T-Bone - L. Wilder Page 0,18

that.” I gathered the vegetables Beckett had diced, then added them to the pot. As I stirred them into the roux, I continued, “I rode a couple of times with Viper, but that’s been ages ago.”

“We’ll have to rectify that.” He walked over to the stove, and as he peered over his shoulder, he said, “It smells great.”

“Oh, we’re just getting started.” I motioned my hand over to the sausage and asked, “Would you mind cutting those for me?”

“Sure, no problem.” He placed the sausage on a cutting board and got busy once again. “So, did you girls ever decide on what trip you wanted to take?”

“No, they were kind of all over the place.”

“They usually are.” He joked. “But they definitely keep things interesting.”

“I’m sure they do.” I added the garlic to the roux and then slowly poured in the stock. “I bet you all have a great time over at the clubhouse.”

“We do.” He nodded. “Some greater than others.”

“I can still remember the times my dad took me over to see my uncle, Viper, at his clubhouse. There was always music playing in the bar, and the guys were either acting all goofy and silly, or they were deadly serious, making me scared to even be in the same room with them.”

“I get that. I’m sure the girls would say the same was true about us.” Beckett started prepping the corn and other vegetables as he said, “Guess you could say there’s a time and place for everything.”

“Viper would definitely agree with you there.” I collected the rest of the vegetables from Beckett. “Thanks for helping. I’m really sorry I didn’t have it all ready when you got here.”

“Don’t be. I’m enjoying watching the fancy French chef do her thing.”

“Ha! I’m far from fancy, and I’m still learning the ins and outs of French cuisine.”

“You’re a smart girl. I’m sure it won’t take you long to figure it out.”

Beckett and I continued to banter back and forth as we put together the best gumbo I’d had in years. We ate outside under the stars, and I couldn’t remember a night when I’d enjoyed someone’s company as much as I had his. I hated for the night to end, but it was getting late and Beckett had an early morning. On his way out the door, he gave me a quick hug and thanked me for dinner. I stood in the doorway and watched as he walked over and got on his motorcycle. Damn, I’d never seen a sexier sight than that man on his black Harley motorcycle. Just looking at him had my hormones raging to life. I closed the door, and as I headed to bed, I knew I was going to have all kinds of good dreams.

5

T-Bone

“Gotta be there before ten.” We were all sitting around the conference table, listening as Gus went over the plan for our upcoming run. We’d been doing the pipeline with five of our other chapters for the last couple of years, each clubhouse contributing to make one big take. I had to admit that things have been going very well. We all made a fuck-load of money and had every intention of continuing our success. “That’s earlier than usual, so we’ll need to head out around four in the morning instead of seven,” Gus continued.

Clearly concerned, Moose’s eyes narrowed as he asked, “What’s with the change?”

Moose was the club’s VP, and just like Gus, he was always careful, wanting to make sure that nothing put the club at risk. Knowing Moose like he did, Gus didn’t seem surprised by his question. Instead, he simply answered, “Ronin said there was an issue at the dock last week ... Something to do with the water quality or some shit around the inlet we’ve been using, and they’ve got the Coast Guard monitoring the number of boats coming in and out.”

“How the hell are we supposed to get around that shit?” Murphy asked.

“Ronin assured me that he’s got it covered, and he’s never given me reason to think that he doesn’t.” Ronin was our main distributor and an invaluable asset to the club and our pipeline. Once we received the shipments from our other chapters, it was up to us to deliver the goods to him, then he would distribute them to our buyers. Even when times got tough, Ronin had always pulled through for us, so it was no surprise that Gus had such faith in him. After a brief pause, Gus