When everyone had taken a seat, he stated, “Church has begun.” Then, he sighed and said, “Thanks to the last raid, shit’s been kept tight. We’ve had several emergency churches and were due to call a general church in the upcoming days, but things have been expedited.” Another sigh. “You might have seen Kenzie being hauled off by the cops.”
“What did they arrest her for?” someone hollered from the back.
Wolfe raised a hand. “Let me speak and then I’ll take questions.”
I already knew the answer, had heard it from Keys himself.
“She betrayed us, brothers.”
The surge of outrage that soared from my brothers was overwhelming and understandable. I lifted my boot, pressed it to my seat, and leaned my chin on my knee as the cacophony of outrage poured from the men.
We took this shit seriously.
The last time we’d had a rat, it had been back when Lucie had first arrived. That was a long ass time, but not long enough to suit us.
“Enough!” Wolfe roared. “I get it. I do. I’m fucking pissed over it as well. But she’s gone now, and you’re under orders to detain her and return her to the compound if you see her, you got me?” The sudden silence was a declaration in itself.
If Kenzie was stupid enough not to get the fuck out of Texas, she was a dead woman walking.
“She’s the reason for the raids on the clubhouse. And, prior to her return, on that very day, a shipment of ours was taken into custody because the Knights’ run was intercepted—she was to blame for that. She’s got a lot to answer for, but we have bigger problems to deal with. You all saw John Wayne out there.”
“The guy with the spurs?” Hurt called out, making everyone snicker.
“Yeah, well, king dick was on at me the second he could. He knows about our factory and he wants a piece.”
The hush was instant.
“Fuck,” I mumbled under my breath.
“Now, his terms aren’t unfair. Surprisingly,” he muttered. “He’s willing to pay market value for them, but he wants a cut of sales to other buyers. Again, not a bad rate. Five percent.” He scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “He says that we won’t get raided, something he can apparently guarantee which we all know is BS, but he said if we don’t cooperate, we can get used to weekly raids.”
The grumbles that stirred were heartfelt. No one wanted to be picking shit up every week like we were doing today.
“Okay, thoughts. I’m throwing this to all of you because it’s for everyone to decide. This ain’t just on me, ya hear?”
“Sounds like entrapment to me,” Bear grumbled. “I mean, fuck, it’s too good to be true. Why ain’t he asking for more than five percent?”
“Because we’d tell him where to shove it?” BB hollered back. “He’s got us over a barrel, but we could always disband if he pushed us too far.”
“Disbanding? The fuck?” Red growled. “Why you talking about disbanding?”
And the argument carried on for a good five minutes. I watched the council, saw each of them were blank-faced as they let the brothers wear themselves out, but Lucie? She was the one who looked the most pissed.
I wasn’t surprised when she wolf-whistled loud enough to draw everyone’s attention.
“Shut the fuck up,” she snarled, slamming to her feet, her hands on the table as she leaned over it to glower at everyone. “Arguing like fools isn’t going to get us anywhere, assholes. We need to think about this with our big brains, not our little ones.”
Though most grumbled, as could be expected where she was concerned, everyone kept their mouth shut and their heads low.
“His terms aren’t that bad. What concerns me is that he could be setting us up. We need to figure out a way to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
I raised a hand. When she saw me, she cocked a brow and motioned for me to stand.
“We need to blackmail him back.”
Lucie tilted her head to the side. “I’m listening.”
“See his ring? He’s married.” I smirked. “See how he was eying up the sweetbutts when they were herded into the outhouse?”
Wolfe grinned. “I like me some honey traps.”
Lucie folded her arms over her chest. “Take pictures, use them… What if he doesn’t like his wife? What if he’s ready for a divorce?”
“Did you see what he wore on his wrist? Next to his watch?”
“Enlighten me,” Lucie retorted.
“He had a friendship bracelet. You know, one of those bracelets