you eager to pull us into another war after everything we’ve been through?”
“Simmer down. Throwing our weight behind Stump’s crew will benefit us down the road.”
He glances at the door and I sense the question forming in his mind.
“Tyler’s a piece of shit,” I say to recapture his attention. “He needs to go. Grinder called it years ago.”
“You gonna pay him a visit? See what he thinks?”
I cock my head, giving him the full force of my are you stupid stare. “Sure, why not? Seems like acceptable visiting hour conversation at good ol’ Pine County Correctional.”
He flicks his gaze to the ceiling. “You know what I meant.”
“I’m not involving him in this. He’s sacrificed enough for our club.”
He sits back. “Call Chaser. Feel him out first.”
With a heavy sigh I pick up the phone. I’m sure Chaser will be thrilled to hear from me. Then again, burying some bodies together is always a good way to solidify alliances.
“Chaser, it’s Rock.”
There’s a beat of silence before he responds. “I hear you’ve made some changes in Empire, Prez.”
My how word gets around. “A few.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” There’s not a whole lot we can say over the phone but I don’t think that has anything to do with Chaser’s reluctance to speak. “We’re not moving beyond our existing territory if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Hadn’t even crossed my mind, Rock.”
Sure, it hadn’t.
“Heard you established a charter downstate,” he adds.
“It was…necessary.” No, I won’t get into the details of my own club’s internal battles.
“Your club’s squeezed tight.” He lets the observation hang. He has a point. I’ve got my own problems right here in Empire.
“Yeah, but you know the feeling. Don’t you?”
He snorts. Everyone knows about the war that’s been brewing between the Devil Demons MC and the Silver Saints MC for years. Involving my club might not be the best idea, but it’ll establish trust with the Devil Demons MC.
Plus, there’s the added benefit of protecting Trinity.
“Tyler still a thorn in your side?” I ask.
His low growl comes through the phone. “We’ve had some losses.”
“Sorry to hear that. Been a while since we’ve seen each other. Think you and your father are up for a meeting?”
“Where’d you have in mind?”
“Name a location.”
“Who are you bringing?”
“Just my VP. I’d like to keep things between us for now.”
“Doesn’t sound like a good start to your presidency.”
“You’ll understand why.”
“I’ll set it up and text you an address.”
“Thanks.” We hang up and I stare at the phone for a few seconds.
Z taps his fingers on the edge of my desk. “You’re sure about this?”
The images left in my head from what Trinity shared won’t be leaving anytime soon. One of Tyler’s guys already tried to grab her once. Now that he knows where she is, he won’t stop. “I’m sure.”
“Chaser’s a good man to go into battle with. Stump’s a devious bastard and certainly no lightweight.”
“Neither are you.” I give him a weary smile.
“I’ll follow you anywhere, Prez. Always got your back.”
“Same, brother.”
He nods and slaps my desk before standing.
I meet his ice-cold stare head-on. “Let’s get ready for war.”
Discover Rock’s story and start the Lost Kings MC series with
SLOW BURN (LOST KINGS MC #1)
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Author Notes
A few readers mentioned the lack of author notes in the last two books. Thank you so much for noticing and caring. I usually write author notes as I’m preparing to publish. This year, I felt…drained and oddly out of words by the time I’d poured my heart onto the pages.
From the very bottom of my heart, thank you for buying and loving the Hollywood Demons books (I’m assuming if you’re reading my author notes, you loved them. If not, carry on.) These books are incredibly special to me. Having grown up in the 80’s, I was obviously heavily influenced by a lot of 80s-ish things (some of it incredibly problematic looking back at them now—yikes!) As a kid, I’d often write these wild, epic romances (oddly, also always three books long, go figure.) They were, of course, embarrassingly awful. But I so much wanted to capture that fun, adventurous, neon-colored spirit for these books. And yet, the story also covered some hard topics at times, because that’s life.
It’s probably obvious that some of the events were influenced by more recent stories coming out of Hollywood. I watched a few interviews with actresses who I’d always wondered “gee, whatever happened to her?” Now we know. They were chased out of the business in