a few hints to Chief Danielson to check out that land.
Jasper then sank the eight ball, beating Prez for what I was told the second time that night. Apparently his focus wasn’t in the game. After downing a few more beers and burning through most of the night with stories and conversation, Trev asked to see me in the conference room. It was rare to get a call for a one on one, especially in the middle of the night. The hours were cooking right by and before long it would be another sunrise in Daurian.
Trev leaned against the corner of the table and stuck out his beer bottle. I offered mine and we smacked glass together.
“You did good,” he said. “It’s hard to follow your heart and follow your club. What do you really think about Jim?”
“For this fight?”
“Yeah.”
“Why are you asking?”
“I’m wondering if I need a backup plan,” Trev said.
So I wasn’t the only one concerned that Jim would get his ass tagged in this fight then.
“I put us in this,” I said. “Offer me. Blame it on me, Prez. Kill Jim and then strip my cut. Make me suffer for hurting the MC.”
“Jesus, brother, that’s harsh. What about Belle?”
“She’s gotta have a chance to be free after all of this.”
“You love her, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do.”
“You want her to be your old lady? Wear your ink? Carry your babies?”
“I’d be liar if I said the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.”
“Then we better make sure Jim doesn’t lose this fight,” Trev said. He pushed from the table.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. Look, Duke, when the police get up there and start poking around, the land deal is dead. Jim already did what he had to do with Cade and the lawyers. So as far as I’m concerned, the Hell Five can go fuck themselves. We have to settle up with that money to Ivan. So we go out and hustle and earn like we’ve always done.”
“And just let the Hell Five slip on what they did?” I asked.
Trev grinned. “No, brother, we’ve got things in motion. Legal things. It’s a bitch to have to go the legal route of things. The biggest thing now is to make sure Jim has a chance to win that fucking fight.”
There was a few seconds of silence as Trev put all the stress on my shoulders. He then opened the door and gave a nod.
“Prez, do you have a set of keys I can borrow for one of the rides out there?” I asked.
“Yeah, sure,” he said. “Pick a prospect’s pocket.” He laughed. “What have you got planned?”
“Nothing more freeing than seeing death and watching a sunrise, right?”
Prez didn’t give me an answer to that question.
I left the conference room and walked down the hall to my room. There I found Belle sleeping. She was curled up in my blankets, head on my pillow, her body diagonal, taking up almost the entire goddamn bed.
She was fucking beautiful.
She had left the light turned on on the nightstand. I walked to the bed and crouched down. She smelled of sweet soap and sleep. She actually looked peaceful and I could only hope that she was sleeping good. I didn’t want her to bear any extra burdens than she already had to lug around every day of her life.
I slowly leaned forward and kissed her cheek. I didn’t want to wake her. Last thing I needed was to tell her where I was going and why and that I wouldn’t be back for another little while. If it was going to be a romantic sunrise thing I would have woke Belle’s ass up and dragged her outside. But that wasn’t the case here.
I left the bedroom and kept walking. We had a few extra rooms in the clubhouse, left for relievers or guys that came up from other charters to visit and crash.
The first door I opened was the room where Jim was. With Maggie wrapped up in bed with him. The sheets were down all the way to Maggie’s bare ass. They were both naked.
Good for you, Jim.
I tapped my hand against Jim’s face until his eyes popped open. His hands gripped at Maggie, protecting her.
“What the hell?” Jim asked.
“We have to go somewhere. Let’s go.”
“What time is it?”
“Doesn’t matter. We have to take a ride. Roll your girl off and let’s go.”
I stood there and watched Jim roll Maggie off him. She flopped to her back, showing off her tits. Not bad. Not bad at