Nycto rounds the metal table taking his seat at the head. I edge around the other side, sitting to his left while Ivy moves in beside me.
Nycto pulls out his pack of cigarettes, lighting one up. “Feel like I’m gonna need nicotine for this.”
I grimace.
He’s not wrong.
“We were at Trixie’s, as you know. When we were about to leave, I noticed something—”
“Is that why you got weird before we left?” Ivy asks.
I turn to her. “Yeah. There was a car pulled up about fifty feet away from us, but the weird thing was the driver had a camera. He was taking pictures of Ivy and me.”
Nycto instantly rubs his forehead, clenching his eyes shut tight under the strain.
Ivy shrugs. “So? What does that mean?”
“It’s not good because we’re in the dark about who this could be. What does he want? Is he targeting you, me, the club? If he’s after you… is it just you, or is it Eva, too? Is he an underground asshole, or an official—”
“An official?”
I pause, attempting to figure out how to word this right. “You and Eva… you’re here illegally, Ivy.”
“Oh shit! You think he could be immigration?” Her eyes widen, and the whites show fear growing.
My stomach knots as I watch Nycto.
He raises his hands to placate her. “We don’t know anything. Did you get the license plate number, at least?”
“I needed to get out of there, Prez. I needed Ivy safe.”
Nycto sits back in his chair, puffing out a ring of smoke. “Dick move, Void. If you had an opportunity to get the plate, you should have. It would have given us a lead about who the asshole was. Now, we have to sit back and wait, which could be more dangerous than you waiting twenty seconds to get a little intel.”
I sit forward, placing my fists on the table.
I get it. His Ol’ Lady is on the line here too.
He’s angry at the situation, not just me.
“What if we don’t wait? Voltage is fucking smart. You can’t tell me our tech guru didn’t install cameras outside Trixie’s shop. Maybe if they’re at the right angle, it might have picked up the car?”
Nycto rubs his chin. “Yeah, you better fucking hope so. In the meantime, Ivy, you and Eva are back on lockdown. No going outside the clubhouse gates. You understand me?”
“Yes, Prez,” Ivy relays like a good little soldier.
I peek at her, her eyes are showing strain, the concern is etched across her features as she gnaws on her bottom lip so much, I’m worried she might break her beautiful skin. I reach across, grabbing her hand to help calm her.
It doesn’t work.
“As for you, VP, you need to be on lockdown as well. We can’t be sure the photographer was after Ivy, it could be anyone. To be safe, you need to stay put, too.”
I groan. “I need to be out there trying to find this fuck—”
“No. You need to keep your head. Learn which fight to fight. You can provide insight and feedback but only if you stay at the club. I’ll feel better if you’re here to protect my Ol’ Lady when I leave. First step, Voltage—”
“You sayin’ I can’t even be a part of the decisions?”
Nycto scrunches his face. “Have your decisions so far today been of good quality?”
I grunt. “What the fuck? Not so long ago, you were the one making a hell of a lot of bad decisions around this club.”
“Yeah… exactly! Look what the fuck happened to me because of it. Maybe it worked out in the end, but we all had to go through a fucking truckload of shit to get there. Good people died, Void. If your process is compromised, I need to step in and stop you before you end up hurting yourself or those around you.”
I scoff loudly, stand, then start pacing. I feel Ivy’s eyes on me, but fuck if Nycto isn’t making some version of sense right now even though I don’t want it to. I get it. Crow and Deep died because of all the shit that went down when Nycto did everything he could for Eva. If I start throwing my weight around for Ivy and shit gets out of control, then we could be facing the same damn situation all over again.
My focus is compromised.
Nycto needs to handle this.
“Fine. I’ll step back. But if anything, and I mean anything, comes to light, Nycto—”
“You’ll be the first to know, Void.”
“Right.” Exhaling, I nod.
“Good. Ivy…” she looks at Nycto, “… go tell Eva about lockdown. Void, grab Voltage, tell him I need him in here,” Nycto barks out orders one after the other. “And, Void… go have a fucking drink. Take a minute, yeah?”
My mouth goes dry as an ache forms at the base of my skull. I breathe in through my nose loudly, trying to calm the nerves filtering through me as Nycto’s cell begins to buzz on the table.
“Take a minute, Void,” Nycto reiterates, then gestures for the door with one hand while picking up his cell with the other.
Grabbing Ivy’s hand, we walk for the door.
“Mammoth, how the fuck are you, brother?”
Upon hearing Mammoth’s name, I turn back. The Enforcer from Baltimore doesn’t call this way often, so if he’s on the line, it’s for a reason.
“I’ll find you in a bit, okay?” I whisper to Ivy.
She glances over at Nycto, then heads out into the clubroom as I close the door behind her.
“Sure, I don’t see why not. You know we’ll always have plenty of room for you guys here. Just the one night?” Nycto asks.
I raise my brow. Mammoth’s crashing for the night, obviously.
What the fuck’s he doing over our side of town?
“Yeah, right, we’ll see you soon.” Nycto ends the call, picks another cigarette out of his pack, then lights it up.
I raise my brow, waiting for him to enlighten me, but the fucker doesn’t. He simply puffs out a ring of smoke. So, I throw my hands out to the side in frustration. “What’s going on?”
Nycto chuckles. “You’re too fucking tense.”
I grunt. “I think I have every right to be at this point, Prez. I’ve just had some asshole taking pictures of Ivy and me, and you’re keeping shit back.”
His hard eyes meet mine. “Maybe that’s because your judgment is impaired.” He grins, but when my demeanor doesn’t change, he adds, “Void, it’s nothing. Just a brother from another chapter stopping in on his way through.”
“Mammoth?” I question.
Nycto puffs out another perfect smoke ring. “Yeah. He went to Puerto Rico to grab some ass for his porn ventures, and he’s taking them back to Baltimore. Needs a place to crash on the way. We’re on the way. We have the room. So…”
“Great, porno bitches. We all know what they’re like.”
Nycto chuckles. “It’s one night. It’s not like you can go anywhere or do anything. You’re on lockdown, remember?”
I groan. “Yeah… yeah, I remember. Fine! I’ll tell Pepper to get their rooms ready. But, Prez…” I take a deep centering breath, “… we gotta look into this other shit.”
“And we will. But tonight, we have a guest… three, in fact. So, we will multitask.”