“East,” Carter replied. “He’s working in some repair shop apparently. I put out feelers.”
“You really hate this guy, huh,” Arturo said.
“With every beat of my heart.” A tendon flexed in Carter’s cheek. “Took a lot of willpower not to castrate him when he was sleeping.”
“It’ll be done by the end of the week,” Arturo said, taking Dale Devin’s image and putting it in his pocket.
“Castration will be the least of his problems when I get hold of him,” Goatee said, then muttered something in Spanish. “Consider it done.”
Arturo stood. “Pleasure doing business with you guys.” He shook Hudson’s hand.
Hudson nodded. “We’ll be in touch about the where and when.”
“Three days, or the deal is off.”
“It’ll be three days,” Rigor said, standing. “I’ll see you guys out.”
Rigor squeezed his sister’s shoulder. A silent thanks for her secret translations? Teddy smiled at her as he also stood.
“Oh, and you guys,” Arturo’s sidekick said. “Enjoy the rally.”
“Pierce?” Hudson frowned.
“Si.”He chuckled. “We can’t rally this year, but the next,si, we will go.”
The air seemed to suddenly crackle. As if electricity had been released. Wyatt raised his eyebrows at Carter, who returned the look.
“You want trouble?” Hudson asked.
Arturo chuckled. “What can I say, my brothers get bored easily and they want to see what goes down at Pierce each year. I’ve heard a hell of a lot of stories.”
“There’ll be a lot more with you there,” Carter muttered.
Arturo ignored him, pulled a cigar from his cut pocket, and gripped it between his teeth. He smiled around it.
“Life’s too short to be bored.” Hudson nodded at the door. “Drive safe. We’d hate anything to happen to our valuable business partners.”
Wyatt hid a smile. The sarcasm dripping from Hudson was almost comical.
The Mexicans left with Rigor and Teddy, and the tension in the room dissipated.
“Shit’ll hit the fan if they ride into Pierce,” Carter muttered. “Too many old scores to settle with too many clubs to mention.”
“Let’s worry about that next year. Right now … damn that’s a lot of gear to shift here there and fucking everywhere,” Taff said and picked up the last of his snack. A blob of mayo sat on his lip.
“Risky,” Wyatt added. His attention was on Belle as she closed her notebook and poked the pen into the spiral metal spine. “But worth the risk.”
Am I talking about the guns or Belle?
It was clear she had a protective brother and friend. Damn it. She likely had a whole chapter who looked out for her like the Hounds of Hell.
“We’ve got no choice,” Hudson said. “We need the income. We’ve got debts.” He shrugged. “Thanks for your help, Belle.”
“Anytime.” She stood and smoothed down the front of her tiny denim shorts. Her long tan legs were worth dying for. What Wyatt wouldn’t do to lick them from ankle to thigh then stay and enjoy himself between them for a while. Hell, it would be his idea of Heaven. Heaven and paradise rolled into one.
“You need me for anything else?” she asked, her gaze sliding past Carter to Wyatt.
He grinned as a whole load of particularly dirty things he needed from her came to mind.