"Fuck, we all want to find Radar!" I reminded Demon, drawing his eyes to me. He glared at me for a minute, and I could tell that he was about to explode with frustration. "Want this shit done with."
"Anyone tried talking to the mother?"
"We killed four of her sons, dumbass," Loco said matter-of-factly, earning him the finger from Chewy. "Not there to talk, there to watch."
"We'll keep tails on our old ladies until he's found and put in the ground."
My mind immediately went to Holly and Ava.
"Have all the girls we rescued been taken back to their homes?" Oz questioned in a serious tone.
Over the course of a week, we'd found seven more women being held for auction. Destroying the Knights' porn studio hadn't stopped them from grabbing girls off the street or from producing more videos. We'd found proof of that in one of the houses we'd raided.
"All except one, Brother."
That was one good thing that had come out of all this--those innocent girls had gone home. At my response, Oz raised a brow inquisitively. "One of the girls is an orphan and just turned eighteen. She had nowhere to go, so she's staying here until we can figure out something."
I half-expected someone, particularly Loco, to make a crack about her becoming a club whore, but the circumstances of her situation caused him to keep his mouth shut, and no one else had anything to say.
"What about all the damage caused by those drive-bys? Are the repairs done?" Demon inquired, before taking a sip of his coffee.
Oz opened up his ledger. "The bullet holes have all been plugged, if that's what you mean."
Demon's growl warned him that he wasn't in the mood.
Oz read over the page in front of him with a slight smirk on his lips. "Had to replace windows and a mirror, some liquor. Bought a new tattoo machine. Good news is everything was covered by insurance."
"Construction site damage too?" I asked.
He nodded. "Covered under vandalism."
"Why a new tattoo machine?" Demon frowned.
The grin on Oz's face was telling. "Can we help it if that old broken machine we had in the back got struck by a bullet?"
I laughed, as did some of the others.
The look on Demon's face said he was pleased. We had top of the line equipment in our tattoo shop, so it would have been an expensive replacement. "What else?"
"Coffers are full. Still raking in the money from Crystal's Palace and Naughty Secrets. The packages and extra services we added a while back have really paid off."
"Hey, do the brothers get a discount for a night with one of the girls?"
"Loco, man, you ask this fucking question all the time. Why pay for pussy at a brothel when you can get it here free?" Snake uttered with irritation.
Loco grinned like a lecher, his eyebrows dancing. "Tired of the same old snatch."
"What about Goldie?" Dancer smirked, his blue eyes meeting Loco's across the table. "She's a tight little bitch." He spoke like a brother who knew firsthand.
Loco grimaced in humor. "Careful, Brother. I think she has an agenda."
So did I. "We're not here to discuss pussy."
Cole's eyes flashed my way. "Ya know, Brother, since you became VP you're not as fun as you used to be."
I gave him a grin and the finger. He slapped his hand over his heart as if I'd wounded him. There were a few chuckles, but it was obvious that there wasn't much energy behind them.
"Okay, okay," Demon interrupted, leaning forward and steepling his fingers. "Sax is right. Let's get back on track." He yawned. "Shit. Getting too fucking old for all these late nights. Let's hope things stay quiet for a while. Keep your eyes and ears open for signs of Radar and anyone still wearing their colors."
Heads nodded in response.
"Proud of you brothers. Now get the fuck out of here. I'm going home to my woman, gonna sleep for a fucking week."
He was lucky to be going home to Bobbie. Shit, I’d once had that with Holly. Going home to her had made the day's shit that I'd faced worth it. Now I just went to my room here and kicked back.
As everyone but Cole and I got to their feet and headed toward the door, I leaned back in my chair and stretched. I'd heard from Holly after she’d gone home that the DNA kit had arrived in the mail. I wanted to get that test done yesterday.
Demon looked us over. "Church is over, Brothers."
Nodding, I said, "I'm going to take a ride to Vegas. Holly has the DNA kit. Need to go give her a sample."
"You want Ava to be yours?"
I wasn't surprised by Demon's question, only that it had taken him this long to finally ask. My gaze flicked to Cole. The man was happy as a pig in shit that his old lady was going to have his baby, but I couldn't dredge up the same enthusiasm over the possibility of being a father. Unwelcome flashbacks had haunted me lately, ever since I'd come back and found out that Holly had a kid. I wasn't sure how I was going to react when I finally found out the truth, because I was fucking scared.
Scared that Ava was mine.
Scared that she wasn't.
"Don't know how I'm supposed to feel, Prez."
"A baby shouldn't come between you and Holly." His tone was respectful.
I took a deep breath and released it slowly. "She's the one who let it, instead of facing me with the truth."
"You gonna ever forgive her?" Cole asked in a hard tone.
My head snapped his way. "Would you?"
"I love Raven, Brother. More than I've ever loved anyone. Would lay my life down for her without blinking an eye. She makes me whole. Gives me a reason for breathing. So yeah, I would forgive her. Life's too fucking short."
I clenched my teeth and looked at Demon. His expression revealed that he agreed with Cole.
"You going with him?" Demon asked Cole.
"Yeah. Figured I'd go for the ride."
"Good. Better to have backup." He rose to his feet, yawning loudly.
Cole chuckled. "Should we follow you home, old man? Make sure you get there?"
Demon’s face split into a wide grin. "Fuck you, Brother. Worry about your own ass." He rubbed the whiskers over his lower jaw. "You going to come back tonight?"
"Planning on it."All I had to do was give Holly a sample, and then I would turn around and come back.
That was the plan.
Chapter 26
Holly
I'd just put Ava down for the night when I decided it was a good time to call Samson about getting my job back at Grinders. As I waited for someone to pick up, I put my phone on speaker and quickly slipped into my sleep shorts and tank top. The thin material clung to my still-damp body. My long hair was still dripping and clinging to my skin.
"Hello?"
I recognized Candy's cheerful voice. "Hey, Candy, it's me."
"Hey!" she returned with even more enthusiasm. "We've already heard from Demon, honey. You're job is waiting for you. Samson put you back on the schedule starting tomorrow night, if you're ready."
"I'm more than ready," I confessed.