None of this fucked up situation was ideal.
“Wolfe just talked about this beef we have with the Knights, baby girl. What do you know about it?” I asked her, my voice soft and quiet.
Wolfe glowered at me, but I just shrugged. There was no point in keeping her in the dark. No point at all. We had both Lucie and Amaryllis to think of, and hiding shit from Lucie would only put them in more danger.
“Just that they’re the ones who did me the favor of disposing of Bomber.” Then she winced. “And half the council. I’m sorry about them.” Her voice had turned small, like she knew what she’d just said and regretted it.
Though we’d all tensed at her cavalier words, it was easy to understand why she’d want Bomber gone.
The bastard had ruined our lives, and was still affecting it to this day.
“We’ve been at war with them for a long time over territory,” Wolfe told her, his voice low.
“Why?”
“They want more of what we’ve got.”
She frowned. “I repeat, why? Rutherford isn’t exactly a hotspot.”
“That’s why we stay under the radar,” Axe pointed out.
“No, it isn’t. There’s no way you’re under the radar. I know Wolfe went to jail, who else did too?”
“All of us except for Flame.”
“Only way the cops will take me is in a body bag.”
At my grim words, panic flared in her face. I didn’t fail to recognize the fact that there was more panic at my words than at her own fate.
Fuck, she loved me.
I already knew it, but seeing was believing.
“Don’t talk like that,” she demanded.
I didn’t reply, because I couldn’t take the words back. I meant them. Every one of them.
Reaching over, I pressed a hand to her knee and murmured, “Our business has diversified.”
“Yeah, but even though it isn’t about drugs anymore, you’re still smuggling cigarettes. That probably pisses off more letter agencies than the drugs, considering you’re helping people evade taxes.” She covered my hand. “You’re just good at not getting caught, and let’s keep it that way, yeah?”
“We’re already cutting back on one aspect of our ops,” Dagger reassured her.
“Which one?”
“Murder for hire,” I told her bluntly, needing her to know what we did for a living.
Of course, she wasn’t surprised. Or, disturbed. “Dirty cunts… buying someone else to do the fucking job.” Naturally she saw it that way. “Wheels will make a good Road Captain, and Ink will make a fabulous Secretary. Rodeo as Sergeant of Arms would fit the position well.”
Her words and change of subject had us all scowling at her.
“Ink isn’t even in the running for a role—”
She held up a hand at Wolfe’s statement. “Trust me, he should be. He’s good.”
“How do you know?”
“I snooped, of course.”
“Snooped where?” Dagger sputtered, but he was laughing.
“You’re always working on something over there, Mr. Treasurer. It’s easy to look at the same screen and see the totals.”
Wolfe grunted. “Good thing you’re trustworthy.”
She bared her teeth. “Best thing that ever happened to you.”
When Wolfe went to speak, I nudged him in the side. “Shut up,” I told them both. “She isn’t wrong. Ink is doing a great job at the tattoo parlor. That place is getting international acclaim for his designs, and his figures are never wrong, are they, Dag? I never have to go over and get them from him because he’s late.” As Enforcer, that was one aspect of my job—to police our own, especially when it came down to our businesses and the money they earned.
“Never. He’s always prompt too. Perfect books.”
“Indie is doing a great job at the bar too though.” Axe folded his arms across his chest. “And he has experience. Ink doesn’t.”
“So, just because he’s young you don’t think he can keep the MC organized?” Lucie snorted. “Grow up. That’s exactly why he can. He’s what, my age? Five years separate us, and there’s already a major difference between how I respond to tech and you do. Take advantage of that. The Secretary isn’t even that big of a role. It’s more managerial. If he can’t handle it, just demote him.”
“Anyone else get the feeling we’re being micromanaged?” Wolfe groused.
“Let a woman walking down death row pick her jailors,” she rasped, and that had us all tensing.
“You’re not going to die,” I ground out, and my hand tightened around her knee to the point where she cried out a little. Only that had me relenting. “Nothing is going to happen to you. We’re going to get through this, get past it, and then just carry on living our lives. Do you hear me?”
She licked her lips, nodded. “I hear you.”
She’d complied, sure, but her voice lacked the power I knew she was capable of.
I’d die first before she did, but she didn’t need to know that. Not yet. Hopefully not ever.
❖
Dagger
“You can’t be serious?”
Ink’s words didn’t exactly encourage us, but I saw the pride glimmering in his eyes, saw the way he’d straightened at our news—not with fear but with excitement.
“I’m deadly serious,” Wolfe rasped, cutting me a look.
I nodded, urging him on, because I’d been the one to back up Lucie’s suggestion. A quick look into the figures of the ink parlor—ones I’d known off the top of my head but hadn’t worried about because it always ran in the black—showed a manager who was capable of keeping a neat track of his accounts, who’d raised profits and turnover, and who didn’t need his hand held every goddamn day of the week.
“But I don’t have much experience.”
“You work Black Ink better than Roper did before he retired,” I pointed out. “Place is on the up and up and you’re getting people coming from all over to check you out, and our Facebook presence has come on like crazy since you took over.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make me prime Secretary material,” he replied, and I liked his honesty from the get-go.
“Trust me, it ain’t that hard. If Axe can do it, anyone can,” I jibed, laughing when Axe flipped me the bird.
He moved away from the sofa and leaned against the desk, a few steps away from Ink. “You fuck up, we demote you. Simple as.”
Ink pulled a face. “Reassuring.”
“I try,” was all Axe said, but his smirk had Ink grinning.
“Shit.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe this. I thought you were bringing me in to—”
“What? Tell you off? I ain’t your principal,” Wolfe retorted, but he was grinning as he said it.
“Thank fuck for that,” Ink breathed with a laugh. “Okay, so where do I start?”
“Axe will help you get set up,” I stated.
“Cool. Does this mean that you’ve picked the other councilors?” he inquired, his tone curious.