details right now, but the lead detective on the case framed me. Prick had a hand in feeding him info about me and the club.”
Her jaw dropped. Framed? Holy shit that is so much worse than what she’d read, and what she’d read was horrible.
A storm cloud passed over his handsome face. The rest of the men noticed and seemed to understand what she did without further explanation. He didn’t want a million questions at that moment. Didn’t want to rehash the nightmare.
She wished they could go back forty-five seconds ago when his hands were on her, and she didn’t know he’d suffered in such an egregious way. What the hell was happening to her? This was absolute insanity. How could she be so attracted to a man who participated in things she abhorred? It had to be some weird chemical reaction. Pheromones or whatever. Maybe her body was going haywire because it’d been so long since she’d been in such close contact with a man who wasn’t David or a client.
“I said I wasn’t going to seek revenge, but I also said I wouldn’t back down from a fight. The dog fighting ring needs to be stopped. If I get to fuck with Prick as we take it down, so be it. Icing on the cake I was going to eat already.”
Well…that made sense for the most part.
Tyler smirked. “Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. What’s our first move?”
“It’s gonna be hard for you or me to get close to him in any way. He knows us both and hates me by association.”
“I have no fucking idea who Prick is,” Jinx said. “Why don’t you point me in his direction, and I’ll engage him. See if I can get invited to a fight.”
“I’ll do it with you,” Pulse added.
Jinx frowned. “I’m up to the task.”
Rolling his eyes, Pulse flipped Jinx off. “I’m not saying you can’t do it. Just saying I’m tagging along.”
Brooke’s gaze ping-ponged between the men as they began to argue. Big as he was, Jinx had a baby face and seemed considerably younger than the rest of the men. Made sense he’d want to prove himself as an equal.
“Jinx, this isn’t a commentary on your ability. I wouldn’t let any of you go alone. Never turn down backup.”
“Yeah, all right. I hear ya.” Jinx nodded at Curly then relaxed back in his chair.
Clearly, these men respected Curly and his authority if they heeded his advice so easily. Brooke tried to reconcile the man standing above her with the one she’d read so many terrifying articles about when she’d finally broken down and Googled him.
The man who’d run a drug ring.
The man who’d sold weapons all up and down the east coast.
The man who broke laws as a hobby.
“You know,” Lock said, finally letting his voice be heard. “That farm would be a great fucking place for a clubhouse. It’s in shit condition now, but we could turn the barn into a few apartments, and his guys could renovate the farmhouse into a clubhouse. Maybe our goal should be to run Prick out of town.”
Run him out of town? Brooke shifted in her chair as the conversation took a turn she wasn’t entirely comfortable with. Curly must have sensed the change in her. He squeezed her shoulders but didn’t steer the discussion away from talk of taking Prick’s home from him.
She zoned out a bit as the men went back and forth with details of where Prick hung out, how to approach him, and gain his trust. At least if the cops arrested her, she could honestly say she hadn’t paid attention to exactly what they were planning, right? Maybe this was a huge mistake, and she should focus on ending the dog fighting ring herself. Prick’s furious face floated in front of her vision, and she nearly groaned out loud. As capable as she was on her own, there was a time to admit when she was in over her head, and when dealing with a man like Prick, she was way out of her depth. With the cops’ apathy, this seemed her only course of action for now. To save those dogs, she’d do damn near anything. Even risk her soul by tying herself to a gang of bikers.
Next thing she knew, all the guys were rising from the table, and she was blinking herself back to the room.
“Nice to meet you, Brooke,” Tracker said as he came around the table then patted her shoulder. “Looking