a turf war with the Colombians in New York. That’s pissing him off more than anything.”
“He was aware enough to send you.”
“To clean up shit. After she’s gone and I give him proof? Things should be okay.”
There were so many ways this could go wrong, but fuck, what choice did we have?
No fucking choice, that’s what.
❖
Flame
“Baby, we need to talk.”
When she tilted her head to the side at Dagger’s words, I wasn’t surprised when she headed over to him and pressed herself into his lap.
I always liked watching their relationship unfold. It was forged on touch, on a physical connection that went deeper than just sex.
She could, I knew, sit on Dagger’s lap for a lifetime and that would be her home.
It amused me how that hadn’t changed.
Wherever Dagger was, didn’t matter if it was an armchair in the common room, a dining chair at the table, or a sofa—she’d sit on him. The only place she didn’t? The barstools at the bar. Even then, though, she’d usually stand between his legs and let him prop her up.
As I raised the bottle to my lips and sank some beer, I watched as Wolfe moved around his desk and hauled the armchair in the office closer to her. Axe was leaning against the desk, but me? I was beside the windows, tilted so I could see out but I could also see what was happening in the room.
“What’s going on?” she asked, eyeing Wolfe’s movements with concern.
She’d been out all day, and when I hadn’t been able to find her after Ramon’s visit, my mind had immediately sunk into despair. I’d called her, not stopping until she answered with a huff.
Turned out she was on her way to Jonsson, and she hadn’t left the car or stopped once. I’d pleaded with her to come home and to go straight to the clubhouse.
She had, for once, obeyed.
Maybe because she wasn’t used to hearing that much feeling in my voice? Or maybe because I’d scared her? I wasn’t sure, I was just grateful that she’d literally been on the highway from the second she’d left the compound.
Something she wouldn’t be doing for the foreseeable future.
Fuck, Lucie was not going to be happy about any of this.
When Wolfe had suggested us not telling her what Ramon had said, Dagger, Axe, and I had slammed him down. Lucie was not the shy and retiring type. She faced her problems headfirst, and I loved her for that. Still, now that the time had come to share, I was dreading it as much as Dagger was—he looked like he’d been shoved into a vat of pickle brine.
When he blew out a breath and began to tell her the whole sordid mess, Lucie’s lack of reaction didn’t surprise me.
She was pretty rational. Not as much as me, but she had a level head and I could see the cogs working as she ran through what Ramon had shared with us.
Her brow puckered at the news we’d need to lop off her fucking finger, but by the end, her question was, “What happens after? If he found out I’m here—”
“We’re trying to weed out the snitch,” I rasped, and when her eyes cut to mine, I didn’t bother offering her a reassuring smile, just gave her all my focus.
When she nodded, I knew she’d received the message—I’d find the bastard and make him fucking pay on her behalf.
“Still, news could get back. I can’t live here until things have blown over,” she whispered, and the starkness in her words hit me hard. Hard enough to make me surge forward and away from the windows to crouch down in front of her.
“You already said you didn’t want to live at the clubhouse, baby,” I reassured her.
“I don’t want to live here, Flame, but move away? No! I’ve already done that, and I hated it,” she whispered, and I heard her misery. Heard it and felt it.
“You’re not moving anywhere. We’ll make an example out of the motherfucking rat, and once that’s done, no one will dare utter a word about you,” Wolfe promised.
“So, what? I’m stuck in here for the next few months?” she ground out. “You know that will drive me insane, don’t you?”
He shrugged. “I was thinking about converting that space at the east corner of our land into a barn. You’ll have plenty of time to set up the factory—”
“She isn’t a slave,” Axe ground out.
“Never said she was. But she’ll be focusing on that and Amaryllis—”