even get to Slater,” Teller points out.
Whisper just stares at us.
“Motherfucker,” I grumble. “Merlin really stirred up trouble trying to get in bed with them.”
Whisper nods but doesn’t say a word against his Wolf Knight brother.
“How is he, anyway?” Teller asks. “You hear from him lately?”
“Sure did.” He tilts his head toward the bar. “Asks about Charlotte all the time. Glad you brought her tonight.”
Teller’s jaw clenches, obviously not liking the implication that Whisper’s probably going to call Merlin right after this meet and give him the scoop on his niece. Miraculously, Teller keeps his mouth shut and only gives Whisper a tight nod.
“I know he fucked up with her. For what it’s worth, I think he genuinely feels bad.”
“So, where’s he gonna go when he wants to get off the road?” Teller asks.
Whisper shrugs. “Don’t know. Another charter, I guess.”
“Right,” Teller says, sarcasm dripping from every word. “So, he’ll just roll back into Slater County, realize we run it now and be cool with that?”
Sometimes I wish Teller would keep his comments to himself. Whisper leans across the table. “Who the fuck you think wanted me to talk this through with you? We didn’t work to hold that territory down for decades, son, so any piece of shit could roll in and call it theirs.”