Tex (Hell's Ankhor #5) - Aiden Bates Page 0,33

anxiety I’d been carrying. We’d figure everything else out later.

Jazz nodded and disappeared back into the shop. I got Gunnar on the phone and gave him a brief explanation of what had happened—he had updates of his own, so we planned to have a quick church meeting that evening. Mav, Siren, and I all went back to Ankhor Works to finish out the workday, and the rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully.

I had a bit of time to kill after the workday, but before church, so I ducked down to the grocery store and picked up a sixer of pilsners. We had plenty of beer at the clubhouse, but no one had been buying the pilsners since Jazz was locked up.

I stuffed the beers in the fridge and went upstairs to my room for a quick shower. I still felt a little on edge, sweaty and greasy from the workday, and a little tense from the encounter with the unruly biker.

I turned the shower up as hot as it would go and climbed under the spray, bracing one hand on the wall as I let the water pound across my shoulders. I thought a quick jerkoff session might settle my nerves a little bit, clear my head, make me a little more focused in church. And I was already half-hard, so I didn’t think it was going to take too long.

My usual fantasies were memories: a dark-haired woman on her knees in the bathroom at Ballast, a pixie-cut brunette on her back in my bed, and so on. One-night stands, mostly. Reliable fantasies. But this time I couldn’t hang on to the visuals—they flowed through my mind like water.

The sensation of arousal was there, heavy in my gut like a stone, but my mind kept drifting back to Custom Ankhs. To the cool tile on my cheek and the weight of Jazz’s knee on my back, and the surprising strength in his hand as he held both my wrists in one hand.

I smacked the tile in frustration. Siren and Maverick had gotten under my skin, apparently, and I wouldn’t be able to focus on my own needs until I talked to Jazz and acknowledged that I’d been a dick to him. With a sigh, I gave up on jerking off. It’d have to wait.

By the time I was showered, dressed, and hurrying down the stairs, the inner circle had gathered in the clubhouse kitchen.

Jazz was seated at the kitchen island with the other enforcers: Siren, Coop, and Gunnar. Blade was at the head of the table with Logan at his side. Priest sat down as well, and Raven was on the nearby couch with his laptop open in front of him. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and cracked it before I sat down next to Jazz. He raised his pilsner with an inquisitive look. I nodded, and then shrugged a little. He knocked his shoulder against mine in thanks.

“All right, everyone,” Blade said, calling the meeting to order. “I know we’ve had an interesting couple days and there’s a lot to discuss, so I’m cutting to the chase here: We got word that Crave was spotted about two hours east, outside of our territory.”

Logan grimaced, his knuckles white around his beer bottle. Blade nodded at Gunnar to take over.

“He was trying to talk to the Devil’s Rangers,” Gunnar said. “They’re a small crew, and they keep to themselves mostly. Coop and I rode out there today to check things out. The Rangers weren’t interested in chatting with us, but they confirmed Crave and two of his lackeys were there trying to start some sort of alliance. The Rangers turned him away.”

“Because they’re not idiots,” Coop added helpfully.

“And today?” Blade glanced questioningly at Jazz.

“Guy from Liberty Crew came into Custom and was angry about work he had done on his bike,” Jazz said. “He didn’t want to talk and ended up shoving Jonah. We booted him from the premises.”

Blade hummed. “I’ll reach out to their president. That’s unlike their members—they’ve never given us any trouble before.”

“You think there’s something else going on?” Siren asked.

“Dunno,” Blade said. “But it makes me wonder if there’s something going on that’s got smaller crews on edge.”

“It's possible Crave’s been canvassing.” Priest shook his head in disgust.

“I’ve got a feeling that might be the case.” Blade nodded at me. “Tex, if we hear of any other reports of Crave popping up around the territory, as road captain you’ll be leading the crews. From now