“B.B?” Hilary asked.
“Biker Babes,” Fancy explained.
“Clever,” Hilary said smirking with a shake of her head.
They all exited the car with Magic and Tex leading the way. The men walked up to the thin, strawberry-blonde girl behind the counter. A few moments later she walked up to the front door, flipped the open sign to closed, and locked the door.
“You ladies have run of the store. My name’s Charlotte. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to let me know.”
“Thank you,” Hilary said, smiling her thanks as her gaze swept over the store. She could describe the entire stock in three words—short, clingy, and revealing.
“You look constipated; what’s going on upstairs?” Summer said.
“I feel like I just walked in to Sluts R Us. No offense meant at all. But I don’t think I wore anything this short, tight, or downright brazen, even when I was in high school.”
“Did you just say brazen?” Summer said.
“Hello, author. She drops big words like they’re going out of style,” Fancy said.
“I can hear you,” Hilary said snickering.
“We know. Look, we understand this isn’t your normal fare. We’ll tone down the sexy as much as we can. But you, my friend, have to come out of your shell,” Fancy said. Summer nodded her agreement.
“Shell? I’m not shy,” Hilary said.
“No, but you are closed off and a bit distant,” Summer said. “You trusted us with your hair; do the same with your clothing.
Hilary took a deep breath. Embrace the experience. At the very least it could be good book fodder. “Okay. I’m your canvas.”
* * * * *
Things were happening fast, and it had the boys nervous. Hawk sat beside Tiny in the crowded church session. Tensions were high, and it had the group of men acting like long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs, as his grandmother would say. They’d come up with a plan to take the rest of the Peter’s crew down permanently, but it was unorthodox.
“Now I’m going to bring up something and I want everyone to keep an open mind,” Tiny said.
Here we go. Hawk sat up in his chair.
“We found the rest of those motherfuckers. We could kill them, but I don’t like the thought of it somehow coming back around to us. Two was enough. People with money have a way of being relentless. They leave no stone unturned, and there’s always someone who doesn’t mind getting their hands dirty for the right price.”
“So what are you suggesting?” Shooter asked.
“We cut off their money flow and send them to jail,” Tiny said.
“Wait, the legal route? How in the hell do you expect to pull that off?” Maverick said.
“The paper trail is there. If we get the victims on board, they’ll put these assholes under the jail for us. Human trafficking, murder when the girls wanted to leave or got used up.Now, that’d mean getting the librarian and Hilary on the stand. We need them to be the glue. Juliette has to be willing to take the stand and talk to the victims along with Hilary. As long as these men are free, all of these woman will remain in danger. We’re doing them a favor as much as they’d be doing the same for us.
Murmurs went up in the space. Tiny held up a hand. “I know it’s not our usual style, but it leaves us with clean hands. That’s what matters. We’d be seen as protection only. Nothing new for an M.C. really.”
“And you think this would work?” Shooter said.
“With the dirt we have on them, no lawyer in America is going to get them off,” Tiny said.
“And how does Hil feel about this?” Moose said narrowing his eyes.
“She’ll agree,” Hawk said. I won’t let her do otherwise. “This needs to come to an end yesterday. They’ve hit too close to home. We can’t give them another chance at us,” Hawk said.
“Jesus, these guys don’t have anything better to do?” Maverick asked. “If I had half the money they did this is not what I’d be doing.”