I put it all together in my head. “You messed with Fury’s head? And the others?”
“I did not, but one of my kind did.”
“Why?”
“He was paid to do so.”
I shook my head. “Bubbles promised me he wouldn’t kill them, but it would’ve been simpler to just disappear them.”
“Yes, but Bubbles doesn’t go back on his promises.”
I nodded. “Thank you for telling me what you are.” I wanted to freak out, but I needed a safe space before I could lose it.
“You are most welcome. Spencer says you and Matty have become quite close?”
I nodded. “Yes, and Matty adores Spence.”
Spence stood and offered his hand for me to stand. “The feeling is mutual. Come, I’ll take you back to the party.”
I stood and looked at Abbott. “I’m expected to be able to handle the fact vampires exist, and then just go back to the party?”
He chuckled. “You’ve already dealt with the whole shapeshifter thing. Learning of me isn’t a huge step beyond. Your binding will keep you from talking about it to those who don’t know, even should you get sloppy drunk tonight.” He looked to Spence and back to me. “Your sister will be happy you know. Bubbles wasn’t the only one who requested you be told of vampires.”
Matty met us at the top of the steps, so I walked back into the party room between the two beautiful twinks.
By the time we made it to The Diamond Club, I was far past drunk. Someone had grabbed my ass in the second place we’d gone to, and Viper had come out of nowhere to let the poor drunk asshole know how badly he’d just fucked up.
Bobcat seemed to be sticking to Etta, but the men stayed in the background until they were needed. I have no idea how they did it.
Somehow, I ended up at the ‘popular girls’ table, upstairs at The Diamond Club. Etta and I were between Angelica and Harmony, across from Gen, Connie, Briana, and Queenie.
I was more than a little surprised when Gabby dipped from behind to ask Etta to dance with her, but I was happy my friend was going out of her way to make Etta feel welcome.
I wasn’t prepared to watch Etta, Gabby, and Bethany practically have sex on the dance floor, but everyone downstairs seemed to really enjoy watching. Still, it was raw and sexy as fuck, and I had to look away before my face burst into flames.
Gen caught my eye and shrugged. “Bethany’s my best friend in the whole world, but I don’t get it, either. I love her though, so if this does it for her...” She shrugged and took a long drink of her huge-assed margarita.
The wait staff brought trays of tequila shots and limes, and we all did shot after shot during the drag show. By the time Etta and Gabby were downstairs taking part in the end of the drag show and practically having sex on the dance floor with the professional male dancers, I was so drunk I didn’t know to be embarrassed. I’m a little ashamed to admit I might not have made it out without Angelica and Harmony on either side of me, helping me balance.
I hugged Etta goodnight before we left, since Bobcat was going to take her straight home from our last club. Angelica helped me into the limo, and I think I ended up with my face in Pebbles’ cleavage until I got settled back in.
“Jiminy’s playing pool with your men in the clubhouse,” Pebbles told me when I’d made it into a seat. She looked at Matty and back to me. “We used to be able to do this without our husbands watching, or their people, but Dozer fucked that up, so I’ve had my husband’s people watching me all damned night. I saw Bethany’s men, and I guess they were watching her and Sophia, right?”
“I think what Pebbles is getting around to saying,” said Harmony, “Is that if any of us have something we need to say in private, now’s our chance. I have an anti-listening sound playing, and this limo is hardened anyway.”
“Right,” said Pebbles. “It’s just us now. We had too many outsiders in here to talk much before.”
I looked around and realized everyone except Pebbles was an ol’lady. Bethany and Sophia were in the other limo, and Etta had left with Bobcat.
“Jiminy will be here indefinitely,” said Pebbles. “For a while, we thought he’d be moved to Chicago or Detroit, but his special skillset is needed here. Marlin’s losin’ control and there are discussions about whether to bring someone in to replace him, or to bring someone up from the ranks.”
“We know all of that,” said Harmony. “What can we do to assure peace?”
Pebbles lifted her hands, shrugged her shoulders, let her hands fall in her lap. “All hell’s gonna break out, and soon. I see the writing on the wall, but I don’t see a way to stop it.”
Angelica leaned forward and smelled Pebbles. I only noticed because I was used to Bubbles doing it. It was subtle, but no doubt in my mind what she was doing. She sat back and said, “Shit you can’t tell us.”
“There’s always shit I can’t tell you, and shit ya’ll can’t tell me. We started doing this in the hopes we could help broker peace between the men, but I’m tellin’ ya’ll that I think a war is going to start soon, bigger than you can imagine, and we’re all just going to have to hold on and survive it.”
“You’ll let me know if there’s something we can do on our end, and I’ll do the same if we find a way you can help,” said Gen. She looked around. “We all need to add some extra supplies to our bunkers.”
“We’re only a few miles away,” said Harmony. “We need to get back to partying so the men don’t pick up on anything. One last shot for everyone?”
Somehow, Pebbles and Harmony managed to pour a tequila shot for everyone in the limo with a minimum of spillage. We held them up in the air, and the other women all said, “Because ol’ladies rule!” at the same time, and then tossed it back as one.
We all laughed when we pulled into the compound and saw our men standing outside the clubhouse, waiting. My eyes went straight to Bubbles, and he was looking at our limo as if he knew which one I was in.
He probably did.
Our guards were in two cars in front, three in back, and countless bikes all around us.
Isaac had been one of our guards, and he collected Cam, Spence, Kendra, and Queenie from the back of the other limo. Razor pulled Matty out, tossed him over his shoulder, and walked into the clubhouse. Micca disappeared inside with Dawg. Bethany’s three men put her and Sophia into their vehicle and drove away.
Pebbles was out of our limo first, and she made her way to Jiminy on her way-too-high-heels. Duke carried Gen into the clubhouse, and Bubbles pulled me out and sat me on his hip.
“What happened to not getting sloppy drunk, Half-pint?”
“You were right — that plan didn’t last long. Fuck, these women know how to party.” I leaned my head against him and closed my eyes, but the world started spinning so I sat back up and opened my eyes. “Some Coke and food might be good.”
He chuckled. “Yeah. I figured.”
35
Bubbles
* * *
Church was a solemn affair — the news of El Atroz moving so close meant a likely war. We’d fight if they brought it, of course, but if there was a way to do an end run and keep the battle off our doorstep, we’d prefer it.
“I’ve verified they’re where Lexi says. They flew under our radar because they’re keeping a low profile,” Brain told us. “I propose sending Dawg, Knife, and me in to check out a few of the honkytonk bars. We’ll go in as civilians — no cuts, no bikes. Recon.”
I never get sent in as recon. Ever. I tend to stick out no matter where I go. Plus, I’m the one who goes when the shit might hit the fan, and I’m fine with that.
Brain sighed and looked to me. “What’s your take on Lexi? Is she holdin’ anything back we should know?”
“She won’t hold anything back she thinks might get someone in the club hurt. It isn’t just me she’s worried about, but all of us. She’s jumped in with both feet and understands the need to appear to be Switzerland, but she’s gonna tell us anything she thinks
we really need to know. She’s holding the recipes and ratios and shit to herself, and we don’t care about that. She’s also holding the trap houses close, and their workspaces, but she assures me none of it’s in our territory.”
I sighed. “I’m sure Abbott dipped in her head Friday night when he told her what he is. With the possibility of Celrau being on Sand Mountain, he’ll want to know everything he can about El Atroz. What are the odds we can get him to share what he learned?”
Duke looked to Brain, who told me, “Aaron shared a little, but nothing we didn’t already know. Basically, she’s heard they’re close and knows which drugs they’re supplying, but no further details. Most of what she knows about the supply chain, she put together from overhearing conversations.”
I could feel the room waiting to hear how I reacted. I wasn’t happy about Abbott dipping into her head, but he was considered a friend — and one we needed. There wasn’t a damned thing we could do about it, and he hadn’t hurt her. I shrugged. “Not gonna go after him for it. I assumed he’d gone in. Knowing it for a fact don’t change nothin’. He didn’t hurt her, and it ain’t like we can kick his ass for it.”
“Which brings us to the next point,” said Duke. “Aaron and Abbott want us to talk to them before we take action. I’ve assured them we’re only doing recon at the moment, but reminded them everything else has to be voted on, so I couldn’t give them any assurances.”
“I’ve asked Bud to keep an ear to the ground in Atlanta,” said Brain, “since bikers on Sand Mountain are about as close to Atlanta as they are to us.” He looked at Bash. “Ask Angelica to talk to Maggie and little Evie. See what they know.”
Bash chuckled. “Little Evie’s not so little anymore, but I’ll get her to talk to them.”
Brain looked to Paco, then around the table. “I tasted around a few of their servers, and I’ll need something specific to hack — preferably the name of a database, but even just a few email addresses would be a place to start. There’s too much of a chance I’ll leave a trail if I just dip in and snoop. I’ll be brainstorming with Shadow in Atlanta to see if he has any ideas, but I’m at a dead end on the hacking front for now. Whoever is securing them has done a damned good job.”
Lexi would be pissed if she found out about this, but I had to put it out there. “How about Lexi’s mom’s phone? I just need to be in Bluetooth vicinity to infect it, right? Not sure when my Half-pint will need to go back, but I can try to find a reason to go with her.”
Brain looked at Duke, and Duke looked at me. “Yeah. Brain’ll get the software on your phone and show you what to do.”
Brain’s software would let us see every text, hear every phone call, and even tap into her microphone and camera at will.
“If I configure a camera to connect to a neighbor’s Wi-Fi and beam data back to us, you okay with placing it?”
This was a much bigger ask. We could plead ignorance on the phone app, and there’d be no proof I installed it. Putting something physical in her apartment that would show up after I left, however…
“Let’s put that on the back burner,” said Duke. “We’ll see what we can find out in other ways, first.”
I nodded. “Thanks. Push comes to shove, I’ll do it, but...”
“She ain’t just pussy,” said Duke. “She’s family. We’ll try to find another way.”
Lexi was in the main room with the other ol’ladies when we came upstairs after church, and I stopped and watched from the back of the room. My Half-pint was sitting on a chair, Angelica was on the floor, and Lexi appeared to be doing some kind of complicated braid in a twirl around Tink’s head. I looked around and saw Tippie’s hair in a beautiful bun with a braid around it, Harmony’s hair arranged so it looked like the woven pieces were some kind of hair-tie to hold the rest of her hair away from her face, and Gabby’s hair was braided on the sides going up, so all of her hair was loose at the top center of her head and made her look like she had a mohawk.
Gabby saw me first, and she came running, turning in a circle so I could see. “Never have I had so much fun helping someone with their homework. Matty is taking pictures of her doing the work, and then he takes us outside to the wooded area to get pics of our hair. When she finishes, we’ll go out so she can do the video part, and she says that’ll take care of most of her project.” She saw me watching Lexi, and added, “Don’t disturb her or she’ll have to start over!”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” I went to the bar, got a beer, pulled a chair around, and sat in it backwards to drink. Tippy was close, watching me like a… well, kinda like a wary deer, and I smiled at her. “Good to see you in the clubhouse, darlin’. Had any interesting jobs lately?”
Her expression calmed and she smiled. She’d just needed some feedback. She nodded in answer, and said, “Yes, actually. A total restoration job on a colt revolving rifle from about 1860. Beautiful weapon.”
She rolled her eyes at my lack of excitement. “Right, you want something modern and sexy. A man with more money than he knows what to do with bought a Lapua and then couldn’t figure out how to break it down and clean it, and paid me to do it for him, and to add some tech toys to it while I was at it. Oh, and I’ve had an opportunity to play with the new TrackingPoint hardware and software, which I have to admit is kind of scary technology.”
If the claims were right, she had a point. “They say it can hit a target a mile out, traveling up to twenty miles per hour. That true?”
“You have to know the exact wind speed and direction, but yeah. Like I said — scary.”
Nix sat down beside her. “It isn’t quite as good as me, but it’s still new technology and it’s only going to get better. There’s lots of safeguards to make sure a person tells it to fire, and not other software, but it’s nothing Brain couldn’t get around. Someone could set it up and be a hundred miles away when it shot, and LEO would have no way to know whether someone set it up a day before or a week before, if you got the location right.”
I hadn’t even considered those ramifications, but, “How would you handle the wind, if you set it up that far ahead of time?”
“Be willing to bet Brain could program that from a distance if he had enough time to fiddle with the software. Otherwise, might need to set it for no wind and wait until you have a day without.”
“And if you sneak it into a neighbor’s unused attic space and set it up, it can be there for weeks before you…” I shook my head. “Cops would find it, after. You’d have to buy it so it’s untraceable.”
“Or steal it.” Duke sat beside us and gave Tippy a gentle smile. “Glad to see you here. We miss you when you stay gone too long.”
A few more brothers came to say hello to Tippy, and everyone was careful not to overwhelm her. I moved away when we finished our conversation, but kept an eye on her despite the fact Nix stayed by her side. I felt protective of our little deer.
Lexi finished Angelica’s hair and Matty herded everyone outside who’d had their hair worked on. I was deep in a video game where it was our club against some unknown group online — and we were kickin’ their ass — when the women came back inside. Lexi curled up beside me and I made room for her without lookin’, but handed my controller to someone else when we finished the game.
She climbed into my lap and curled up, and something didn’t feel right. Her scent wasn’t terribly off, but something was bothering her.
“What’s up, Half-pint?”
“Can you just hold me a few minutes?”
“You know I can, but you need to tell me what’s bothering you.”
She shook her head and I smelled grief. “Bullshit family stuff. I’m okay.”
Brain caught my eye from another sofa and nodded towards the door. Yeah, he thought I needed to get her out of here and get to the bottom of it, too. I stood with her in my arms and walked out of the clubhouse, through the areas we usually set up for our parties, and into the little wooded section. I sat on the ground with my back to the outer concrete
wall and Lexi in my lap.
“Talk, sweetheart.”
“My mama texted that I’m dead to her, and that I’ll need to find another Tennessee address. She’s gonna let the apartment people know she lives alone again. Etta will let me use her address for school, so I won’t lose my grant, but…”
She took a half-dozen breaths without continuing, and I kissed her on top of the head. “You think this has anything to do with our talk with Jiminy?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. It’s possible she’s assumed I’d work for her eventually, and now she sees that won’t happen. I mean, I know she assumes my sister will come work for her when Etta gets too old to bring in the big money with sex work. Etta has other plans, but she hasn’t told Mama, and I don’t blame her.” Another breath. “Etta talked to her. My sister thinks mama’s checked out for a couple of days again.”
From what Lexi had told me in the past, this meant her mother was hitting the drugs hard and wasn’t planning on working in the next couple of days.
“Okay. Let’s take a few brothers and go clean your stuff out of your room.” She’d left enough of her belongings so it’d look like she still lived there. Section eight housing means you have to let people in to inspect the apartment every so often, so she couldn’t move everything out.
She took a fortifying breath and looked at me. “Yeah, before she fucks with it. I don’t look forward to seeing her, but we should do it sooner rather than later.”
I took her in and deposited her on the sofa between Matty and Harmony. “I’ll be back for her soon.”
Brain was up before I had to tell him I needed him, and the second I looked at Bash, he was up too. The three of us walked towards a conference room, and Duke spoke from behind us. “My office.”
As soon as the door closed, I told them what was up, and finished by telling Brain, “Gather whatever we need to spy on her mom.”
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