“Holy shit,” Bear said.
I silently agreed. It had worked. “Who did they get?” I asked, but I really just wanted to know if their leader was among them.
Gunner understood this because he shook his head. “Snake wasn’t there. Even though the shop is in his name, since he wasn’t there he can claim that he simply employs those men and didn’t know what they were doing on the property in his absence. They could maybe still take him in for being involved, but it wouldn’t stick.”
“Damn it,” I muttered. Of course, that slippery bastard avoided prosecution.
“But get this, Devil Riders is abandoning the ones who got popped,” Gunner said, disgust printed on his face.
“What?” Maverick spoke up. “They aren’t going to get them representation?”
“Nope.”
I was appalled. A club wasn’t supposed to abandon its members like that, especially if they got locked up because of club business. Snake should have gotten his guys a lawyer and come out in support of them. There was no loyalty among Devil Riders and I couldn’t understand why someone would want to be a part of that club. “Hopefully they learned a lesson anyway about messing with us,” I said.
“You think they’ll know that we were involved?” Hawk asked.
“I think they’ll suspect it. If nothing else, hopefully they’ll be afraid to deal outside of their territory for a while.”
“We’ll see,” Gunner said, looking grim.
I wasn’t sure why he seemed worried. This was a good thing. “Any other new business?” I asked, looking around the table. I was starting to feel drunk, and that meant we needed to wrap this up as soon as possible. No one else spoke up, and I knocked my fist on the table twice, standing up. “Meeting adjourned.”
The sound of scraping chairs filled the room, and everyone started to file out, heading downstairs, while I got up and went to my office. I’d had the foresight to bring the bottle of scotch up here, so I didn’t have to make a bunch of trips to the bar to keep myself liquored up. I’d learned how dangerous that was when Numbers fell down the stairs.
I thought about telling Harper that story and it felt like a million years ago. Instead, it was mere days. It was the last night we spent together. If I had known I wouldn’t be with her anymore after that, I wondered if I would have done anything differently.
Sitting down behind my desk, I poured myself another measure of scotch. Clearly, it hadn’t done its job of making me forget yet.
“Really? You’re drinking more?”
I looked up to see Hawk standing in the doorway of the office and let out an annoyed groan. I should have known he wouldn’t go downstairs and leave me be. “You want one?” I offered, opening my bottom desk drawer to grab another glass.
“No, I really don’t. Wouldn’t mind finding out what the hell is going on with you though.”
“Nothing,” I said, not sure why I was even bothering to lie. Not only would Hawk see through it, but he also wouldn’t leave me alone until he got the truth. He was tenacious like that.
“Bullshit.” Walking into the office, he took a seat in the chair in front of my desk, relaxing and putting his feet up onto the scuffed wooden surface. “But I’ve got all day, so feel free to lie all you want.”
“I’m just annoyed,” I said, twisting the cap back onto the bottle and picking up the glass. “Things ended with Harper, which isn’t a big deal, except that it happened because she got clingy.” I felt like a jerk for wording it that way, but I was feeling bitter over the whole thing and sometimes, alcohol made me mean.
“She got clingy? Come on, man, you’re nuts about her too.”
“Piss off,” I said, taking a sip. It burned just right all the way down, pooling in my stomach and seeming to spread. If nothing else, the shit should make me sleepy.
“Feeling defensive, huh? Well, alright, I’ll ‘piss off’ as you said, but you should know that the empty feeling in the center of your chest is there because you have regret. You shouldn’t ignore it.”
I glared at him until he walked out of the room. I could hear his heavy footsteps on the creaky stairs as I rubbed absently at my chest, wondering how he knew about that. Did he have some great regret I didn’t know about? Hawk and I were close, but I’d only known him for about seven years. Was there something in his past, something that happened before then, giving him some kind of wisdom I didn’t possess?
Sighing, I told myself not to give too much weight to his words. Not because I didn’t believe him, but because I didn’t want to. For now, I wanted to be alone and to try to erase the memory of a woman I never should have let get under my skin in the first place.