“Yeah, it is,” I retorted. “We’re doing the best we can with the shit that’s been handed to us, Lucie. You can’t seriously think we want this for you. For fuck’s sake, none of us knew what the hell was going down when Ramon rolled up. We were as in the dark as you.
“But, we’re going to act in your best interest because the Guerrera Cartel aren’t people you fuck around with. Only your goddamn father would be lunatic enough to threaten Ramon’s son and get away with it.”
“Brass balls,” Axe muttered, and I couldn’t disagree with him. People said I was messed up in the head, but fuck, that was nothing compared to Bomber.
“This can’t be happening,” she whispered, more to herself than us. When she covered her eyes, denying me the sight of those beautiful orbs that transmitted so much to me, so much emotion, I felt like I’d lost my life raft.
Inside, I was raging. If Bomber wasn’t already dead, I’d have slaughtered him where he stood.
Licking my lips, I promised, “We’ll make this work.”
“We have to,” Wolfe said heavily, but the look he shot me said otherwise. “I know this might seem like a stupid time, but we need to talk about the council. We’re short, and we need to start promoting. If the Guerreras come after us, as well as the beef we’re currently dealing with from the Knights, then we need to be in full working order.”
She dug her fingers in her eyes and murmured, “Wheels and Rodeo are your choices, right?”
Wolfe snorted. “How the fuck did you know that?”
That had her sniffing. “I listen to people talk. Just because they’re not talking to me all that much doesn’t mean I can’t hear.”
His lips twitched at her snark, but he tensed at her words—I was just as pissed that the MC wasn’t letting this go.
“I think we need an emergency church,” Dagger stated grimly. “We need to flush out the rat.”
“They’ve been here for years. They’re friends with us now. They’re our brothers. No amount of emergency church is going to flush him out.” I cut him a look. “Don’t worry about it. I’m working on it.”
“See that you do.”
“Yes, mom,” I retorted drily.
“We’ll call church once we make our decision on the new council,” Wolfe instructed. “Once things are set up, we can focus on keeping Lucie safe. I just wish we had proof that the drugs were planted, at least then, we’d be able to get the brothers on our side.”
None of this fucked up situation was ideal.
“Wolfe just talked about this beef we have with the Knights, baby girl. What do you know about it?” I asked her, my voice soft and quiet.
Wolfe glowered at me, but I just shrugged. There was no point in keeping her in the dark. No point at all. We had both Lucie and Amaryllis to think of, and hiding shit from Lucie would only put them in more danger.
“Just that they’re the ones who did me the favor of disposing of Bomber.” Then she winced. “And half the council. I’m sorry about them.” Her voice had turned small, like she knew what she’d just said and regretted it.
Though we’d all tensed at her cavalier words, it was easy to understand why she’d want Bomber gone.
The bastard had ruined our lives, and was still affecting it to this day.
“We’ve been at war with them for a long time over territory,” Wolfe told her, his voice low.
“Why?”
“They want more of what we’ve got.”
She frowned. “I repeat, why? Rutherford isn’t exactly a hotspot.”
“That’s why we stay under the radar,” Axe pointed out.
“No, it isn’t. There’s no way you’re under the radar. I know Wolfe went to jail, who else did too?”
“All of us except for Flame.”
“Only way the cops will take me is in a body bag.”
At my grim words, panic flared in her face. I didn’t fail to recognize the fact that there was more panic at my words than at her own fate.
Fuck, she loved me.
I already knew it, but seeing was believing.
“Don’t talk like that,” she demanded.
I didn’t reply, because I couldn’t take the words back. I meant them. Every one of them.
Reaching over, I pressed a hand to her knee and murmured, “Our business has diversified.”
“Yeah, but even though it isn’t about drugs anymore, you’re still smuggling cigarettes. That probably pisses off more letter agencies than the drugs, considering you’re helping people evade taxes.” She covered my hand. “You’re just good at not getting caught, and let’s keep it that way, yeah?”
“We’re already cutting back on one aspect of our ops,” Dagger reassured her.
“Which one?”
“Murder for hire,” I told her bluntly, needing her to know what we did for a living.
Of course, she wasn’t surprised. Or, disturbed. “Dirty cunts… buying someone else to do the fucking job.” Naturally she saw it that way. “Wheels will make a good Road Captain, and Ink will make a fabulous Secretary. Rodeo as Sergeant of Arms would fit the position well.”
Her words and change of subject had us all scowling at her.
“Ink isn’t even in the running for a role—”
She held up a hand at Wolfe’s statement. “Trust me, he should be. He’s good.”
“How do you know?”
“I snooped, of course.”
“Snooped where?” Dagger sputtered, but he was laughing.
“You’re always working on something over there, Mr. Treasurer. It’s easy to look at the same screen and see the totals.”
Wolfe grunted. “Good thing you’re trustworthy.”
She bared her teeth. “Best thing that ever happened to you.”
When Wolfe went to speak, I nudged him in the side. “Shut up,” I told them both. “She isn’t wrong. Ink is doing a great job at the tattoo parlor. That place is getting international acclaim for his designs, and his figures are never wrong, are they, Dag? I never have to go over and get them from him because he’s late.” As Enforcer, that was one aspect of my job—to police our own, especially when it came down to our businesses and the money they earned.
“Never. He’s always prompt too. Perfect books.”
“Indie is doing a great job at the bar too though.” Axe folded his arms across his chest. “And he has experience. Ink doesn’t.”
“So, just because he’s young you don’t think he can keep the MC organized?” Lucie snorted. “Grow up. That’s exactly why he can. He’s what, my age? Five years separate us, and there’s already a major difference between how I respond to tech and you do. Take advantage of that. The Secretary isn’t even that big of a role. It’s more managerial. If he can’t handle it, just demote him.”
“Anyone else get the feeling we’re being micromanaged?” Wolfe groused.
“Let a woman walking down death row pick her jailors,” she rasped, and that had us all tensing.
“You’re not going to die,” I ground out, and my hand tightened around her knee to the point where she cried out a little. Only that had me relenting. “Nothing is going to happen to you. We’re going to get through this, get past it, and then just carry on living our lives. Do you hear me?”
She licked her lips, nodded. “I hear you.”
She’d complied, sure, but her voice lacked the power I knew she was capable of.
I’d die first before she did, but she didn’t need to know that. Not yet. Hopefully not ever.
❖
Dagger
“You can’t be serious?”
Ink’s words didn’t exactly encourage us, but I saw the pride glimmering in his eyes, saw the way he’d straightened at our news—not with fear but with excitement.
“I’m deadly serious,” Wolfe rasped, cutting me a look.
I nodded, urging him on, because I’d been the one to back up Lucie’s suggestion. A quick look into the figures of the ink parlor—ones I’d known off the top of
my head but hadn’t worried about because it always ran in the black—showed a manager who was capable of keeping a neat track of his accounts, who’d raised profits and turnover, and who didn’t need his hand held every goddamn day of the week.
“But I don’t have much experience.”
“You work Black Ink better than Roper did before he retired,” I pointed out. “Place is on the up and up and you’re getting people coming from all over to check you out, and our Facebook presence has come on like crazy since you took over.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make me prime Secretary material,” he replied, and I liked his honesty from the get-go.
“Trust me, it ain’t that hard. If Axe can do it, anyone can,” I jibed, laughing when Axe flipped me the bird.
He moved away from the sofa and leaned against the desk, a few steps away from Ink. “You fuck up, we demote you. Simple as.”
Ink pulled a face. “Reassuring.”
“I try,” was all Axe said, but his smirk had Ink grinning.
“Shit.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe this. I thought you were bringing me in to—”
“What? Tell you off? I ain’t your principal,” Wolfe retorted, but he was grinning as he said it.
“Thank fuck for that,” Ink breathed with a laugh. “Okay, so where do I start?”
“Axe will help you get set up,” I stated.
“Cool. Does this mean that you’ve picked the other councilors?” he inquired, his tone curious.
“It does. Wheels and Rodeo.”
He nodded. “Cool. Young council, man.”
Wolfe shrugged. “I’m a young Prez. Let’s take this place out of the Dark Ages and into the modern world.”
He whistled. “This ghost gun shit has most of the MC talking. All good stuff.”
“Really? No arguments?” I queried, cutting Flame a look—he’d stopped flicking his lighter so that was as powerful as the world fucking quaking beneath his feet.
“Nope, none at all. Especially not with our distribution lines all set up for the cigarettes.” He rubbed his hands together. “Got a lot of people wanting to learn how to do it, wanting to take part in the fabrication, not just the distribution.”
“What about the reaction to Lucie being back?”
Ink winced. “Not so great. But I’ve always liked Lucie, and I never believed the shit that was spread about her.”
“You don’t have to say that because you’re Secretary now,” I commented.
“I’m not.” Ink raised his hands. “Look, at the time, sure. It was funky as fuck. But that’s just it. Bomber was funky. He was my Prez, and I’d have fucking died for him. But he was nuts, man. And where Lucie was concerned? He was even crazier.”
Wolfe scraped his hand over his jaw. “Well, that ain’t no lie.” His gaze darted to Flame who nodded—brother needed to catch the fuck up and sniff out our rat.
“Can I ask about the other shit?” Ink asked softly. “I assume I’ll be making arrangements for the other stuff?”
“Soon as we get the ghost gun production underway, we’re stopping that line of work. Wet work is too high risk,” I told him, aware that his shoulders relaxed at my words. I cocked a brow at him. “Not a fan of it?”
“Stinks of doing other people’s dirty work. Don’t get me wrong, man, I appreciate what you guys did. Know you got the club out of a lot of shit with the fees, but—” He pulled a face. “Prefer your ass here where it should be instead of rotting in a high-security jail because some pussy Bratva boss couldn’t take out his own man.”
I snickered at that. “Thanks. I think.”
Ink grinned, and I knew Lucie had been right in her reading of him.
“You went to school with Lucie, didn’t you?” I queried softly.
Ink nodded.
“Figures that’s how she knew you well.”
“Not really.” His tattooed arms shifted as he raised one and ran it through his faux hawk. “Mostly because I knew she ran with you.”
Wolfe frowned at me, obviously wondering where I was going with this, but I ignored him. “That last year, did she act out in class or something?”
Ink scowled, not at me, but in thought. “Not really. She’d calmed down actually.” He cleared his throat. “In fact, it made sense when I saw one of you kissing her at school one day. Figured that was what had calmed her down. Everyone knew she was in love with you guys.”
Everyone had?
Well, ironic then that we hadn’t picked up on that great a change from her. To me, she’d always been like a kind of demonic butterfly. Impossible to pin down, dark and edgy, capable of burning me and making me love her for it.
But, I’d think on what he’d had to say later. “Thanks, Ink.”
“No worries. Fuck, I’m pumped. My shift at Black Ink doesn’t start until later. I can get to grips with my duties now if you’ve got time to instruct me?”
I tuned out and let Axe get started. We’d already told Rodeo and Wheels about their new roles, but that had been early this morning. Rodeo and Wheels both worked at the garage so they were coming back later to talk about their new positions.
Uninterested in teaching Ink the job, I sat back and watched Axe and Wolfe instruct him on his new position.
It took a good couple of hours, but I was content to just relax and watch. I was caught up with my work, and from the look of it, Flame was too. He didn’t move from his armchair either, but he was on his phone.
I hoped he was hard at work catching the son of a bitch who’d infiltrated the MC. I’d slaughter the bastard myself.
We were fooling ourselves thinking we could get away from the network. It ran hand in hand with our world, but going out and seeking a life sentence was definitely something I was looking forward to dropping from my life.
The guys I’d killed had all been bad men, but I’d have killed them if they were good men too, so there was no saving my soul. No atonement either, because I didn’t give a fuck about what I’d done.
Flame didn’t either.
Some men were born with a gift. Our gift was death.
It was why Flame and I were close, why we understood each other.
A knock sounded at the door, and when it opened without waiting on us to reply, my brows lowered in irritation. Seeing Amaryllis, though, my heart rate soared and when she walked over to me? Fuck, I felt like running to the next room.
How the hell could I be friends with death and be terrified of this little girl too?
Wolfe snorted, and I glared at him, saw he was amused by my terror, but wasn’t about to help me out.
Bastard.
“Daddy Dagger?” Amaryllis rasped.
I tried not to frown at her, because I’d been known to make grown men piss themselves if I frowned. “Y-Yeah?”
“I hurt my leg.” Her lip quivered, and sweet fuck, were those tears in her eyes?
Cutting my brothers a desperate look, seeing that even Ink was silently laughing, I knew I wasn’t about to get any help from them.
Clearing my throat, I asked, “Show me?”
“Daddy Dagger’s good with blood,” Wolfe mocked, rocking back in his chair and obviously loving every fucking moment of this. “He’ll know how to make it better.”
I licked my lips, wishing I could flip him the bird, but knowing I couldn’t in front of her.
How Lucie dressed Amaryllis confused me. Lucie had existed in shorts and a t-shirt. Until she was fourteen and her tits had grown in, she’d looked like a boy. Had blended in well except for the delicacy of her chin, the fine detailing of her bones, and the almond curve to her eyes.
Amaryllis, on the other hand, wore frilly, girly dresses that were somehow more terrifying than a gun being pointed in my face.
She raised the hem of her skirt about three inches and I saw the blood. Should have seen it first, if I were being honest. It was a bad cut, and I reared up off the sofa and acted as though I could totally handle a crying five-year-old, when I didn’t have a fu
cking clue how to handle any of this.
Lifting her carefully into my arms, I tensed when she wrapped her own around my neck and clung to me. When she started weeping, her body shaking, the amusement died in the room, and the others cut me looks.
“I got this,” I told them gruffly, and headed out of the office.
Seeing someone getting their cock sucked in the kitchen by one of the sweetbutts who was supposed to be making fucking lunch, had me quickly moving upstairs to my bedroom where I had some stuff I could use to get her cleaned up.
Fuck, Lucie wasn’t wrong about Amaryllis not needing to grow up around this place.
Heading down the hall, I hovered outside Lucie’s door. “You want your momma?”
She shook her head. “She’s busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Buying things.”
My lips twitched. “Oh.” I didn’t ask again, because, for whatever reason, she’d come to me with this. I had no idea why, but she had, and I’d take that trust and wouldn’t let her down.
When I made it through my bedroom and into the bathroom, I tried to put her on the counter but she held fast.
“Honey, I can’t make it better if you don’t let me.”
She hiccupped but let me go, and seeing her little face all scrunched up had me wanting to kill whoever or whatever had hurt her.
Moving past that rage, I quickly gathered the shit I’d need. I usually sewed up people if they’d been shot or stabbed and didn’t need the hospital, so it wasn’t like I wasn’t used to doing this, but on my daughter? It fucking sucked.
Every whimper, every tear, every fucking time she tensed made me want to strangle something.
As I cleaned up the jagged wound that ran down her leg, I saw that it was just light enough to not need stitches, but deep enough to get infected if we didn’t keep an eye on it.
Loading it down with Neosporin, I quickly pressed gauze to it then taped her up. Just as I’d finished, the sound of metal smashing into metal had both Amaryllis and me jerking in surprise.
Her arms popped up and I stared at her in bewilderment a second before I realized she wanted to be back in my arms.
All Sinner No Saint Page 17