Road Tripped (Satan's Devils MC Utah #1) - Manda Mellett Page 0,136

Stormy places a gadget on the table. Curious, I pick it up, finding it sits comfortably in the palm of my hand.

“What is it?”

“Drone.” He takes it back and shows me how to open it up.

I hadn’t realised they came this small. It would be easy to take in my saddlebags, if not in a pocket at a stretch. “What size is the controller?” I ask him.

“You can install the app on your phone. If you’re interested, I’ll show you how it works.”

I am. If I’d been able to view the surroundings, I’d have seen people were patrolling the grounds, or that they had cameras set up. There could have been something that would have warned me. I start to thank Stormy, full of surprise he’d given me one of his toys, but he waves aside anything I was going to say, and instead, distaste covers his face.

“Oh fuck, got to go waste time chewing the fat again.” Stormy glowers as people around us are moving. “Fuckin’ hate all these meetings.”

“You don’t like church?” I ask, as he’s being his version of friendly.

“I don’t like people,” he responds succinctly, and then stands. “And I don’t trust anyone either.”

As I hastily finish off the last piece of bacon, I stare after the man who’s just left me. The chip on his shoulder is a mile wide, and there must be a story of what happened to put it there. Such dislike and distrust don’t come naturally, or not in my experience. Could he have been born that way? Not likely.

Drummer had sent me to Utah as my accident had taken all my patience away. I’d been angry at everyone, even though they hadn’t done anything. Stormy’s me to the extreme. What had happened to him? Pip called him back to the club and stripped him of his nomad status because he’d all but gone rogue, but Stormy’s actions had been fuelled by his distrust, his return to the club hadn’t caused them.

Having realised how insightful the Utah prez is, I wonder now whether there was more to Stormy’s recall, and that by forcing him back into the fold, there was perhaps a route for his redemption.

Pushing my thoughts aside, I take my dirty plate and place it with the others, noticing Brute is on kitchen duty clearing stuff away, then, following the example of the others walk along the hallway and enter church.

Pip, Snatcher, Thor and Preacher are already seated. Swift’s taking her chair. Seeing me entering, she kicks out the one beside her. Sitting, I simply raise my chin to thank her, while breathing in deeply through my nose, finding her scent intoxicating, immediately pulling my seat in closer to the table so I don’t betray myself.

The room fills up fairly fast, and as previously, I notice the jokes and conversations I’d expect in Tucson are missing. But today I don’t mind, now better understanding the vibe here. Rather than updates about the money the strip club and tattoo parlour are bringing in, a meeting like this could be a matter of life or death. From my discussions with Grinch and Goofy, meetings I’m more used to happen as well, with the additional three members present. That’s when matters like dues and pay packets are discussed.

Pip bangs the gavel once everyone’s taken a seat. His stare focuses on Swift. “Fuckin’ glad to have you back, Swift.”

She raises her chin but follows it up with the words, “Fuckin’ glad to be here, Prez.” A murmur of lighthearted laughter goes around.

“Debrief. We’ve yet to hear your side.” Pip’s eyes are still levelled on her.

I almost feel the deep intake of breath by my side. “They must have cut the electric.” She shudders. “I hadn’t a clue anyone was there. First thing I knew was someone putting a chloroform drenched rag over my face. Woke up chained in that basement.”

Honor points across the table at her. “They disabled your backup generator first. I’m looking into alert systems running on lithium batteries.” He brushes a hand over his head. “We looked at fail safes for normal occurrences, not for you being deliberately targeted.”

Pip makes a gesture that gets our attention. “Kincaid admitted he’d been watching me and the club. He focused on Swift as she was the only woman he saw going in and out of this building. Seems he learned a lot in the pen, like being careful and not moving without knowing exactly what was going on. McGregor, apparently, had studied electrical