“It didn’t occur to you Savage might be busy with his woman?” Czar asked, his tone mild, even a note of amusement in it.
There was nothing amusing in the way Savage was looking at Shark and Lion. Both men clearly were uneasy, but they stood their ground.
“Yeah,” Plank admitted. “But I wasn’t going to have a good time. None of my men are either if we don’t clear a few things up. Would you mind producing her, Savage?”
Savage didn’t like any of the alternatives. If he did as Plank asked and Seychelle didn’t cooperate, they would be in trouble. He’d look like a fucking pussy who couldn’t control his woman. His club would really look bad. She was pretty angry with them all. She wanted to go home. They hadn’t cleared everything up.
If she did help Plank, he’d want her to test every one of the women he’d brought with him. He wouldn’t understand—or even care about—the danger to her. He’d only care about the danger to his men.
Czar tapped out a code on the table. You have to go get her. We don’t have a choice.
They had choices. Czar just didn’t like any of them. Savage turned, taking two steps away from the group. Lion and Shark shadowed him. He swung around.
“You don’t want to be anywhere near me right now,” he warned, his tone low.
“Know you’re pissed, Savage,” Tony said. “I can’t say as I blame you. There was no way to get to you alone. Or to get to Seychelle. I wouldn’t throw her under the bus so a few brothers could get blow jobs tonight, not after what she’s done for our mother. We suspect there’s something bigger happening here.”
Savage kept walking to ensure they were a distance from any of the others. He folded his arms across his chest. “Start talking.”
Leonardo immediately objected. “Just to the woman, Tony.”
“Don’t be a dumbass, Leonardo,” Tony snapped at his brother. “Do you really think Savage is going to let us near her if we don’t tell him what’s going on? Or that she isn’t going to ask his permission first and tell him everything we say to her once she finds out?”
Lion stared at his brother.
Tony glared at him. “Did you think you were going to shut her up after she helped us?”
“Hell no. What are you talking about? I just don’t want any of this getting back to Plank. He’d kill us both, Tony.”
“You going to argue all night or get to the point?” Savage said, forcing a bored tone.
“A while back Czar sent a club to us, the Demons.”
“I remember.” Torpedo Ink had retrieved the wife of the Demon president from the Ghosts. She’d been kidnapped so the Ghosts could horn in on a pretty sweet counterfeit operation the Demons had. It was nearly impossible to tell the difference between real money and the money the Demons produced. The Demons wanted Czar to run the money through Diamondback territory for a cut. Czar refused, but he’d put them together with Plank and had them make their own deal with him.
Tony looked around and lowered his voice even more. “The last two shipments never made it through our pipeline. The Feds were waiting on the other end. I personally handled one of the shipments. Lion handled the other. Someone has been ratting to them. They’ve got undercover Feds here. A team.”
Savage kept his expression perfectly blank, but that added an entire layer of danger to what had to be done. Even interrogating Tawny could have gone all ways bad, and both of these men had known it and hadn’t warned them.
“Can you identify them?”
Both men shook their heads. “They’re meeting up with their informants on the run tomorrow.”
“And you know this how?” Savage pushed.
Tony sighed. “We think we’re the informants. We both separately received instructions on where to meet our ‘handler.’ It could be bullshit, but I’ve found myself in strange situations and don’t remember how I got there. I’ve been suspicious that my stepbrother has been messing with my head. Then Leonardo mentioned he was having similar problems. When our shipments started going south, we knew we were in real trouble. We both suspected Brandon had planted some kind of suggestion. He’s capable of doing it. He fools around with using his voice to plant suggestions all the time.”
“You heard Seychelle sing,” Savage said.
Tony nodded. “I suspected she had a very powerful gift. If she had developed it, she might be able to counter Brandon. He’s a vindictive little shit.”
Savage gave him a little half smile. “My assessment exactly. I’m surprised you haven’t taken him out.”
“It isn’t so easy to take out family,” Tony said.
Savage shrugged. That wasn’t his problem. “You ever pull a fast one on Seychelle like this again, you’ll never see me coming. Plank’s going to want her looking at every woman you brought with you. That’s going to be too hard on her. There’s nowhere you can go that I can’t get to you. Your brothers will never know it was me.”
As far as he was concerned, it wasn’t a threat he’d made, it was a fact, and he delivered it that way. A statement. Calm. In a low voice. Looking at them directly with killer eyes. He turned and walked away from them, heading to the woods, signaling for Keys and Mechanic to escort Seychelle to him.
She came straight to him, ignoring the Diamondbacks, her gaze only on Savage. He framed her face with both hands and filled her in on what the other club wanted—no, was demanding. He told her Tony and Leonardo’s fears and what would happen to them if they were correct and anyone found out. “Just know you don’t have to do this, baby. I know you don’t like the club. You’re not doing it for the club. Or for me. Quite frankly, I don’t want you to do it. I’m afraid for you. It’s your choice, Seychelle. You want out, I’ll get you out.”
Her eyes searched his. He was telling her the truth. He wasn’t altogether certain if Leonardo Ravard would take it in his head to try to kill her if she discovered he’d been snitching on his chapter and the Demons to the Feds. Savage wouldn’t put it past the man. “If you see it in either of them they want to kill you after you find something, if you do this, you tell me. Understand? That’s the one thing I ask of you.”
“You can’t use me as an excuse to fight someone, Savage. I can feel the rage rising in you like some kind of tide.”
“We’re not in sync, Seychelle. You want to leave me.”
“No, you’re wrong. I’ve never wanted to leave you, Savage. I love you. Didn’t you hear me? I love you more than anything. I don’t love what’s happened to me. I’m losing myself. That’s not wanting to leave you. That’s trying to save myself.” She leaned into him and brushed a kiss across his lips. “We’re in sync enough for me to know these two men are Eden’s sons. I don’t care about the Diamondbacks, but I do care about Eden. She loves them, and she’s my friend. Let’s see if I can figure this out. If there are Feds here, Savage, you and the others are going to have to be very careful.”
He knew that already. She didn’t have to give him the warning, but he was grateful she cared enough to do it. He wanted everyone to go away and leave the two of them alone to work it out together.