My teeth grind, but I rein in my temper.
“Why? We know Benny is out for blood. What’s the point in putting Eve out there as bait?”
If they see her as my weakness, then Benny and his guys might find out. Someone in the club or someone close to the club had to have told him where I live. There’s no other way he could have known.
“Drake said they want info about our cars. They know what we’re selling. Apparently Benny wants a slice of the pie. If he approaches Eve, we can find out exactly what he wants to know. We might even find out who our traitor is.”
The circle of our most trusted guys all look at me again, as though they’re waiting on the usual. Typically, I don’t argue. I agree completely with Pop. It’s not like I can tell everyone I don’t want to put Eve at risk, so I decide to strike a nerve instead.
“We might have avoided me nearly getting killed too, if you had bothered to enlighten us with the tip you had. But you chose to stay quiet. You’ll forgive me if I’m having problems listening to your logic right now. I say we take Benny and his guys out. Or we ice them from their normal funds. Either way, be ready to fight.”
Pop glares at me, his eyes narrowing to slits. This is the worst tension this room has ever had.
“You’ll let her go out. Starting tomorrow. It’s not a request. And you won’t tell her what we’re doing. If you do, I might just decide I want to find out what’s so damn special about her that has you willing to piss me off.”
My jaw clenches, and anger vibrates through my body.
“If she’s not working with Benny, what’s the point?” Rush asks, surprising me.
His eyes are solely on Pop as he awaits the answer.
“If she’s not working for Benny, then we’ll see it firsthand. If she is working with him, we’ll get all the info out of her we can. She won’t know she’s being watched, and Benny won’t know we’re watching her. No more taking chances,” our president answers, regaining his cool.
He’s contradicting himself now and talking in circles. This is just a pathetic man’s desperate ploy to draw heat off him and look like he’s taking action.
“Does that go for you too?” I dare, leaning forward.
I catch sight of Rush’s lips twitching, as though he’s enjoying the confrontation between me and the man I once respected more than anyone. Pop glowers at me.
“I hope you get your head out of your ass and start seeing the big picture soon. This isn’t just about you.”
He turns and pushes through the door. All of his loyalists follow, even though a few of them are pissed off about the current management as well. Rush and Sledge stay behind.
“I don’t like where his head is at,” Snake says quietly. Rarely ever does he insert his opinion.
“Neither do I,” Rush says on a groan. “But that’s typical, since I haven’t liked where his head was at for a really long time. Never thought I’d be agreeing with Drex, but I’m not cool with using a woman for bait when we know Benny is out for blood. Especially since she’s proven she’s not his puppet.”
Un-fucking-believable. The universe has flipped upside down and inside out.
“You believe her, then?” Sledge asks him, looking as surprised as I feel.
Rush rolls his eyes. “Any girl that will cover her man’s body when gunshots are blasting around everywhere has my respect. She’s also family now, since Drex has claimed her as his old lady. So I don’t like any of this. It’s like Herrin is only looking out for himself right now. Not that that surprises me, but he’s usually more discreet with his selfishness.”
I swallow the bile in my throat. It feels like a betrayal to talk behind Pop’s back like this, but at the same time, it’s pointless to speak aloud in front of him. He doesn’t seem to give a damn what anyone else thinks right now.
He’s scared. He’s scared for his own life.
“What are you going to do?” Snake directs that question to me, and I tighten my lips.
“I’ll let her go out. But I’ll be watching her. I’ll give Pop this win—”
“Shocker,” Rush interrupts with a snort.
“Because I plan on using this against him later on when this blows up in his face,” I add, watching as Rush swallows down whatever retort he was planning to say as surprise washes over his face.
“It will,” I go on. “Blow up in his face. Something will go down, and I’ll finally get to put Benny down for good. He has people focusing on Eve, when he’s the one doing shady shit. I’ll bring it up when it matters. Eve could use the vote of confidence as well, since everyone is apparently still leery of her. If I play his game now, no one will question me later on when I let the dominos fall. And he won’t be able to stop me when I put Benny down. Pop’s scared. You all saw it. I’m not scared. The club needs that right now.”
At least I’m not scared for me. But Eve…
“Drake is still outside,” Axle points out.
I brought in Axle for this meeting. Pop knew better than to try and stop me when I told him.
“He’ll stay here for now… until we set up a security routine for his place and the shop. He stuck his neck out by telling us everything they’ve been asking. It could ruin his reputation by labeling him a snitch, but he really didn’t have a choice, considering the Hell Breathers are panicking. Someone is feeding them intel. We need to find out who. For them to know so much about us, they’re in contact with clients or someone inside the club. Nothing directly links their questions to Benny, but it has to be him.”
Rush cracks his fingers. “I suggest you let me have first stab at that interrogation when we narrow down the suspect pool.”
I snort derisively, but the look in his eyes tells me he’s serious. He’d probably be the one to send them to.
“They’re all yours.” I wave my hand for emphasis, and a cold smile curves the corners of his lips.
“How do we keep this all below Herrin’s nose without letting him sniff it?” Sledge asks, clearly shifting his loyalties from Pop to me.
Doing this divides the club. Doing this is borderline treason amongst our crew. Doing this will change everything.
“You know Herrin won’t let us handle this the right way. He’s only concerned with self-preservation right now,” Rush quickly points out, as though he’s adding a little extra incentive to keep everyone in this lane. “He might even make a deal with the Hell Breathers behind our backs to ensure peace, since your girl was obviously not the peace token she was presented as. Benny has gotten ballsy, and he’s got someone smarter calling the shots now.”
I take a steadying breath, preparing to do something I never thought I would—turn on my father.
“We handle this quietly. Pop isn’t here much. It shouldn’t be hard. We’ll send all his loyalists to live with him if they feel like leaving their lives in his hands. But I have a feeling he lost more than he realizes tonight.”
Rush glances at Sledge, but Axle speaks before he can.
“That’s what happens when you leave your son blind to a slaughter. They all know it could have been any one of them, but for Herrin to risk sacrificing you, his own son… It tells them he’s not looking out for anyone but himself. There was no good reason for us not to know.”
Dash speaks for the first time since I saw him at the hospital. “And he caused conflict amongst our group. Even went so far as to put Drex’s girl under suspicion. He’s still doing it just to throw heat off him for what he did. Herrin has gotten shady.”
“He’s been shady,” Rush mutters, not looking at me. “You’re all just finally fucking seeing the truth.”
The feds are closing in, Hell Breathers are finally seeking revenge, and Pop just pissed off the only people he had at his back.
Chapter 5
EVE
I’ve been pacing Drex’s room for hours. They’ve been downstairs, talking about the attack for a while. It makes me nervous.
I haven’t forgotten they were threatening to kill me not too long ago. I also didn’t miss the fact they didn’t let me hang out with Drake, who is my one and only friend in this place.
Yes. Friend. You form a bond quickly with someone when you get shot at and then he helps you run for your life from two motorcycle clubs. Fucking eh.
The door opens, and my breath halts until I see Drex walking in. His eyes rake down my body, and a slow, wicked grin forms when he sees I’m only wearing his shirt.
All of my clothes were burned—at his house. Since they had all been delivered there for me before we even arrived.
All I have left are the clothes I was wearing. And they’re disgusting.
He walks over, still wearing that devilish smile, which forces my stupid heart to flutter like a fool, and he fingers a lock of my still-damp hair from the second shower I took after getting here.
“You trying to look like a wet dream?” he muses.
“I was getting worried. That took a while. And I have no clothes.”
His eyebrows wag, and I roll my eyes. This is the worst time in the world for him to suddenly feel playful.
“We’ll buy you some more clothes. Soon. I kind of like the idea of you walking around in my shirts until then. I’m guessing you don’t have any underwear either?”