“To Case,” echoed around the room.
With tears streaking down her cheeks, Kim set her beer down on the bar and headed down the hallway to her and Case’s old room. “I’ll go to her,” Alexandra said.
“Thanks, babe.”
I downed my glass in three foamy chugs. Then I headed straight to the boardroom. I knew that Rev wouldn’t rest easy until he was able to unload everything on me. My brothers followed me one by one into the room.
A freaky feeling, almost like a trippy flashback, pricked its way over me as I watched Rev take a seat in Case’s old chair. I’d never given much thought to how much Rev looked like Preacher Man until I saw him sitting there with a gavel in his hand. I took my usual seat. Bishop eased in beside me.
Even though I’d been gone only three days, a lot of shit had happened. We had Case’s funeral to deal with. It had been decided to wait until the weekend, so that more out-of-town members and other clubs could pay their respects. Selfishly, I almost wished that I had missed the whole damn thing. I didn’t want to have to deal with all the emotions that I knew the final good-bye would bring up. A double dose of guilt ate its way through me. Guilt for my feelings about not wanting to give Case the proper respect as well as the fact that it could have been me boxed up in an urn. I’d outsmarted the Grim Reaper many times, but this last time, I could feel his hot breath on my neck.
“I say we hold off on patching in the prospects and voting on officers until next week. I don’t want it to look like we’re business as usual when we’re in mourning for Case,” Rev said before glancing around the table to gauge our reaction.
Mac nodded. “I second that.”
Once it was unanimously decided that we put off any official club business, the meeting was adjourned. After the others filed out, Rev and Bishop stayed behind with me. “Although I’m glad as hell you’re alive, I could kill you for putting us through what you did,” Bishop said.
I laughed. “I know, brother. If there had been any other way, I swear to you, I would have taken it. But it was the best way to get an edge on Sigel.”
“How do you think we should handle the issue of the cut?” Rev asked.
Creasing my brows, I asked, “What cut?”
Rev and Bishop exchanged a glance. “Didn’t Alex tell you about Sigel demanding she bring him Andy’s cut?” Rev asked.
I inhaled a sharp breath. “No, she didn’t.”
“That’s why he came to see her at the school. He wants her—and only her—to bring it to him,” Rev replied.
When I didn’t respond, Bishop said, “We weren’t ever going to let her go into it alone, man. Don’t think that just because you were gone, we would have sacrificed her. We’ve been racking our brains about how to wire up that fucking cut to explode on Sigel.”
At that moment, I couldn’t think about or focus on anything other than the fact that Alex had lied to me. Rising out of my chair, I shook my head. “I need to go to talk to Alex. Figure out what the fuck is going on.”
Rev’s expression turned cautionary. “Don’t be hard on her. I’m sure she just didn’t want to worry or upset you right after she got you back.” With a pointed look, he added, “She’s been to hell and back, brother.”
“I understand.” It wasn’t like I was going to storm back to my room and throw shit around until Alex came clean with me. I just wanted to know every single detail about what had happened in her meeting with Sigel. I hoped she hadn’t left anything else out.
What happened next was something I would have never, ever imagined. The kind of knock-you-on-your-ass shock. Life threw me one hell of a fucking curveball, and the woman I loved was the very one to pitch it.
After trying my best to comfort Kim, I felt terrible that I had to leave her with some of the other club women so that I could go get ready for Parents Night. Although my principal had assured me that it would be all right for me to miss it, I wanted to go. Even before Deacon’s resurrection, I had planned to be there for my students and their parents.
A quick shower later, I stood in front of Deacon’s chest of drawers, putting on my underwear. The shrill ring of my phone caught me off guard, causing me to jump. But when I glanced down at the ID, a stone-cold dread rocketed through me. With trembling hands, I picked up the phone. “H-hello?” I croaked.
“Miss Evans, your time is up. I want the cut. Tonight.”
“Okay.”
“I assume that means you got it.”
“Yes, I did.”
At my hesitation, Sigel asked, “Then what is the problem?”