T-Bone - L. Wilder Page 0,48

bed as I asked, “Will I see you tonight?”

“Can’t make any promises, but I’ll be here if I can.”

“Okay.” He leaned down and kissed me briefly. “Let me know how Gus is doing.”

“Will do.” He gave me a quick wink. “You have a good one.”

“I’m gonna try.”

Once he left, I lay there thinking about what had happened with Gus. I didn’t know him well, but it was clear that he’d meant a great deal to the men in his club, especially Beckett. I couldn’t imagine who would want to hurt him or why. I could only assume that it had something to do with Satan’s Fury. It was the only thing that made any sense. Regardless of the reasons why, I knew the brothers would be heartbroken if the worst happened and he didn’t pull through. It was a thought that had me praying over and over again that he would be okay. When I noticed that I’d been lying there for longer than I thought, I quickly hopped out of bed, took a shower, and got dressed. On my way out, I grabbed a cup of coffee, then headed to work.

When I walked in, I was surprised that Jack hadn’t beaten me there. He was always early, even more so now that he’d been promoted. He wanted to impress Bisset and prove that he could do the job. Concerned that something might be wrong, I went over to Miguel, one of the other line chefs, and asked, “Have you seen Jack?”

“He hasn’t made it in yet.” Miguel shook his head and shrugged. “Car trouble or something.”

“Oh, okay. If I’d known, I would’ve offered to pick him up.”

“Not sure you would’ve wanted to do that. He lives in a pretty rough neighborhood.”

“I wouldn’t have minded,” I replied. “He would’ve done the same for me.”

“Well, too late now.” Miguel motioned his hand towards my place in the plating line. “You’ve got work to do.”

I nodded, then went over and got to work. It was at least an hour later before Jack came rushing through the back door. I watched as Bisset went over to him and gave him the riot act. Jack took his scolding, then looking like a puppy who’d been kicked, he got busy working on peeling and dicing the large crates of vegetables. When I finally had a free moment, I made my way over to him and asked, “Everything okay?”

“Yes and no.” Looking completely defeated, he explained, “The battery’s dead in my car, and I can’t afford to get a new one until the end of the week. Until then, I’ll be stuck taking the bus, which means I’ll have to leave an hour earlier just to get here on time.”

“I could swing by and pick you up.”

“Thanks, sweetie, but that’s not necessary.”

“At least let me drop you off when our shift is over,” I pushed.

“You sure you don’t mind?”

“Nope, not at all.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

At the time, I didn’t know that my offer to help him out would end up turning my entire world upside down, forcing me to make a decision I never dreamed I’d make.

11

T-Bone

After waiting for what seemed like a lifetime, we finally had a lead on who’d shot Gus. Filling his role as VP, Moose called all the brothers into church so we could figure out our next move. It seemed strange to be sitting there without Gus standing at the front of the conference table, handing out information and directing orders like he usually did, and if the expression on Moose’s face was any indication, he was feeling the same way. Once everyone was seated, he looked out at us and took a deep breath.

“Never thought I’d actually be standing up here in front of you all like this, and I gotta be honest, I don’t want to be here any more than you want me to be. I’d rather it be Gus, but since he can’t be here, it’s up to us to keep this club running. And I do mean us.” He ran his hand through his thick gray hair and sighed. “We need to do this thing together and prove to all those motherfuckers who thought they could come at us … who had the balls to try and take our president down that they got another fucking thing coming. So my question is, are you with me?”

“Damn straight we are,” Murphy replied.

“United we stand. United we fall,” Shadow added.

I leaned forward and looked him straight in