The Devil’s Rebels were bigger than most MCs. “What do you need from us?” I put the phone on speaker and laid it on the bar. Barracuda was sitting next to me, and it would be easier for him to hear whatever Sledge had to say straight from him. “You’re on speaker and ‘cuda can hear ya.”
“Well, shit,” Sledge grunted. “Let me grab Quinn. Might as well just have the two big dogs talking to each other.”
There was some static and grumbling and then it cleared. “‘Cuda,” Quinn grunted into the phone.
“You got him,” Barracuda replied.
“How are things going in Sacramento?” Quinn asked.
“Some shit happening, but nothing we can’t handle. What do you having going on there? Seemed like you guys were handling your business pretty good the last time we talked,” Barracuda grunted.
“Well, the thing of it is, when the Rolling Devils blew up, we sort of pissed off the Devil’s Rebels more than we thought.”
Oh. Shit. That was a club Royal Bastards tried to steer clear of.
“How so?” Barracuda asked.
“They got into the clubhouse and managed to kill one of the girl’s cats. Now we have a demand for thirty grand or the deal they originally had with the Rolling Devils.”
“And what was that?” I asked.
Quinn sighed, defeated. “Five girls initially and then three every month after.”
I whistled low. Damn. That was a lot of money and trafficking humans was something no one should fuck with. Trafficking was a league only the scum tread in. “So, you give them thirty grand in hundreds?” I asked.
Barracuda chuckled.
“Well, we’d more than love to pay them the thirty, but we don’t have it and the money tree we planted in the backyard isn’t producing yet,” Quinn grunted.
“So, tell me what you need, and I’ll see what I can do to make shit happen for you.” Barracuda paused. “It’s gonna cost you, though.”
“Never doubted that it would.”
Barracuda pulled out his phone. “Let me set up a meeting with the Devils this coming week and see what I can work out.”
“The sooner the better, but if it’s gonna take a week, we get it.”
“One of their head guys has a thing for one of the girls at the club. I’ll get in touch with him today and get the ball rolling.” Barracuda lowered his voice. “I can’t promise you anything though, Quinn. I’m willing to try and help you, but we’re not going to put our necks on the line to save you.”
“Totally understand, Barracuda. We appreciate you just getting us in touch with them if that’s all. Right now, we’re at their mercy with this shitty burner phone they left after they broke in.”
“Will do. Give us a bit of time, though. We’re dealing with some shit right now.”
“You got it, man,” Quinn called. “We’ll be waiting for your call.”
I ended the call and tucked my phone in my back pocket.
“Are we really able to help them?” Sledge and I went way back, and he was a good guy. I didn’t want to leave him hanging when we could help him out.
“I’d rather not, but we can put it to a vote, and I’ll set up a meet with them before. If you guys are willing to put your necks on the line then I can’t say no.”
I didn’t know if the other guys would want to help. “When are you calling church?”
Barracuda smirked. “I’ll give ya a couple of days to try and convince some of the guys to get on your side.”
I knew I wouldn’t be able to convince all of the guys to help, but if I got the majority on my side then we would.
I glanced at the clock and saw it was getting close to noon.
“Where are you headed?” Barracuda asked.
I pulled my keys out of my pocket. “Got plans for lunch.”
“Raelyn?”
“Yeah. How did things go with Leona last night?”
Barracuda shrugged. “About as well as you can expect with a drunk chick and a frozen pizza.”
“Gotta say that’s one scenario I’ve never been in before.”
He held his glass up to me and smiled. “Maybe you should try it sometime, then.”
Barracuda headed back to his room, and I walked to my bike. I had no clue what to get for lunch, but I needed to figure it out now.
I passed a Chinese place on the way to Raelyn’s office and stopped to pick up two lunch specials. I had no idea what kind of food Raelyn liked, but I knew she wasn’t picky. She tended to go with the flow.
I parked in front of her office and grabbed the food from my saddlebags.
The front door swung open, and Raelyn held it for me. “You’re pretty punctual,” she laughed.
I slipped in through the door but not without a swift kiss to her lips. “I said lunch and it’s lunchtime, pretty girl.”
She sighed lightly, and her cheeks flushed pink. “I like a man who keeps his word.”
I stepped into the office and pushed my sunglasses on top of my head. “Small place,” I murmured.
Raelyn laughed. “Yeah, it’s cozy.” She tipped her head toward the back of the office. “Follow me. I don’t want you to get lost.”
I followed her to her desk and set the bag of food down. “Thank God you didn’t lose me. Things got confusing when we passed the coffee machine.”
Raelyn laughed and moved a stack of papers to the side of her desk. “I see you’re the smartass one now.” She grabbed the bag and pulled everything out.
I sat in the chair opposite her and watched. “That's okay for lunch?”
Raelyn dropped the empty bag on the floor. “More than okay seeing as I didn’t have to decide what to order.”
“Guess I’ll need to bring you lunch more often then.” I looked around the office. “It’s only you here?”
She nodded and handed me a plastic fork. “For today. Normally Leona is here with me.”
I grabbed a container and snapped off the lid. “Is it really safe for you to be the only one here?”
She rolled her eyes. “Nothing is going to happen to me because no one ever really comes here besides my bosses. Who, by the way, I haven’t seen in three weeks. They tend to stay on the job site while Leona and I handle all of the boring contracts and paperwork.”
The phone on the desk rang, and she picked it up.
I had never had a real nine-to-five job before, and I sat back to watch Raelyn in her element. She listened for a second and then turned to her computer. She started talking about floating decks and the price of using real wood and some fake shit that she swore looked just like real wood.
I was halfway done with my food before she finally got off the phone after telling the person on the other end of the phone that they wouldn't regret going with the fake shit.
“You like your job?”
Raelyn laughed and dug into her food. “I like that it pays my bills.”
“You seem pretty damn good at it.”
She finished chewing and smiled. “Talking clients off the ledge seems to be my specialty. Leona tends to throw all the crazy calls my way so I’ve learned how to deal with them pretty well.” She stood up and walked over to the small fridge. “Did you want something to drink?” she called.