Ash (Dragon Riders MC #3) - Savannah Rylan Page 0,2

up his finger. “Coincidences didn’t get us here. Bad recon did.”

I nodded. “Because we made assumptions we shouldn't have. We deemed things coincidences when we shouldn't have assumed causation. That’s why we’re in this situation.”

The room of guys stared at me with confused looks on their faces, and it reminded me why I never talked to them unless I had to.

“Yeah. That shit,” I said.

Link nodded. “He’s right. We’re in this position because we didn’t dig deep enough, and we assumed things we shouldn't have. Ash, I want you to send me that blog as well as those posts.”

“Consider it done.”

Bowser piped up. “That doesn’t negate us from the responsibility we have to them.”

Sly hunched his shoulders. “Responsibility? To them? They double-crossed us, Bowser!”

He nodded. “I know. But that doesn't mean we don’t fulfill our end of the bargain. Even if the blogs are true, those girls work in the trafficking department. Not the drug one. And remember? Those guys we were tailing were distributing drugs.”

Knuckles stepped up to the plate. “They would’ve recognized the girls, though. Right? I mean, the two crews are working together.”

Bowser shrugged. “All I’m saying is that I didn’t recognize any of the guys from the Jags driving that van. For all we know, they outsource some of their work.”

Link sighed. “Which means there’s a chance we’ve left those girls with drugged-up assholes who don’t know who they’re looking at.”

All of us looked around the room at one another before Bowser’s head fell back.

“Fuck, we’ll have to go back,” he groaned.

Sly scoffed. “It’s already been four days, guys! For all we know, they’re—”

Link held up his hand. “Don’t say it. We had no right to leave before that job was completed. We’ve mucked this up enough as it is. But if we find the girls that weren’t involved with this plan and tell them we know exactly what’s going on, we’ve got leverage over them. We help them get the other girls back—if they need to be saved at all—then we have two things to hang over their head. There’s a possibility we can still salvage this and take down Skeleton, which was the real goal in the first place.”

I licked my lips. “All in favor?”

Sly shook his head. “Wait a second. We’re working off yet more assumptions here. Why don’t we—”

“Me,” Knuckles said.

“Me,” Bowser said.

“Me,” I said.

“Wait a goddamn second!” Sly exclaimed.

Link sighed. “You’ve already been outnumbered.”

Sly glared at him. “Then shut up and listen because you don’t have anything to lose: look, I get it. This crew takes care of women. But these aren’t just any women, guys. It’s an all-female motorcycle crew. And they stabbed us in the fucking back. They’ve been working with the Jags this whole time, and you know damn good and well Hope, Ash, and Knuckles got into the situations they did because of their intel. They betrayed us! And now you want to go after them because they’ve got tits and pussies?”

Bowser drew in a deep breath. “He’s got a point.”

Link stared us all down. “When this crew stops operating by its own morals, it’s a slippery slope from there. If we start making exceptions now, who’s to say we won’t end up just like the Golden Jags along down the line?”

Sly chuckled. “That’s a bit of a stretch, dude.”

I nodded. “And it’s a bit of a stretch to say that these girls don’t need our help. There was a shoot-out, for crying out loud. Even if those drug-running dickheads work for the Jags, there was clearly an altercation.”

“Then, they’ve already bled out on the ground. What the fuck’s the point in going back? We all got out alive. Couldn’t we at least celebrate that?”

I shook my head. “We stick to our morals or we turn in our cuts. That’s how it goes around here.”

Link pointed at me. “Ash is right. So, either get on board and let’s go see if these girls need help before we pin them to the ground ourselves or turn in your cut.”

Sly chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Fine. But if the choice is my life or theirs? They’re the ones getting it. Got it?”

We all looked over at Link and watched him nod.

“Got it,” he said.

2

Hannah

“I’m sorry, Hannah. I didn’t know things would go so sideways. If I had known—”

I looked over at my cousin Slash. “Isn’t it your job to know these things?”

She sighed. “Look, I know you’re upset—”

“Upset? Upset!”

She shushed me. “Keep it down. If they hear