Dog shrugged, following the cop as he was led through the spacious connecting rooms. There were nasty suits drooling over young women in every corner, like it was the most normal thing in the world. It was surreal when this was supposed to be the party for a would-be politician. Grass was more fucked up than Peterson.
When they emerged into a long, narrow hallway, Dog unzipped his jacket and pulled out his gun, knocking out the cop before lowering him to the ground. He patted him down, taking his radio and gun before taking the staircase into the basement.
There were crates upon crates of automatic rifles, an assortment on display on a table. Fuck! This wasn’t a good position for him to be in. Dog pulled out his cell and called Forge, but there was no signal in the basement. He needed to get out of the country club but didn’t want to leave without Sable. They wouldn’t leave a cache of weapons this size alone, so Grass and his men couldn’t be far.
Dog looked for another way out of the basement when he heard footsteps coming down after him. Voices grew louder. They had to have found the cop’s body upstairs.
He wasn’t worried about jail. He was worried about not getting out of here alive.
****
Sable touched up her lipstick in the power room. She hated wearing makeup, but Hank wanted her to look the part. He said it made her appear older and more sophisticated. She’d never fit into his crowd, and she didn’t want to.
She’d talked with Beth in the morning, and she hoped Dog would come for her. After he’d stood on the sidelines at the diner while she bled out on the ground, she wasn’t sure if he even cared anymore. It had been almost two weeks since she’d been rushed to t
he hospital, and not a word from Dog, Forge, or anyone at the club. She truly felt abandoned, like she was on her own in every way.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her black hair was brushed out smooth. Hank kept telling her to cut it as it was well past her waistline, but she knew Dog loved it the way it was. The women in these finer circles had shorter cuts and Hank said her long hair made her look feral. He constantly reminded her of where she came from like some kind of stain she could never fully remove.
She didn’t care what he thought.
Sable took a deep breath, knowing she couldn’t hide out in here forever. Her body had healed from the ordeal at the diner. It looked much worse than it was with all the blood. Luther and Hank had used the opportunity to segregate her further, attempting to pry information from her at every chance. She spent her days locked up in a private hospital room even though she’d fully recovered nearly a week ago.
Knowing about all their underground dealings made her anxious being under lock and key. But if Dog didn’t care about her anymore, what did she have to go back to? Certainly not her own family.
Within seconds of exiting the bathroom, Hank was there, his hand on her back. Part of her felt suffocated by the cop, but she also knew that without him around, she’d have seen a much worse side of Luther Grass. He wanted to use her as biker bait, even if it cost her her life. Hank wouldn’t hear of it, insisting she was good for information.
“You look beautiful in that dress,” he said, leading them toward the pools. It was still hard for her to walk in heels, and she struggled to balance.
“Thank you.” She felt completely out of place, zipped up into a dress that reined in all her curves, making it difficult to breathe. She still looked several sizes larger than the women mingling at the party.
She knew this party was different from the others. It wasn’t just about raising campaign funds or kissing ass. Grass was pulling in his contacts, the ones he didn’t want publicized. She’d seen some of Hell’s Slaves rivals, which made her nerves ramp up. A lot of big players in the underworld were being round up, and she knew it was only the first stage of trying to wipe out Forge’s club. She’d kept her eyes and ears open at every chance to soak up as much intel for her prez.
“Next week is important for Luther. Once he’s voted in, he can start fulfilling his campaign promises,” said Hank. “Do you remember his number one commitment?”
“Getting rid of the Hell’s Slaves?”
He nodded with a smile. “Then all your worries will be over, sweetheart. All those heathens will be dead, behind bars, or driven far away from our jurisdiction.”
She smiled back.
“You’ll be safe and won’t have to look over your shoulder.”
“And you trust Grass?”
He chewed on his lip for a bit, continuing to walk. “He’s a complicated man, but he has big plans. Great plans.”
“Hank, won’t another club just fill in the void once the Hell’s Slaves is gone?”
This time, he chuckled. “Grass will have everything covered. He’s not a pushover like Peterson was. Trust me.”
She was tempted to ask him about the young women who’d been brought in by the vanload and the sleazy characters she’d seen mingling in the shadows. But she didn’t want to let on how much she knew and blow everything. Grass was involved in drugs, guns, and women. It was a mess.
“I’m glad to hear that. After tonight, I’d like to go back to my house. There’s no need for me to spend any more time at the hospital. I’ve never felt better.”
“I’ve told you, Sable. It’s for your safety. Until Grass is elected, he can’t protect you the way he’d like.”
“I feel like a prisoner,” she said. Sable missed Dog sneaking into her house. She missed everything about him, and she wondered if he thought about her at night, too. Hank was getting too territorial lately, and faking or not, no woman would put up with it for long.