Gill reaches the meeting room at the clubhouse and when he steps inside, I grab Malachi’s arm to stop him.
“What?”
“Dude’s got a point. Why do we still have our balls?”
Malachi throws his head back and laughs. When he sobers, he rests a hand on my shoulder. “Oh, I’m going to pay for my words later. Harlow will make sure of it. But I like the hatchet as much as she does, and she knows it. You, on the other hand… Peppermint’s going to fuck your world up.”
“Great. Like she needs a damn blade to do that.”
“Be afraid, cuz. Be very afraid.”
Malachi practically skips the rest of the way down the hall. Okay, so he doesn’t skip at all, but it’s what I imagine the pussy-whipped asshole does. The image makes me feel a little better.
I step over the threshold into the room and am immediately shoved against the wall. Harlow’s standing in front of me with her hatchet pressed against my throat and an arm across my chest. Peppermint is next to her, her serrated knife tip way too close to my groin.
“Do not mistake my acquiescence for weakness,” Harlow snarls.
“Never said you were weak,” I tell her and lower my eyes to Peppermint. “Uh, can you move that thing? It’s a little too close for comfort.”
Peppermint presses the tip against the zipper of my jeans. “Nah, I like it right where it is.”
“What’s it gonna take for you both to back off?”
“I don’t know,” Harlow says and turns her head to look at Peppermint. “What do you think, Pep?”
“Hmm.” Peppermint tilts her head and pretends to think it over. “Silence.”
“I like that,” Harlow says.
“Silence?”
“Yeah,” Peppermint confirms. “As in sit down and keep your mouth shut.”
“What about Malachi?” I ask.
Harlow looks over her shoulder at her other half. “He knows what’s expected of him inside this room.”
“You tell ‘em,” Gill prods from his position at the end of the table.
“Any more questions?” Harlow asks me.
“Nope.”
“Good.” She lowers her hatchet, and Peppermint backs up as well. Harlow whirls around and faces Gill. “Next time you want to make a point, do it yourself.”
“While this has been entertaining as hell, can we get down to business?” Giggles asks before dropping into her chair. “I’ve gotta pick Noah up from school in an hour.”
“You heard her,” Harlow says and moves to the head of the table. “Let’s get started.”
For the next thirty minutes, I sit quietly and listen to all the women discuss my twin and brainstorm ways to locate and eliminate him. At one point, I stand, but Malachi yanks me back down and elbows me in the gut so I can’t say anything.
“I hate to throw a wrench in things,” Spooks, the scariest of all the DHMC members, begins. “But what makes you think we’ll be able to find Nicholi? He’s evaded us for a year. I’m not real clear how anything has changed.”
“I’m here,” I say quietly, which earns me a glare from Peppermint and another elbow in the gut from Malachi.
“Nico, dude, you suck at following directions.” Harlow shakes her head. “That being said, you’re right.” She scans the faces of her sisters. “I don’t think Nicholi will be able to stay hidden with Nico here. He’s going to want to face his brother and that need for revenge is what will drive him out of hiding.”
“Add me into the mix, and he definitely won’t be able to resist.”