Me: I’m not. I kno what it meant when u gave yourself to me
Siren: Forget about me
Me: Never. Game changer. I’m coming for u. A few days and this will be over
Siren: Goodbye Talon
I stared at the last text, alarm flooding my chest. I dialed and without a single ring, my own voice filled my ear. “Lose this number.”
“Shit.”
“What?” André pulled into my driveway.
I wanted to throw the fucking phone. “Nothin’.” I reached for the door.
“I’ll come back later. I got some business to handle.”
My head was so fucked-up, I wasn’t paying enough attention to what was going on outside of Siren. “What business?”
When he scratched his chin, I knew it wasn’t good.
“You know somethin’.”
André sighed. “Maldonado’s men took the bait. They’re going after the LCs.”
“Good.”
“Your name is also in the mix.”
Candle was right. “Unless they’re stupid as shit, they’ll know me and Blaze served together. You don’t have to look hard to connect us.”
“You’re nothing to them. Neither is Blaze. They won’t hesitate to kill either of you.”
“Tell me somethin’ I don’t know. I’m not afraid of those assholes.”
“You should be. There’s only two ways this will go down.”
“Not rocket science. When Maldonado’s men retaliate, Stone will either have a fuckin’ aneurysm and call a truce or he’ll declare war.”
“I don’t see him having an aneurysm,” André said tiredly.
No shit. “Me neither.”
“We need Neil and Blaze in case Stone tells Maldonado’s men it was you.”
“No.” No way. I wasn’t risking Blaze. I wasn’t going to do that to Layna. And as much as I’d feel a hell of a lot safer having Neil at my back, he’d been a judgmental prick since my wife died.
“You can’t fight a cartel and a motorcycle club single-handedly.”
“I can do whatever the fuck I want.” It was a knee-jerk response but it was also my motto. I answered to no one.
“Fuck, Doc, come on.” André got pissed. “I got a lot of shit to handle and reining in your stupid ass shouldn’t be one of them.”
If I wasn’t so fucked in the head over Siren and this whole damn mess, I would’ve smiled. It wasn’t easy to get a rise out of André. “Not askin’ you to.”
“No, you just expect it.”
“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean? I didn’t ask you to come here.”
“Exactly, you never ask for help. You just run around like a lone horseman, like you don’t have people who give a shit about you who’ll show up the second trouble finds you. And trust me, trouble finds the fuck out of you.”
“Right.” I snorted. “Me and my millions have lotsa people concerned ’bout what happens to me and my trouble.” What a fucking joke.
“You’re an asshole.”
I got out of the SUV. “Now you’re gettin’ it.”
Resigned, André sighed. “I know where Carter’ll be tonight.”
The door in my hand, I froze. “Where?”
André stared straight ahead a moment. “Biker bar across town. He goes every Wednesday night.”
I started plotting, thinking of all the things I could say to her to convince her to come with me. “What time?”
“Usually after work.”
I glanced at my watch. Five fucking hours. “Thanks.” I shut the passenger door.
André put the window down. “I’ll be back by four.”
“Not askin’ for a sidekick.”
“You’re getting one anyway.” The window went up and he backed down my driveway.
I made my way upstairs and when the silence rushed me, the weight of the past twenty-four hours hit me hard. A glutton for punishment, I walked into my bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. Her scent crashed into me and I buried my face in my hands.
“Fuck, Siren,” I muttered.
I WAS SO HAPPY TO see Siren, I almost didn’t care about the shithole Carter had brought her to. I did a quick visual search of the bar for him then I leaned down to Kendall. “Ten o’clock, Carter’s with two other LCs.”
Kendall draped her hand over my shoulder and rubbed up against me as she casually looked behind her. “I see four LCs. How many before it becomes a problem for you?”
I snorted. “I can handle four.”
She let out a half laugh. “If you cause a scene, there’ll be a lot more than four.”