Cupping the back of my neck, I admitted, “They’re not as bad—”
“Miracle dicks,” Dagger taunted, and while he was laughing, I saw the concern in his eyes.
“Not exactly,” I mocked. Things had been platonic between us for about a week. We hadn’t said a word to Ama, as we’d been waiting on her to make the next move. She was the one who knew when she was ready, and I wasn’t about to push her.
Maybe my name should be Saint too. I totally understood where he got his road name from now, because with any other woman, I’d have fucked off by now. But Ama? Jesus. She was keyed into my soul. With her, I had an endless well of patience, and if it wasn’t so unlike me, I’d marvel over it. Instead, I was just left metaphorically shaking my head as I tried to process why she had this much power over me.
“Anyway, fewer nightmares, but it’s hard to get to sleep afterward. That’s all.”
Lucie winced. “Well, I’m glad to hear there are fewer, even if I’m sorry it’s hard to sleep.”
I shrugged. “Not a problem.” I’d been dealing with this for two years, but this week, I was just more tired than usual.
Well aware that the ATF would probably return, we’d been shuffling our loads between four different warehouses.
They were all within a day’s ride of each other, meaning Saint and I were back every night, but with the stress of managing the council and the upcoming church, I was just more exhausted than I would be if our routine hadn’t been fucked to hell.
Shit, I hadn’t even opened Black Ink myself for a week. Ama was there, manning the desk, and taking appointments. She was designing for potential clients too, which she shouldn’t technically be doing, but hell, I was looking forward to getting my hand on a tattoo machine and making her work come to life.
It was going to be a treat all round.
Axe cleared his throat. “To get this back on track, we need to think about opening another factory.”
Lucie grimaced. “Think that’s wise with them breathing down our neck?”
“Maybe not, but we sure as hell can’t use our old location. Not for a while. Not until the ATF gets over the hard-on they have for us.”
“What if that doesn’t happen for years?” she questioned grimly.
“It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve been on an agency’s radar. We just have to outmaneuver them.” Wolfe shrugged. “We’ve been lucky, and that’s made us sloppy. If it wasn’t for your dad coming down and telling us about what the Knights were dealing with, then we’d have been fucked. As it stands, we’re good, and we’re ahead of them.”
“Not exactly ahead,” I corrected. “We’re still up against the wall with what we’re doing.”
Dagger nodded. “The books are good, but losing those triple K’s from that last run has stung us bad.”
“But,” I countered, “we have a new deal with the Brighton Beach Russians. They’re interested in our merch.”
“Thought they shipped in from the motherland,” Lucie tossed down.
“Yeah, they do, but they said they were having problems getting them here. Something to do with the docks. Might not be forever, but I think it would be stupid to turn them down.”
“How many do they want?”
“A thousand.”
Around me, the councilors whistled.
“Yeah, that’s why I called church,” Axe said with a laugh. “We need to get back to full production.”
Wolfe twisted in his seat, dipping back so his head was on the rest as he thought the problem through.
“We could convert one of the warehouses. The one in Sandover contains most of the gear from the factory anyway.”
Axe winced. “That place is inches away from burning down.”
Wolfe snorted. “Well, after this, we’ll push it over. The guys will just have to be careful.” He cut Lucie a look. “Might be wise to just have your best men working on it. Shorter shifts, longer breaks, before getting back to it. Maybe we could even make a break room with beds or something?”
“That could be a good idea. Everyone knows it’s all hands on deck at the minute.” She tapped her nails against the table. “I don’t think they’ll mind pulling double shifts or sleeping where they work for a while. Not if I’m there as well.”
Flame scowled. “Is it safe for you to be there at all hours?”
Her lips twitched. “I’m surrounded by guns, babe. I think I’ll manage to fire one if anyone comes after us.”
She looked bright and breezy, but her men didn’t, and although it was evident they wanted to argue, that they weren’t going to was also pretty clear.
I got that.
Not even four men who had a rep the size of Texas, as well as rap sheets as tall as the six-foot bastards themselves, were going to fight with Lucifer Steeler when she had the bit between her teeth.
“I think we need to keep shit as business as usual until we hear otherwise,” Lucie stated calmly.
“What about Kenzie?”
“So far, no slipups,” she grumbled her reply at Axe. “Trust me, I’m trying.”
“What was her BS excuse for the bruises?” Wheels inquired, before he took a deep sip of water from his bottle.
“That she needed a way back home and figured it would get Keys to help her.” She shrugged. “It stinks. To me, it reeks. But I know for a fact she and Keys don’t get on, so I doubt he’d have helped her to be fair. He’d have thought, like most of you would, that she’d made her bed and had to lie in it.” When her words got a bunch of nods as a reply, she rolled her eyes and sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Well, though that fits, nothing else does.”
“The baby’s Hex’s, yeah?”
“Apparently.”
I reached up and rubbed the bridge of my nose. “It’s too soon to know if the heat’s gone off the Knight’s, isn’t it?” I mumbled.
“Yeah, way too soon.” Lucie pulled a face. “Unfortunately. But Dad’s got feelers out with the cops on his payroll and—” She blinked when everyone gaped at her. “What? What is it?”
“You called Martin ‘dad.’” Axe’s eyes were round. “That has to be the first time I’ve ever heard you call him that.”
She scowled. “I didn’t.”
“You did, babe,” Flame retorted, but his lips were twisted in a smile. “You’ll make his day if you call him that to his face.”
Lucie grunted. “Don’t be a baby.” When Flame just snorted, and the snort was punctuated by the flicker of his lighter, Lucie grumbled, “Anyway, before I was rudely interrupted, he says he’ll get back to us ASAP if there’s any news on just who their rat might be.”
“Good. Well, I guess we’ve all got shit we need to be doing. Axe, I think we need to call church tomorrow. The brothers have been patient, but it’s time to let them in on the clusterfuck.”
“They’ve only been patient because they’ve been up to their eyeballs in work,” I retorted drily. “It’s not like we’ve had time for church with most of us all over southeast Texas hiding our wares.”