“You guys look like you have an issue, so let’s hear it,” Deacon said after he shut the door behind Skylar, leaving us outside in the night, the bugs zipping around the porch light above us.
Op folded his arms across his chest and widened his stance. “You get information out of Emerald to give to the DEA?”
Straight to the point, no bushes here to beat around so may as well just ask the question and get an answer.
Deacon tilted his head to the side and pressed his lips together. “Did I lock her in an interrogation room and pry information from her?” he threw back. “No, I didn’t.”
“Then how ‘bout you explain this shit before I punch you in the face for being a sneaky fucking asshole,” Optimus countered. “Because we both know I’ve been waiting for an excuse to do that for a while.”
Deacon rolled his eyes but stood his ground. “And I thought we were getting along so well.”
“So did I,” Optimus growled. I could tell now that Op wasn’t just annoyed that Deacon had used someone connected to the club to get information from, or that Deacon had pretended to be this perfect gentleman when he’d offered his assistance. No, Op was feeling betrayed.
Things had been tense between the two, to begin with, and I knew that Op still held somewhat of a grudge toward him. But the truth was, he’d helped us out on more than a few occasions and stood up for us when shit had turned south. There was a trust beginning to form between Deacon and the club, and unless there was a reasonable explanation, I knew that this move could have just shat all over that and earned us another enemy.
One who knew shit he could possibly use.
Deacon allowed his shoulders to drop and he leaned back against the door. “Look, did I go into this thinking that I was going to find out the things I did? Hell no,” he said with a sigh. “I was interested in the Colony. I had looked into them before, and I knew the type of shit they did there and it fucking disgusted me. I genuinely wanted to help and protect Emerald from having to go back there.”
He looked Op directly in the eye, not once wavering at the dark stare that was thrown back at him, all of us waiting for him to continue.
“The more comfortable Emerald got, the more she would tell me things they wouldn’t let her do, things they would let her do. More details, more things that fucking turned my stomach but that she described as so natural, so fucking normal.” I watched him visibly shudder before he found his composure again and stood a little straighter. “It was eventually the name that popped up that made me think I could use that to help bring these assholes down.”
“Brock Obrien,” I spat, the taste of his name on my tongue was like rotten milk. Deacon’s gaze flicked to me, he was surprised I knew. “Yeah, turns out both Sky and I had Wrench look into him, and his rap sheet was impressive.”
“You don’t even know the half of what he’s got going on,” Deacon seethed. “When I let the DEA know that he was there—with evidence and first-hand accounts from Emerald, and knowing what he was doing, they were able to get the search warrants because of him being a wanted felon.”
“What evidence did she have?” I asked, confused because as far as I knew, Emerald had basically run out of the Colony with a picture of Sky and the clothes on her back.
When Deacon’s eyes moved to the door, listening to make sure the girls weren’t close by, I knew shit was about to get worse.
“We have word that their older brother is coming to get back at Sky for embarrassing him down in Dallas. We need all the details Deacon if we are going to keep these girls safe,” Optimus reasoned, his tone changing. He wasn’t pleading, but he was asking for this bullshit to be put aside so that he could work with us on this, and stop keeping us out of the loop with information that impacts on the club.
Deacon sighed. “Emerald brought her marriage certificate with her, as well as photos of her and Brock on their wedding day.”
Blizzard, Optimus and I all stood there with our mouths hanging open. It took me several moments of processing that information in my head in order for me to even form a response.
“Skylar doesn’t know,” I muttered, and Deacon cringed.
“No, Emerald didn’t want her to know,” he confirmed sadly.
“Shit!” I cursed, running my fingers through my hair.
We all looked up as we heard footsteps coming toward the front door.
Optimus shook his head and clenched his fists at his side. “Shit just got a lot more complicated.”
After ten minutes of trying to convince Emerald to get on the back of Blizzard’s bike—none of us considered when we rode out here that she would be too scared out of her mind to get on—Deacon offered us a reprise and drove Emerald to the clubhouse in his car.
The clubhouse was still a ball of nervous energy when we arrived, and we’d quickly rushed all the boys into church and given them a brief rundown on who we were dealing with and what the possibilities were.
I walked out of the meeting room in search of my woman, finding her at the bar giggling together with Emerald and Jess. Wrapping my arms around her from behind, I felt complete when she melted into my arms and lay her head back against my shoulder, turning her face so I could capture her lips. The kiss was soft, but fuck it drove me damn near crazy, and I pressed my hips into her back, letting her feel just how ready I was to take her to bed and show her just how fucking happy I was that she was mine.
“I need to get Emerald settled in her room, then I’ll be ready to go to bed,” she murmured softly, pressing her lips to my neck. “Tonight has been a little crazy.”
“Yes, I was getting ready for bed before you arrived tonight,” Emerald said, her voice so sweet and innocent it never failed to throw me for a loop.
Skylar snorted as she jumped off the barstool and tugged on her sister’s hand. “Oh, is that what you were doing when you were shoving the hand full of corn chips in your mouth,” she teased.