Lilly
“What are you doing here?” Z asks tightly when Stella approaches him.
She’s not alone, so that’s good. If she brought another guy with her, then she’s not here hoping to reunite with Z, right? Because I’ll have no problem ringing her pretty little neck if she tries to get cozy with my husband.
It’s not like he didn’t warn me that the club works with her. Deep down, I knew I might run into her eventually.
Z keeps his arm snug around my waist.
“I was told there was a welcome home party for Sway,” she answers, frowning at me when Z doesn’t introduce us.
“That’s tomorrow,” Z growls. “This is a different celebration.”
“Well,” she laughs and lowers her lashes, “I’m down for that too.”
He sneers at her and puts his other arm around me. “Stella, this is my wife, Lilly. Lilly, this is Stella.”
“Hi.” It’s awkward with Z wrapped around me so tight, but I shake her hand. “Thanks for joining us.” What the hell else am I supposed to say? I got the man, the ring, the house, the family. She’s not a threat to me in any way.
“Wife? Like, real wife. Or biker, old lady wife?” she asks.
“Both.” Z’s jaw is clenched so tight I’m surprised he even got out the word.
“Z! Prez, we need you!” someone yells.
Perfect.
Z pretends to ignore the call.
I tap his hand. “Go on,” I whisper. “I’m fine.”
“Z!”
Reluctantly, he leaves.
“So, when’d you get married?” Stella asks.
“Last week. This was kinda, uh, our surprise reception.”
“Oh, shit.” She covers her mouth with her hand. “Really? Fuck. I’m sorry I crashed it.”
She seems sincere. I still kind of want to stab her in the eye with a fork.
I’m too old not to address the awkward situation. “I know who you are, Stella. He told me all about you.”
“Phew!” She signals the girl behind the bar to bring her a martini and then faces me. “Jesus. Thank God.” She takes a long sip of her drink before continuing. “I was seeing this guy before Z who was cheating on his wife. I didn’t realize he was still married. Thought they were separated or whatever. We weren’t ‘exclusive’ obviously, but still. Christ, she caught us one day and almost skinned me alive. I can’t stand men who cheat. I wasn’t sure if he…if you…”
I can’t say I didn’t find myself in a situation like that once or twice in my twenties. “I moved back to New York recently and we rekindled our relationship.”
“Oh, okay. Thank God.” She gives me a bright smile, that I’m not quite ready to return yet. “I’m sorry. I was so happy to hear that Sway was coming home, I guess I didn’t listen to the part where his party was tomorrow.”
“Well, there’s certainly enough food and alcohol so you’re welcome to stay.” I’m trying to be a gracious hostess, even though I really want to tell her to take her tight ass and perky tits on out the door.
“Thank you.” The friend she came in with passes by and she grabs his arm. “This is a good friend of mine. Garrett, this is Lilly, Z’s wife.”
He shakes my hand, but is busy searching the room. For who or what, I have no idea. Nor do I care.
Z
I’m not thrilled about leaving Lilly and Stella alone together. “This better be good.” I slap Jigsaw’s chest as I walk past him.
He grips my shoulder and yanks me toward him. “Priest’s here. He wanted a private sit-down with you first.”
“Fuck. Thanks, brother.”
Priest isn’t waiting in the chapel like I’d expect. He’s waiting in another office-type room at the end of the hall, opposite from the guest rooms and farther from the noise of the party. There’s a side-entrance here, which is how I’m guessing he entered.
“Priest, thank you so much for making the trip,” I greet him when I step into the room.
“Shut the door.” He stands and shakes my hand. “Good to be here under better circumstances this time.”
“Amen to that.”
He nods for me to sit and I plant my ass in the chair across from him. “Now that I’m here and we can talk face to face. What happened with Shadow?”
How did I know that would be the first question out of his mouth?
I give him the full, uncensored version.
“Fucking hell, are you serious?”
“Got the scar on my leg to prove it if you want to see?” I move like I’m going to unbutton my jeans and he makes a slashing move with his hand.
“Knock it off. You know what I meant.” He clasps his hands on the table in front of him. “This girl of yours, I’m guessing she can put two and two together and figure out why Shadow isn’t here?”
I stare at him without answering or moving. “She doesn’t have details and she knows not to ask questions.”
“You’re sure? Stake your life on it?”
“Absolutely. My girl knows how to keep her mouth shut.” Isn’t that an understatement.
“Where are you living while you’re running this place?”
“We rented a house not too far away. It’s not the house I started building upstate, but it’s nice.”
He raises an eyebrow at the hint that I still want to head home eventually.
“You all right staying put for a little bit? I don’t want to turn things back over to Sway as soon as he gets out. Doesn’t seem right.”
Sure, because Priest is so concerned about what’s right for Sway. “Whatever the club needs, Priest. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I’m planning to stick around and chat with him about it tomorrow.”
Poor fucking Sway won’t even have a night to enjoy his freedom from the hospital. “Appreciate that, Prez.”
“Maybe I’ll wait until Monday.” He grins at me. “Give the lucky fuck one night to enjoy himself.”
“I’m sure that’ll make him happy.” I might as well tell him this now. “We have another club coming. One we’ve done business with for years.”
“Demons?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s a good time to strengthen whatever alliances we can.” He gives me a pointed look. “Without compromising ourselves.”
I take that to mean he agrees with my decision to pull us out of business with the mafia.
“Speaking of, you’re aware two more clubs were taken down because of some bullshit territory beef, right?”
I haven’t exactly had time to keep tabs on all the outlaw news of the day. But since the events I think he’s referring to happened not that far from us, I had heard about the shootout that got four bikers, two civilians, and a cop killed over in Vermont.
“South of Satan MC was a bunch of wanna be pissants,” I answer. “We had an issue with them not that long ago.”
“Don’t matter.” Priest waves his hand in the air. “MCs are all the same to law enforcement. They don’t give a fuck if one’s shit. An act like that brings heat on every club in this country.”
I can’t deny the truth of what he’s saying. If only every club out there could grasp this simple concept. We’d all be better off.
“You better be prepared for more scrutiny when you’re out on a large run. Keep things clean. Keep out of trouble.”
“Yes, sir. We always do.”
“I’m glad you got clear of the arson before that happened. They might’ve kept you locked up longer.”
As if that thought hadn’t occurred to me a million times.
Timing is everything.
He seems to lighten up and sits back. “You and Rock have always been the pride of this club.”
That seems like some extreme praise coming from Priest. I wonder what the hell he’s angling for.
“Never have to worry about upstate.” He grins. “And now downstate.”
“Uh—”
“I know you want to go back upstate, Z. I ain’t deaf.”
“I’ll stay wherever you need me.”
“And I appreciate that.” He drums his fingers over the table. “How’s your relationship with the Iron Bulls MC doing?”
“Still solid, as far as I know. Dex reached out to them not that long ago. Had a good talk with their enforcer.”
“Good. Good. They’re aligned with Savage Dragons MC who just took over a large portion of Texas.”
“Yeah, I heard about that.” Who hadn’t?
Priest drums his fingers over the table as if he’s considering his words, but I’d bet my boots he’s been planning whatever he’s about to say since leaving Mississippi. “I’ll talk to Rock about this too, but I want your relationships with the Iron Bulls and Savage Dragons nurtured. They’re two clubs who seem to think like we do—”
“Uh—”
He glares at me. “Where business is concerned. Don’t give a fuck how they want to patch their old ladies.”
“They also run drugs over the border which is getting to be risky these days,” I remind him.
“But you’ve been helping them go legit with their own grow-op, right?”
“A little bit.”
“I like that you and Rock have cultivated and maintained these relationships. They’re important. Like the Demons. Their connection into Canada has been useful for us.”
“Right. We have a long history with them. That’s all Rock’s doing, though. He’s maintained that relationship with Stump and now Chaser.” I don’t want the credit for something Rock has done and I’m sure as fuck not letting Priest take credit for Rock’s hard work. “Grinder too, back in the day. He and Stump were tight.”
“That poor fucker. When’s he gettin’ out?”
“Soon, I hope. Saw him not that long ago.”
Priest’s eyes widen, like he’s surprised I’d visit a brother who’s inside. “That’s good, Z. Thank you.” Some of the ruthless president expression on his face softens. “Your loyalty and dedication to this club and the brotherhood is what I’ve always wanted to fill this club with. Unfortunately, you’re a rare breed.”
“Thank you?”
“Don’t act so surprised. Who’d I come to first when Sway got shot?”
“Rock.”
“I know I bust his balls a lot about membership, but no one else can do what he’s done.” He gives me an evil sneer. “And I’m only saying that in here to you because I know he’d rather shoot his dick off than take my place at the head of the national table.”
I laugh but don’t agree or disagree.
He shakes his head. “I went to Rock first out of respect, but I wanted you because you’ve worked under him for years. You conducted yourself with respect at National last year and I knew you could be trusted.”
That’s a lot to take in. “This club’s been my family for a lot of years, Priest.”
He glances at the closed door. “And I don’t have confidence in Sway’s opinion on anything.”
Shit, I don’t want to throw Sway under the bus, but since I’ve been down here, I can’t disagree with Priest’s assessment of Sway’s leadership.
“You two ever discuss consolidating the clubs? Have Lost Kings, New York instead of this upstate/downstate bullshit?”
“Never work, Priest. We got Demons running Western, NY. Wolf Knights running their small part of Central NY, and NYC is held by a club we’ve held a truce with for years. We stay outta NYC they stay out of anything above Westchester county.”
He gives me a blank look, and since he’s not from New York, his failure to grasp the situation doesn’t surprise me. “It’s a diverse state with a lot of differing ideas on how to handle select areas.” Damn, I’m pretty sure I took that right from one of the policy reports Lilly told me she wrote one time. I’ll have to thank her later.
“Trying to claim all of New York would open us up to exactly what you don’t want,” I explain. “Wolf Knights are friends to our club. Demons are friends. NYC isn’t friendly but we have an understanding.”
“All right. You know better than I do.”
Yes, I do.
“Now that South of Satan has fucked stuff up in Vermont, you thought about pushing inside that territory?”
“We’ve talked about it in the past, but like you said, there will be a lot of eyes on clubs now. I don’t think making any serious moves is a good idea for us.”
“Every two-bit thug will have their eye on that area.”
“And let them fight it out with each other, get thrown in jail. We’ll come in when the dust settles if it’s the right call.”
He thinks on that for a second before nodding.
There’s a map on the desk that outlines the basic borders for how territory is divvied up in New York and Priest taps the section for the Wolf Knights. “This has always been too close to our territory for comfort.”
I shrug. “We’ve made it work this long. Fuck, Teller’s engaged to the niece of their last president.”
“Didn’t he fuck shit up, though?”
That’s putting it mildly, but not really something I want to get into at the moment. “He’s older and decided to retire. Their new president has things under control and Wrath’s known him a long time.”
“Good. I like that. Keep the peace.”
Make up your mind, Priest. Keep the peace or take their territory? Jesus Christ, this conversation is giving me whiplash.
He taps another section of the map a little west of Empire but north of the Wolf Knights’ territory. “This is—”
“Free area.”
“You guys have never had a support club, right?”
Oh shit. I see where he’s going with this. “That’s closer to Rock’s area.”
“Get him in here.”
Rock’s gonna fucking shoot me, but I get up and go find his ass.
“I don’t like the look on your face,” he says when I stop him at the beginning of the hallway.
“Smart man.” We’re far enough away from the party and a good distance from the room I left Priest in that no one should overhear us. “Priest asked for you.”
His jaw tightens. “What now?”
“Concerned about territory issues. I think he wants to talk to us about setting up a support club.”
He growls with irritation. “Just what I need. More kids to babysit.”
“Look, maybe it’s not a bad idea. We both know when Grinder gets out, he’s not going to be able to jump right into sitting at the table. Maybe giving him a club to mentor will be good for him.”
Rock glares at me.
“Okay, maybe that’ll be too much for him. What about Dex? Fuck, Murphy could do it. He’s got connections with a few guys I think could form a decent support club.”
“Who, those little shits he fights with?”
“You haven’t been out there. They run a tight game. Smart kids. Young and hungry. We give them the right support, they could be an asset to us.”
He runs his hands over the back of his neck, seeming to think about my words. “Teller’s mentioned them too. In a positive way.”
“See? And he’s almost as cynical as you.”
I get another glare for that one. “Why don’t you want to bring them in as prospects?”
“Don’t know if they want to give up what they have going on out there to come wash our bikes and play bouncer at Crystal Ball. But if we help them form their own club, it might be worth it to us.”
He scans the crowd. “Where the fuck is Murphy?”
“We’ll talk to him later.” I grab his arm and nudge him down the hall. “Priest’s waiting for us. I just wanted to have some semblance of a plan before we went back in there.”
Finally, his irritation seems to pass and he slaps me on the back. “Good call. Thank you.”
Yeah, Sway would’ve let Rock walk in blind. But this isn’t a competition to me, it’s a brotherhood.
Priest stands when we return and shakes Rock’s hand. After we’re all seated, Rock grins. “This where y
ou tell me I’m never getting my VP back?”
“Not at all,” Priest says, smooth as ever. “Believe me, Z’s made it quite clear he wants to go home.”
Rock glances over at me and I shrug. “I’m a country boy at heart.”
Priest laughs. “You never know. I could have a heart attack tomorrow. Then the club would need Rock to take my place. And they’d need you back upstate, Z.”
He says it casually but the scenario has the effect of a nuclear warhead going off in front of us. Rock and I both turn and stare at each other.
“You don’t think some of the other presidents might have an opinion on that?” Rock asks.
“Don’t really give a fuck about their opinions. Niner can’t do it. Blink is needed where he is. Love that motherfucker, but he hates the whole fucking world.” Priest shakes his head. “Don’t worry, I just had my physical. I’m perfectly fine.”
Rock and I are still too stunned to say anything, which doesn’t faze Priest at all.
“Z and I were discussing this map.” He jams his finger into the center of our territory. “And how a support club might be beneficial.”
Thank God I prepared Rock because, instead of telling Priest to fuck off, he sits forward and studies the map with us. “We’ve talked about it in the past. Sway had one for a while, but they were a bunch of lazy misfits from what I remember.”
That’s putting it mildly, but we won’t go into details. Priest’s already aware that Sway’s a bit of a fuck-up. No need to drive home the point with any more colorful examples.
“Murphy knows a couple kids.” Rock jabs the map in the same spot Priest and I discussed earlier. “In this area. They have an underground fight ring that’s apparently well-run, organized, and profitable.”
Priest smiles. “Ah, Murphy. Our youngest RC ever.” He smacks Rock’s arm. “You’ve always been a good judge of character.”
I’m surprised Rock’s head doesn’t blow off from the effort of holding back his eye-roll.
“This is good.” Priest nods at both of us. “I was concerned you’d shoot this idea down.”
“We’ll look into it,” Rock assures him in a not very reassuring tone of voice.
“It makes sense,” I rush to add. “And we’re definitely working on keeping those other relationships solid.”
Zero Apologies Page 22