Leaving her to rest a bit longer, I went out on the front porch to give Tick a call.
“You find her?”
“No hello?” I laughed.
“Marcus has been banging on everyone’s door, searching you out, and Jayson’s doing the same lookin’ for her.”
“Marcus made it pretty clear he’d be happy to see my ass walking out the door.” I kicked some dirt from the porch.
“Yeah, well. This shit with Julio and Bernardo is getting fucking messy. Lucas came by the diner last night while I was out with Massy. He’s taking over for Jayson.”
A rebellion in the Disciples? “How’s that gonna go?”
“Fuck if I know. He just told me that once Julio buries his brother, he’s heading up here. He doesn’t give a shit about Marcus, he wants Lucas to run things. If Marcus won’t play along with that, then Marcus will be out, too.”
“Jesus. Out of the cartel crap?”
“No, out. Julio is backing Lucas, taking over the Reapers and pulling them into the Disciples.”
“What the fuck? He can’t do that shit. This isn’t his business.”
“Running his shit is his business, and having two clubs fighting for his attention isn’t working for him. Dude, he fucking took out his brother and his mistress.”
“She gave him access to Bernardo, that’s all that was.”
“Yeah, I figure the same thing.” Tick shouted something in the background to Massy. “You coming down to get my girl? She’s getting on my last nerve.”
“She feeling okay?”
“Other than a sore ass, she’s fine.” I could imagine the shit-eating grin on his face when he made that boast. He would never harm Massy, if she sat tender it was because she’d wanted it that way. “She’s just getting antsy waiting for everything to go down. I shoulda sent her with our moms, she woulda been safe.”
“From Marcus maybe, but those two hens woulda pecked her to death.” I laughed.
“Mom loves her, especially now that she’s giving her a grandkid, and got the noose around my neck.” No matter how derogatory Tick made marriage sound, I’d never seen the son of a bitch so damn happy. “You found your girl?”
“Yeah. I found her. She’s fine.” I looked back at the cabin, through the window. Lucy stood in the kitchen drinking a bottle of water. The white tank top she wore barely covered her flat stomach, and her purple panties hid nothing from my view. Since when did she wear thongs?
“We’ll swing down this afternoon if Massy’s ready.”
“She’ll be ready.” Tick took a deep breath, letting it out slow into the phone. “Your girl better be worth all this shit.”
I kept my eyes glued to Lucy while she pulled her hair into a pony tail. The tank lifted up, almost showing the swell of her breasts. “Yeah. She is. See you this afternoon.” I didn’t wait for a reply before I hung up.
Lucy stood in front of the fridge, holding the door open, searching for breakfast. I hadn’t thought about eating, at least not about food. I slid up behind her at the fridge, wrapping my arms around her waist. She didn’t even jump.
“How’d your phone call go?” she asked without looking back at me.
“Good. You gonna make us breakfast?” I nuzzled the soft base of her neck, basking in her morning scent. Sex and sleep.
“Well, I’m not as stocked up as I thought I was. We have cereal or cereal on the menu.” Grabbing the milk, she shut the door.
“We can stop on the road.” I took the milk from her. There wasn’t enough for even one of us to have breakfast. If I hadn’t gotten to her, how long would she have gone before she ran out of food? That car of hers might have made up the mountain the first time, but I didn’t give it any credit to make it a second.
“Where are we going?” She stepped out of my grasp and turned to lean against the counter.
“After we pick up Massy, I’m taking the two of you up north. There’s a cottage that belongs to Massy’s grandmother. We should be okay tucked up there for a while. We’ll pick up provisions on the way. Tick will join us later when this all settles down.”
“I’ve never asked you about club business, but I’m asking now. What’s going on? Are you in danger from more than just Jayson and Marcus?” The little wrinkle in her brow tugged at me.
“Both of the clubs have been working with the cartel for a while now. We had to make the truce in order to do business with them because Bernardo, the one running shit for the Mexicans, didn’t want a turf war. Since then, both Marcus and Jayson have been trying to trip the other into doing something stupid, make the Cartel believe the other wasn’t honoring the truce. Julio—Bernardo’s brother—had some other grand plans. He got both of the MCs to try and take out Bernardo. Tick and I were the decoy, making Bernardo’s wife think we were taking out Bernardo so she could be with Julio, but Julio had the Disciples on standby taking out Bernardo and Carmella, his wife.”