“I guess so.”
We fist-bump.
“Natty told me about her plan. I actually think it could work. I told her I would do it with her, so she’s not alone. We can lure him out,” she says quietly.
“And Decker agrees with that?” I ask, and I can hear the disbelief in my voice. When Natalie told me her plan to serve as bait, I thought she was nuts, and still do.
“I haven’t spoken to him about it yet,” she admits, looking over at him. “We discussed it right before you came back. If anyone has another way, I’m all for it. But it’s been two months, and no one is any closer to finding this fucker. Besides, Marko would never think that we would be in on something like this. If it were you or Rhett, or one of the men, he would know that it’s a trap. He wouldn’t suspect us.”
“There’s a reason he thinks we wouldn’t put you both at risk, though, and that’s because it’s too dangerous,” I explain, wincing at the idea of it. “It’s not me being overprotective. How can you ask me, as a man, to stand here and put two women in danger instead of myself?”
She makes atsk-tsksound. “It’s not like that, though. We will play our part so you can do yours. It’s a collaboration. We aren’t taking your place—we are helping with a shady-ass plan that just might work.”
“I still don’t like it,” I grumble. “Okay, why don’t you talk with Decker and see what he has to say about it?”
“What, now?” she asks.
“Whenever you like.”
“Okay,” she says, walking over to Decker and Felix, and likely spouts her little speech at him, the same one she just gave me.
I hear him very loudly and articulately say, “Yeah, that’s not fucking happening,” and I start laughing. She narrows her brown eyes at me from across the room, and crosses her arms over her chest.
“What’s going on?” Clover asks, moving next to me. I give her the rundown. “Why did no one invite me to this little event? I feel left out.”
“You have FOMO about potentially getting hurt?” I ask, amused.
She shrugs. “I’m a ride-or-die kind of girl. Besides, if I can protect my best friends, I’m going to be there. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to them.”
“That’s where I’m at right now. There has to be another way; this is not it.”
“There are plenty of other ways. This one is just the fastest and most unpredictable.” She nods to Cara and Natalie. “He might be an evil genius, but he won’t see this coming.”
“I have no doubt.”
“You’re as stubborn as Natty is. The two of you belong together,” she states, before walking over to her daughter.
I sit down with Felix at the dining table. “The women are all ganging up on me.”
“Why do you think I’m over here eating by myself?” he says, digging into the platter that Cara made for us all. “They all have big personalities and having them all together is...a lot.”
Laughing, I agree.
“You know when this Marko thing heads where I think it’s going to head, I’m going to have to sit this one out,” he says quietly.
I nod. “I know. And you do what you need to. If you need to step away now and have nothing to do with this whole thing, we understand. It’s one giant shit show and we don’t want to drag you down with us.”
“I’ll do what I can,” he murmurs. “But I don’t want to know any of the details. Ignorance is bliss.”
“Noted.” Felix is the epitome of loyal. Though he’s a decorated police detective, he associates with bikers and keeps our crimes confidential. While he never does us any favors and rides the right side of the law, he comes awfully close to the edge. I have mad respect for him.
But now the time has come.
All I know is that I need to find Marko before my woman and her gang decide to put themselves in the firing line instead.
And yeah, I’m not going to let that happen.
I’m going to get revenge for what he did to both of my brothers.