Dax seemed confident as he spoke, which should’ve eased my mind. Unfortunately, it didn’t—at least, not completely. “Keep an eye out. If you hear anything I should know about, call me.”
“Will do.”
“I appreciate your help with this, Dax. I owe you one.”
“Don’t mention it, brother. Glad to help.”
As soon as he hung up, I looked to Menace and Axel and said, “Fuck these assholes. We’re keeping the guns.”
“You sure about that?” Axel asked.
“It’s our only option—at least for the time being.”
I understood my brother’s concern. Over the past few months, the club had sustained a few hard hits, and the last thing we needed was another. The thought made me think about the Manor and all the changes we’d made to the security.
After Coburn’s attack, we brought in several extra hands—most of which had worked under Braylon in the service. Riggs and Menace had also made some significant modifications to the security system, which had me curious. I turned to Hawk and Menace. “How are things going over at the Manor?”
“Better than I expected, honestly,” Hawk answered. “Braylon’s three boys and the two guys Riggs sent are really on top of things, and I think the new upgrades on the security system are just what we needed out there, especially those loss-of-power alerts.”
“The upgrades are badass, Prez,” Menace boasted. “If the power goes out for any reason, we’ll all get an alert on our phones, and the new solar cameras will kick on.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear. And what about Kiersten? She and her team still keeping up with production?”
“Oh, yeah. That and more.” Hawk shook his head. “She’s even talking about starting up a new line for later this spring.”
“Get with her and have her work up some numbers for me. If that’s something she’s interested in doing, we need to do our part in making sure it happens.”
“You got it.” He glanced over to Menace and Axel, then back to me. “If that’s all, I’ll get with Rafe and head over there now.”
“I’d appreciate it.” I watched as he got up and walked out of the room. As soon as he closed the door, I turned to Menace and said, “I’ve got something I need you to do for me.”
“Okay, name it.”
“I need you to look into my brother.”
“What exactly am I looking for?”
Normally, I wouldn’t discuss something like this with anyone else in the room, but Axel had been through thick and thin with me. He knew all about Mia and how hard it’d been seeing her with my brother. He’d encouraged me for years to move on, so I could only imagine what he was thinking when I said, “I’m pretty sure he’s been fucking around on his wife, and I need you to find out if that’s true.”
“You seriously think he’s fucking around on Mia?” Axel asked with surprise.
“Unfortunately, I do, and I’m not the only one. She thinks the same damn thing.”
“He can’t possibly be that fucking stupid.”
“I hope to God I’m wrong, but I got a bad feeling I’m not.”
Menace stood up and said, “I’ll get on it right away and let you know what I find out.”
“I’d appreciate it, brother.”
Once he was gone, Axel waited a moment, then turned to me and asked, “You okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. I know how hard it’s been to deal with Camden all these years.” His brows furrowed with concern. “It’s gotta be fucking with your head to think Camden’s been screwing around on Mia, especially with your history.”
“It is what it is.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t just blow it off like this shit doesn’t mean something to you.”
“Of course, it means something to me, Axel, but whether he’s cheating or not changes nothing.” I could feel the anger rising inside of me as I continued, “She chose him. End of story.”
“So, even if you had a chance with her, you wouldn’t take it? After all these years of loving her? Wanting her?”
“There was a time when I’d jump at the chance to be with her. You know that, but a lot’s changed.” I ran my hand over my face and sighed. “I honestly can’t say what I’d do. Not anymore.”
“Does this change have anything to do with your friend, Rebecca?”
“It’s not like that, and you know it.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t think so, but like you said, things change.”
“Don’t try and Dr. Phil me, brother. I’m not in the fucking mood.” I stood up, grabbed the pink tumbler Rebecca gave me, and started out of the room. “I need more coffee. And a cigarette. And maybe a shot.”
“Damn, sounds like you could use an episode or two of Dr. Phil.”
“Fuck no. Jerry Springer couldn’t even touch this shit.”
Before he had a chance to respond, I walked out of the office and made my way to the kitchen. After I poured myself some coffee, I headed down to my room for a hot shower. I hadn’t had a chance to take one since I’d left Rebecca’s, and I was hoping it might help knock the edge off my sour mood.