lacing through. “Makes you admire how resilient people are.”
I kissed her forehead as we walked past the construction zone, squeezing my arms tighter around her. That was my girl, always seeing the best outcome in every situation.
We came upon a bed-and-breakfast and piled into the small lobby. The plump old woman behind the front desk looked frozen in terror at the leather clad bikers in her establishment, until Mari and Noelle pushed their way to the front.
“Hi, do you have three rooms available? With one big enough for four people?”
After a few surprised blinks, the owner breathed a sigh of relief and began to explain her options to the women. Looking around, the place was charming, clean, and smelled freshly painted. I peered out the window to the vegetable garden alongside the building.
“That’s what I want.” Jandro pointed over my shoulder to the chicken coop against the back fence. “Only mine’s gonna be even more dope than that.”
“If we stick around, I bet you can sell your extras to this lady.”
“Extra eggs? Or you mean…?”
“Chickens themselves. I heard you have quite a virile cock there, buddy.”
“Shut up.” He smacked my shoulder. “But that’s a good idea. That way I can keep my population under control without upsetting,” his eyes darted to the side, “you know.”
“We got rooms,” Mari announced. She eyed me and Jandro turning innocently away from the window. “And Mrs. Potts here says there’s a bar with an open grill down the road. We can barter for food there or bring our own.”
“Thank fuck.” Reaper was the first to storm out of the place. “Let’s go.”
After the rest of our club squeezed into the bar an hour later, followed by the Sons of Odin, I had a hunch there weren’t yet many fun places to go in Four Corners.
“Reaper!” T-Bone walked in with a grin on his face, arms spread wide, with his guys flanking him on either side. “You owe me big time now, Pres. I just saved your reputation in the Four Corners territory.”
“I don’t need you to save dick.” Reaper’s arm lifted, gesturing the Sons to our table. “But if you bring a full bottle over, I might be willing to hear you out.”
While T-Bone went to the bar, Dyno and Grudge grabbed chairs and dragged them to us, the latter pulling up beside Shadow. The scarred man nodded at him in greeting and leaned over to say something over the din of the bar.
“Whoa,” I muttered to myself. “Shadow’s making friends.”
“It’s great, isn’t it?” Mari watched for a moment over her cocktail.
The two men’s communication consisted of Shadow speaking and Grudge writing on the notepad he always carried around.
“Yeah, good for him,” I agreed.
T-Bone seated himself next to Reaper at the head of our table, holding a bottle out for our president to examine. “Heard you like the good stuff, Reap.”
Reaper gave the bottle an approving nod and gestured for the man to pour. “I’m listening.”
A hush came over our group as we all leaned in to hear what T-Bone had to say.
“Dyno, Grudge, and I are riding out in the morning to save the girl—”
“Thank you,” Mari cut in smugly, with a scathing look at Reaper.
“—and we convinced Josh and Vance to give you the benefit of the doubt. Josh seemed convinced the governor would’ve ordered the army to march your asses out of the territory if you didn’t lend a hand in this rescue.”
Jandro and I exchanged an I told you so look from across the table, but Reaper didn’t seem fazed by that news.
“Fine by me. We can ride on tomorrow morning.”
“You better not.” T-Bone sucked his teeth following a long swallow of whiskey. “Because I told them we’d work together on this rescue.”
Reaper looked moments away from punching him in his face. “That’s what you told them, but what’s it really mean?”
T-Bone threw back another shot. “We’ve got this handled, but I need one man from you. Two at the most. Can you swing that?” When Reaper didn’t answer, he pressed, “We’ll sing your praises and give you all the credit when we get back. The governor will host you, and your officers, at a dinner and give you everything you need to fight Tash. I’m giving you vengeance on a silver platter here, Pres, and you’d be a fool to refuse it.”
“Why?” Reaper wasn’t threatened by T-Bone, but still didn’t fully trust him. His body language said it all—arms open and draped carelessly over his chair, but eyes narrowed