TV room where we sit on the ground. The babies lounge on a yellow-and-blue ducky quilt. I smile at how Carina and Kirby stare at each other.
“I can’t wait until they can play together.”
“Like Desi did with Bronco’s daughter?” Shelby asks. “I don’t know if you know this, but she played with Bronco’s daughter.”
I laugh at how Desi told every single person in the house about how much playing she did this weekend.
“Did you get to play with Bronco?” Shelby asks and gives me an exaggerated wink.
“A little, yeah.”
“But?”
Losing my smile, I shrug. “He hinted at how things are complicated between the Reapers and the Executioners.”
“He ain’t wrong.”
“He seemed angry about those things.”
Shelby looks at the babies rather than at me. “The issues aren’t really with the Reapers and his club. It’s more about what happened before we came to town. His club and the Skullz fought off and on for a long time.”
“You said it doesn’t involve the Reapers, but Shane acts different now.”
“Different how?” she asks, immediately defensive at any criticism of her beloved “baby bruv.”
“He doesn’t really look at me.”
“Did he ever?”
“Yes.”
Shelby focuses again on the babies. “I want you to be happy, and the truth doesn’t always offer that to people.”
“Everyone in Elko knows that truth. I’m going there blind.”
“True. I was hoping they would let it go, but maybe they can’t any more than Shane can.”
“What?”
Sighing, Shelby rests on her side, propping her head up with her hand. I watch her stroke her daughter's head before mimicking her. Shelby is another person quick to offer affection. She isn’t afraid of speaking up and taking what she wants. When she fails, Shelby cries, whines, rages, and then tries again. She never lets life stop her. I could use more of that in me.
“Like I said, the Executioners and the Skullz fought off and on for a long time. They’d burn down each other’s meth labs or fuck with shipments. Sometimes, they’d jump a member of one club or shoot up club-owned property. It was usually low-key hostility. No one died, but they fucked each other up plenty. I don’t know the point, really. Neither club seemed to have the resources to take over the other town.”
I don’t ask questions because I know Shelby will keep talking without prompting.
“There’s one particular incident that causes bad blood for Shane. It involves the shooting of Bronco’s daughter and how the clubs handled payback.”
“Wait, who was shot?”
“His daughter. The older one. Summer is her name, right?”
“Yes,” I say, thinking back over the weekend. “No one told me anything about her getting hurt.”
“Well, the Skullz did a drive-by at a hamburger place where the Executioners hang out. Summer was there and was shot. We don’t think it was an accident. Though that’s what the Skullz president, Fuse, claimed. He said his guys didn’t know she was there. We suspect the Skullz were trying to bait Bronco into a war. No way to be sure since Fuse and his VP are dead now. Not that either man would tell us the truth when they were alive. Still, the Skullz would have been really fucking stupid not to know Bronco’s daughter was there. I mean, people scope out locations before they hit them. It’s not as if they pulled the plan out of their ass when Elko is hours away.”
Remembering Summer’s behavior, I don’t believe her aloof routine was related to the shooting. I sensed she didn’t see the point of knowing a woman her father banged once. I do wonder if Sidonie’s clinginess has anything to do with what happened to her sister.
“For whatever reason, Bronco didn’t hit the Skullz back like he did in the past. Maybe he knew the shooting was bait, and the Skullz were ready for him to attack. He might have believed sending men to Shasta would lead to an ambush. In the end, he agreed to an idea Fuse’s old lady came up with.”
Shelby loses the ability to look at me while she speaks. Her gaze remains super focused on Kirby.
“Summer was in the hospital for three days. So, the deal was that one of Fuse’s daughters had to go to Elko for three days.”
“For what?”
Shelby looks at me, and I wish I hadn’t asked. “Of course, Fuse didn’t send his precious fapsock daughters. He talked Ramona into doing it. Said she would basically party with the other club, and he’d owe her. I don’t know how much Ramona understood about what would happen, but she