“All right.” She yawns and pads over to the bed. I pull back the covers and tuck her in, stopping to kiss her cheek.
“Better?”
“Mmm.”
Chuckling, I step outside, closing and locking the door.
“Is she okay?” Jigsaw asks.
“Shit. Why you sneaking up on me?”
“Everyone else went inside,” he says, ignoring my question. “You need me to talk to Priest with you?”
I appreciate the offer but I’m not dragging Jiggy into this conversation. “Nah, that’s all right.”
“You planning to tell him everything?”
I’d gone back and forth about it the whole ride here. Ultimately, Priest ranks higher than Digger in the hierarchy of who I owe my loyalty. Plus, I’m still fuckin’ pissed that Dawson got drugged and almost robbed blind. And I’m absolutely furious someone took pictures of Shelby and leaked them to that stupid blog.
“Digger’s a fuckup ten different ways,” Jigsaw says. “You’re not throwing him under the bus. You’re protecting the whole club.”
“My guilt vanished the second I saw that damn blog this morning.”
Jiggy wanted to go back to Digger’s and interrogate everyone to find out where the pictures came from. But it wasn’t worth the extra time. I wanted to get as far away from that place as possible before anything else happened.
Inside the clubhouse, Jiggy and I part ways. I travel the long corridor to Priest’s office and knock on the door.
“Come in,” he calls.
Valentina’s on his desk with her back to the door but turns and smiles when she sees me. “How was your trip?”
“Eventful.”
She slides off the desk, stopping to give Priest a lingering kiss. Nice to know they’re still into each other after decades together.
Shit. That’s what I want. I want that with Shelby.
It hits me so hard, I almost run back to the RV.
Relax. Get this over with first.
Valentina stops in front of me. “Glad you’re back, Rooster.”
“Thank you.”
She closes the door behind her and Priest offers me the seat in front of his desk.
“Well, how’d it go?”
I tell him the whole story. From Squiggy’s possible disappearance, Dawson’s adventure in fuck-up-land, and the photos of Shelby. I make sure to throw in a few compliments about how nice the place looks. I’m not a total dick.
Priest blinks and sits back in his chair, lacing his fingers together over his chest. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” he finally says.
“Wish I was.”
“Did that fuck things up for your old lady? This guy’s basically like her boss right now, isn’t he?”
I don’t usually think of their arrangement in those terms, but yeah I guess so. Dawson holds the power to hire and fire. Somehow, even after that messed up night, he hired both of us. I still haven’t sorted all that out.
“I’m impressed with the way you handled the situation,” Priest says, pulling me away from my thoughts. “You kept a level head. Didn’t let things escalate or get out of control. That’s how a good leader handles a complicated situation.”
I don’t think I did anything that special. Nothing any one of my brother’s wouldn’t have done. “Z’s been a good mentor.”
His mouth quirks and he stifles a laugh. “That’s interesting.”
“How’s that, Prez?”
“Sway was your president for years. Z’s been your president for a few months. Yet, you seem to have more loyalty to Z.”
Well, shit. I didn’t even think about the words before they came out of my mouth. “No disrespect to Sway was intended. I’ve—”
“You don’t have to explain it to me, Rooster. It’s obvious I should’ve replaced Sway years ago. I always figured with Rock nearby, I didn’t need to look at New York too closely.”
Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me.
A bolt of unease ties my stomach in a knot. Saying the wrong thing here could bring unwanted attention from National down on Z’s head. Rock’s too.
“You made the right call, Prez. Z’s brought a lot of good changes to our charter. We’re in good hands now.” Please don’t visit us more often.
“I know. I was impressed when I visited. Hopefully, we’ll be able to drop in again soon.”
Z and Rock are gonna kill me.
“He still mad about leaving upstate?” Priest asks.
“I don’t think Z was ever mad. Disappointed, maybe. I don’t want to speak for him. It’s brought both clubs together. We never realized how much Sway did to fuel the animosity between our clubs. He never wanted us to trust Rock and his crew. So we all kinda kept our distance.”
Priest grunts and waves his hand in the air. “That was ancient bullshit that Sway should’ve gotten over years ago. I’m glad Rock never indulged him in that petty crap.”
“Yeah, that’s before my time, so I can’t speak on that.”
He nods and sits back. “I like that about you, Rooster. You don’t talk to hear your own voice.”
“Thanks, I guess.”
“They say it’s the quiet ones you’re supposed to look out for.” Priest’s evil grin should be enough to make me shit my pants but I don’t move a muscle. I have nothing to hide or worry about. I’ve never betrayed my club in any way.
When I don’t react, he nods. “Instead of Rooster, your road name should’ve been Hawk. Quietly observing. Waiting to swoop in and make the kill.”
He’s got me all wrong. I run my hand over my beard slowly. “What’s on your mind, Priest?”
“You think Digger’s gettin’ too old for the job? Too soft?”
“I can’t make that call. I spent less than twenty-four hours there.”
“Sometimes your caution is frustrating.”
I can’t win today, can I?
“That’s not my intention.” I blow out a breath and recall the savage look on Digger’s face when he was making the decision of who to turn over to the cops. “Soft? No. He handled the situation with the girls like a boss.”
“But?”
“I don’t know if it has anything to do with age.”
He smirks. “Speak freely, Rooster. You’re not gonna hurt my feelings.”
“It might be that he’s got too much on his plate. He had a call from the credit card company but didn’t investigate. His SAA’s missing but he’s not concerned. He might have reasons I’m not aware of, though. But if it were me, I would’ve checked on him sooner.”
“So would I.”
“That’s your call, Priest.” Just leave me the fuck out of it.
If I had to guess, Blink and at least one other brother will be on the road to Deadbranch by tonight.
“How long you plannin’ to be on the road?” he asks.
Shelby’s tour is all sorts of fucked up thanks to the delays but I don’t want to get into specifics with Priest. “At least another month or two. Then she’ll be recording her album.”
“You got any control over those dates?”