“Thanks.”
Irritated, Train left the bedroom, anxious to read what was contained in the folder. If it weren’t so late, he would call Shade. The brother had promised to pass any information he had found on Killyama.
When he returned to his room, he found both Sasha and Jewell fast asleep.
Turning off the light on the nightstand, he then turned on the one at his desk before opening the folder and starting to read.
He was dead tired. By just the first page, it was hard to keep sleep at bay. By the end of the folder, two hours later, though, any desire for sleep had disappeared.
Closing the folder, he locked it in his drawer, wishing the women weren’t sleeping in his bed so he could take his frustration out by punching a hole in a wall.
He had always known that convincing Killyama to join The Last Riders was a forlorn hope. What he had just read proved it.
His cell phone ringing had Train lifting it to his ear, even before he saw it was Viper calling.
“Did you read it?”
“I just finished. I’m going to kick Shade’s ass in the morning.”
“I know. He’s not answering his phone.” Not trying to hide his own fury, Viper’s voice cracked like a whip through the cell phone.
“What are you going to do?” Train asked.
“What am I going to do? What are you going to do? You’re the one with the hard-on for the bitch. I told you the brothers aren’t going to open their arms to her, anyway. It’s not like you were serious about her, or are you?”
“I told you that I thought she would make a good Last Rider … if she could tone down her aggressiveness toward the other women … and men,” Train added as an afterthought. “The problem is, from Crash’s report, Killyama is not only business partners with them, they’ve been in her life since she was a little girl.” Train brought his fingers to his eyes, pressing hard until he saw spots as he tried to figure a way out of the box he found himself trapped in. “If Hammer and Jonas find out I’m trying to convince her to join the club, they’ll talk her out of it.”
“Crash is sure they aren’t related?”
“Crash doesn’t make mistakes. There isn’t a way of knowing for sure until he, or I, can find out who her father is. No father is listed, and her mother still lives in Jamestown.” He sighed. “It couldn’t have been easy growing up without a father. He thinks either Jonas or Hammer dated Killyama’s mother at one time and drew close to her, stepping in as father figures.”
“They did a hell of a job training her to take care of herself.”
Viper’s compliment was well deserved. The skills they had taught her had earned the respect of The Last Riders on more than one occasion.
“It explains how she took Raul down. She made a pretty penny when she collected the bounty on him.”
“She shared the reward with Jackal and Fade’s family. She makes good money working with Hammer and Jonas. Now I can understand why she didn’t jump on the chance of me buying her a new car for saving Winter’s life. I wish I had read Crash’s report before I gave her my IOU. Money, I can come up with. What’s making me nervous is her possibly asking me to track down any felons she’s searching for. I need some breathing room after looking over my shoulder for Raul.”
“What about the promise you made to me? The only reason I took the shit she was throwing at me was because of Raul. I didn’t want to hurt her in the crossfire. When Shade called in the IOU when we saved Fat Louise, Shade cashed it in. You told me the club wouldn’t interfere again between her and me.” The members had agreed that, if he could talk Killyama into joining the club, they would give it a trial run to see if she could earn any votes.
Train held his phone away from his ear. The loud laughter had Sasha turning over in her sleep.
“Don’t blame me. I put her IOU in the pot to be fair to everyone who helped. If you hadn’t been drunk off your ass, you would have seen Shade was bluffing. You lost that pot because you wanted to.”
Train clenched his jaw. “Are you saying I sabotaged myself?”
“I’m saying, don’t bet more than you’re willing to lose.”
“I was already drunk when you threw it in the pot,” Train reminded him. “I was the one who was sabotaged.”
“Looks like you’re going to have to get that woman the old-fashioned way.”
“How? She won’t talk to me.”
“I don’t know. That’s your problem to deal with. I caught my woman.”
“Not without some help. Who was the one who helped Rider carry that fucking big tub into your new house?”