“We need to get in this,” he growled.
“Knight’s mobilized. Hawk’s already in it. Valenzuela. Chaos. The cops. We join in, we’re gonna be bumping into each other looking for Lannigan,” Hector noted.
“Eight women dead, Hector,” Lee reminded him.
“I don’t like it either, Lee,” Hector bit out. “But any uncoordinated operation is clumsy, it could be dangerous and last, it could work in that fuckwad’s favor. More important, this motherfucker targets women. And I’ll be the first to say I don’t want my wife in his sights.”
Lee felt his jaw go tight.
He didn’t want his wife in Lannigan’s sights either.
Not to mention Luke’s, Hector’s or Vance’s.
They’d already had their fill of that.
Lee looked to Luke. “Call Knight. Call Hawk. Call fucking Valenzuela. Hank. Mitch. And last, call Tack. Tell them, we got anything to offer that doesn’t include boots on the street, we’re on it.”
Luke nodded and stepped away, pulling out his phone.
Before Luke made his first call, Lee gave his last order.
“Rock Chick shut down. Any of them know this is happening, they’ll apply pressure and we’re all fucked.”
On that, without a word, just three looks, he knew he had total agreement.
Iustitia, Tribus, Honoris, Observantia, Fidelitas
Rush
That morning, a quarter after eight . . .
Rush’s eyes opened and all he saw was Rebel’s hair.
He was just awake.
But he was still wiped.
Not a lot of sleep the night before, interrupted sleep last night. He was running on empty.
But they had a lunatic to find and he had two protective men in his house, so he couldn’t wake his girl, fuck her, and pass out again.
He had to get his ass up.
He did it, but he did it carefully, so he didn’t wake her.
He made sure the sheet was over her before he hit the bathroom, took care of business, washed his hands, brushed his teeth and went back in to wet his hands, pulling his fingers through his hair three times.
That’d keep the front back.
For about five minutes.
He needed a haircut about four months ago.
But Rebel didn’t want him to cut his hair.
And she’d gone for Joker, “the bearded one,” first when she was giving him shit about which brother would be next.
So his hair was gonna stay that way and the beard he’d unintentionally started growing when he didn’t shave on Sunday (or Monday, or since) was gonna come in.
He walked out, tugged on the jeans he’d worn yesterday, a fresh tee, then on bare feet, glancing at a sleeping Rebel, her hair all over his pillows, his lips turned up and he left the room.
He moved down the stairs, along the hall and stopped dead when the doorway to the kitchen was in his sights.
Diesel was sitting on a stool, turned to the side, wearing a loose tee and cutoff sweats, his feet to the rungs, long, sturdy legs spread wide so Maddox, in worn-out pajama pants and his own tee, could stand between them.
Maddox had a fist full of Diesel’s hair, using it to tug his head back, and he was going at his man’s mouth.
Rush really could not call it with these two. What he’d heard last night and the goliath Diesel was, even if Maddox was far from a slouch, he’d have said Diesel was top.
The dominant hold and position Maddox right then had, not to mention his overall manner, he was top.
Maybe they swung both ways in all ways.
Whatever.
They stayed long, just from the noises, he’d have no choice but to find out.
Rush was about to back away when Maddox sensed him, broke the connection, took his hand from Diesel’s hair and looked right at Rush.
Diesel looked over his shoulder, and Rush almost laughed because the man had his eyes open, but he still looked asleep.
Rebel’s brother caught sight of him, though, he immediately looked away.
So Rush walked right in, saying, “Yo,” caught a glance at the mugs on the counter in front of them and went on, “Cool. You made coffee.”
He rounded the counter and went right to the pot.
“Hope you don’t mind we made ourselves at home,” Maddox said while Rush pulled down a mug from the cabinet over the pot. “D doesn’t kickstart until after his second cup.”
“Don’t mind. Glad you did.” Rush went after the pot, asking, “You guys want breakfast?”
“Food’d be good,” Maddox answered.
“Bet it will,” Rush muttered, smiling at the joe he was pouring into the cup.
“Should apologize,” Maddox remarked.
Rush looked to him. “Why?”
“We thought you were asleep, brother,” Maddox told him.
“I was. Rebel was. You woke us up.”
“That wasn’t cool,” Maddox replied. “And it was unintentional. Things just got . . . outta hand.”
Rush shook his head, putting the pot back and reaching for the sugar. “I don’t give a shit, man.” He shot them a smile. “Now, Rebel. Skeeved her out.”
Maddox’s mouth was quirking. “Sounded like she got over it.”
“Thanks for the payback blowjob,” Rush muttered.
Diesel made a before-hurling noise.
Maddox chuckled.
“She still asleep?” Diesel grunted.
Rush nabbed his mug, turned and leaned a hip to the counter. “Yep.”
“We need to talk,” Maddox declared.
He figured that.
He took a sip and registered that he liked strong coffee, but they drank coffee strong, before he invited, “Hit me.”
“Anything you all left out last night?” Maddox asked.
There was a shit ton they left out.
But it was a shit ton they’d never know.
He liked these guys.
But they were not Chaos.
“Not that I know. It’s a mess. I’ve been in it for years and I can’t keep up,” he said.
Maddox went on the move, rounding the counter and doing it talking. “We thought we’d come up, get Rebel, leave. That isn’t happening. This shit is going down, we can’t leave.”
Rush got out of his way for Maddox to commandeer the coffeepot and watched the man move to their mugs at the counter, still talking.
“We got personal days we can take. That’d bring us to Tuesday. After that, we’d have to take vacation. We got some,” he was pouring coffee into Diesel’s mug, “but we also got a two-week honeymoon that’s comin’ up soon and that shit is happening. In other words,” he shoved the pot back into the maker, “you got a week.”
“Before what?” Rush asked as the man moved back around the counter.
“Before we take her and go,” Diesel forced out then sucked back more joe, a lot of it, hot, and Rush was impressed he didn’t run directly to the freezer to suck on an ice cube.
He thought this instead of allowing his back to get up when they mentioned taking Rebel.
“There’s no timer on this situation,” Rush informed them.
“There is now,” Maddox replied, planting his ass on a stool but lifting his hand toward Rush. “You’re solid. Your Club sounds solid. Nothin’ but good vibes, brother.” He dropped his hand. “And not sayin’ dick about your ability to look after her. It’s clear you’re more than into her. It’s clear she’s more than into you. And you look like a man who can handle himself. But we wouldn’t be movin’ her to Phoenix. We’d be taking her there and she can come back when this is done.”
“She does have a say in this,” Rush pointed out.
“She does not,” Diesel muttered into his mug.
Maddox gave his man a look before turning back to Rush. “I hear that. We’ll talk to her. But she’s safer down there.”
“I got fourteen brothers who’ll look after her here, there’s two of you and you got work. You also got a woman.
I’m not sure how long the arm is on these assholes, but I’m thinkin’ none of us want to find out,” Rush returned.
“You don’t give a fuck,” Diesel said.
Right.
Now he was getting pissed.
Maddox was correct. He could handle himself.
One of them, he played it smart, he might be able to best.
Both of them, he was fucked.
And no way he wanted Rebel to wake up to her man fighting her brother and his man in the kitchen.
“I do give a fuck.” His voice was tight trying to rein it in.
“No,” Diesel said, putting his mug down. “We got a woman. You just said that. I fucked my boy hard last night, you heard it. And you don’t give a fuck.”
“Why would I give a fuck?” Rush asked.
“What biker doesn’t give a fuck a man’s fuckin’ his man up the ass down the hall?” Diesel asked bluntly, and the blunt had a purpose.
It was a challenge.
Rush didn’t need a challenge.
But Diesel did.
And for Rebel, Rush had to put this to bed.
“This biker doesn’t.”
“Your family doesn’t either, and there were two patched in sittin’ that table last night, and they don’t either,” Diesel remarked.
“No, they don’t.”
Diesel stared at him.
Then he shook his head again, looking down at his mug as he lifted it up, muttering, “Trust Rebel to find the likes a’ you,” and he sucked back another enormous swallow.
“Are we done with that shit?” Maddox asked impatiently.
Diesel’s massive shoulders shrugged. “Sure.”
“You wanna weigh in on where you’re at with your sister bein’ up here or down there?” Maddox prompted.
Diesel looked to his man. “We got a week. After that week, this shit isn’t done, we’ll reassess.” He turned to Rush. “Work for you?”
Rush nodded and sipped his own joe before putting it down on the counter. “Works for me.” He then moved to start getting the shit to make his father’s pancakes, saying, “Now you two wanna share who that chick was who was with you?”
“Sixx,” Maddox told him. “She’s an investigator down in Phoenix.”
“She’s also a badass,” Diesel mumbled.
One look at her, Rush got that impression.
“Seems a significant show of friendship, she escorted you guys up here,” Rush noted.
He got nothing to that.
So he set the bowl he’d been getting out on the counter and looked to them.
“What?” he pushed.
“Sixx is good at what she does,” Maddox shared.
“And?” Rush prompted.
“This Valenzuela guy fucked up a Domme yesterday,” Maddox told him.
“Jesus, fuck,” Rush bit out.
“Yeah. Beat her to shit. Raped her ass with a dildo. Left it inside her and her lyin’ on the floor while his people came in, took the sheets, even sent cleaners in to wipe the place down and vacuum around her lying there,” Maddox said.
“I should not be surprised at more evidence this guy is a sick fuck, but I’m surprised he’s that big of a sick fuck,” Rush clipped.
“Yeah, well,” Diesel chimed in, glanced at Maddox, then back at Rush, “we’re in the life.”
“The life?”
“We’re Doms,” Diesel told him. “Got one sub, Molly. But we play. And I’m head of security for a sex club down in Phoenix.”
Well, that explained who was top.
“Right,” Rush replied.
“Sixx is also a Domme,” Diesel continued. “We’re a community. We look after each other. This woman who got worked over, she didn’t want to talk. Someone gave her protection and got her to talk. Word filtered, Sixx heard, she’s too classy to go batshit crazy. But under that class, man, trust me, she’s going batshit crazy. She’s here for us. For Rebel. But she got word of that when she was sharing all that’s been going down and we were buying tickets to get up here yesterday, so she tagged along because now she’s here to see to shit with this Valenzuela guy.”
Fuck.
“That’s not a good idea,” Rush told them.
“Sixx unleashed, not sure anyone can control that,” Diesel replied.
“She’s a switch, she’s got her own Dom. He’s possessive, protective and a man with some serious means. If he even thought he could lock her down, he would. But she’s up here. So that says it all,” Maddox added.
“I’m not sure you both caught the fact that it’s only women who are made to stop breathing with all this shit,” Rush pointed out.
“Not sure any of those women got dead are like Sixx,” Diesel returned.
“A bar owner, who’s the toughest broad I know, got shot in the face in her own back yard,” Rush shared.
“Sixx doesn’t wear a mask and cape, but don’t be fooled,” Maddox advised.
“I see you got mad respect for this woman, but I saw with my own goddamned eyes, a woman laid out on a table, throat slit and a note stapled to her forehead. I didn’t even meet your friend, but I know I don’t want that to happen to her,” Rush shot back.
“So you did hold shit back,” Maddox growled, and Rush focused on him.
Well, Christ.
He liked the man, was getting to know him, good guy.
But his normal look could give you the shivers.
Him pissed, Jesus.
“Your girl Sixx didn’t give that to you?” Rush asked.
“She had that and didn’t, we’ll be chattin’ with her next.” Maddox was still growling when he answered.
Rush gave them a nod. “Going into specifics over beef casserole, with two boys who’re eating down in the basement in front of a PlayStation but could come up at any minute and anyway, they’re big on listenin’ in when they shouldn’t, and women around the table, wasn’t the way to go,” Rush said. “You want it all, the other body was my sister’s best friend, dumped behind a bar, and keeping her company in her body bag were two skulls and some tarantulas. This shit is fucked up. This isn’t about women’s liberation. This is about women getting dead.”
Diesel and Maddox stared at him a beat before they looked at each other.
“I’ll call her,” Diesel said.
“Right,” Maddox replied.
Rush drew in breath and went back to pancakes.
“That gonna take a while?” Diesel asked about breakfast.
“You got at least twenty,” Rush told him. “Probably thirty.”
“Imma gonna go up, get my phone, chat with Sixx, shower,” Diesel said low, and Rush knew he was talking to Maddox.
“Okay, bud,” Maddox replied.
Rush heard movement and knew when he was alone with Maddox.
“Bacon?” Rush asked.
“A man says no to bacon, he’s got a pussy and he’s on a diet,” Maddox answered.
Rush chuckled as he went to the fridge to get bacon.
“You fuck her over, you know, Club or not, we’re gonna fuck you up,” Maddox noted casually.
Rush tossed the bacon on his counter and gave the man his eyes.
“I fuck her over, I deserve that.”
They stared at each other, not coming to an understanding, coming to the understanding they were alike.
“She’s the second-best woman I’ve ever met,” Maddox said quietly. “And I got a sister I love and so does Molly, though the love for Molly’s sister is harder, still got it.”
“This isn’t going fast because of circumstances. It’s going fast because Rebel is Rebel,” Rush explained.
“I hear that,” Maddox muttered.
Rush got out a knife to slice open the bacon.
“Way down with you givin’ us the honesty, brother,” Maddox said.
Rush looked back at him. “Works out, it’s all in the family.”
Maddox smiled a nasty smile, which even Rush knew got his man hard and his woman wet, before he lifted his mug
and drained it.
They heard the shower go on upstairs, and that gave Maddox a nasty look that didn’t hide shit.
Maddox still shared.
“Time to shower,” he muttered, sliding off his stool and strolling out of the room.
Rush grinned, turning back to what he was doing.
He had the batter resting and the bacon frying when he heard, “They’re fucking in the shower.”
He turned to see Rebel in his Henley from yesterday, the arms too long, the hem not quite long enough (but it worked for him), barely covering her ass, her hair wild from sleep and sex, her face sleepy and pouty, and he immediately wished he hadn’t offered breakfast.
“They’re men. Men fuck. If they can, they do it often. If they could, they’d do it all the time,” he returned.
“This is like, Fuck Central,” she grumbled, moving toward him.
Check that.
She passed him moving toward the coffee.
“Babe,” he called.
“What?” she asked, reaching for a mug.
“Babe,” he repeated.
“What?” she asked, looking his way.
“You don’t kiss me, I caught Maddox goin’ at Diesel’s mouth when I came down. They’re gonna catch you bent over my counter, takin’ my cock, your ass red when they do.”
Her eyes flashed, his cock twitched, then she moved into him, pressed close, went up on her toes and offered her mouth.
He took it.
She’d brushed her teeth.
So he went at her.
His phone ringing at his ass stopped them.
He broke it off, touched his lips to the apple of her cheek then shifted away.
She went back to her coffee.
He pulled out his phone and looked at the screen.
Shy.
He took the call.
“Yo,” he greeted.
Shy didn’t ease into it.
“Can’t know at this point, but the working assumption is that Chew went on a rampage last night. Took out five of Valenzuela’s girls. After he killed them, he robbed ’em of everything they had.”
Rush stood solid.
Shy kept going.
“He’s either desperate, and if he was, he’d get the fuck out of town. Or he’s gearing up to pull some shit. Knight’s mobilized. Nightingale has offered resources. Hawk’s got some Dominatrix, who got seriously roughed up, that he’s sitting on with the threat to press charges against Valenzuela to get his head in the game. And brothers are heading out in pairs. You and Snap. He says noon. You two figure it out from here. I got shit to do.”
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