Page 50 of Callum

He grumbles something that sounds an awful lot like “could easily kill you all” before darting in the direction of the space heater at our brother’s feet. Grant moves stiffly out of Lachlan’s way, and I clear my throat to cover a laugh.

“About time to retire the motorcycle for the winter?” I smile at the dark look he shoots in my direction, the truth written on his face. He’s fucking freezing.

Merrick falls into place at Maddock’s side, ignoring how Maddock and Lachlan have entered into a wrestling match to determine who gets to stand directly in front of the space heater.

“Hey,” I bark, my voice bouncing around the empty room. All three men turn wide eyes in my direction, waiting to see what I have to say. “Grant gets to stand in front of the heater. Poor bastard rode a motorcycle here.”

“Who died and made you the voice of reason?” Lachlan does a piss-poor imitation of me from the other night, and I have the overwhelming urge to shoot him in the foot.

“Mingus MacAlister.” Grant’s harsh reminder of why we’re here shuts us all down, the air growing heavy around the room. Lachlan and Maddock both move to the sides of the heater, leaving room for Grant to stand directly in front of it. The soft orange glow lights up his shins, and I see a small amount of relief flash across his face.

“Give me the real update,” Grant grunts, pulling his gloves off one finger at a time. Maddock immediately launches into a breakdown of progress on the warehouse, which he tells us will be done in “three-ish weeks”.

“Good, ‘cause I’ve got a storage issue.” Merrick huffs, both arms crossing over his broad chest.

“Explain.”

“We’re out of space at the bar,” Merrick shifts his weight, his eyes locked on the space heater at our feet. “The basement is full. I had to move part of the last shipment to my spare bedroom.”

“Why aren’t we offloading?” Lachlan’s question is directed at Grant, who shakes his head in annoyance but doesn’t answer. Maddock steps in for him, lips pressed in a thin line.

“The Father has a commandment from on high,” Maddock sniffs, and I know he’s doing his best to control his anger. “The old fuck,” turns out, he’s still not great at managing it. “Is demanding that we triple vet existing contacts. He’s got it in his head that there’s a rat.”

We all groan at that. The Father has been convinced there’s a rat in the MacAlister’s since before any of us were born. There’s no point giving it any merit now, so I turn toward Lachlan, who is examining his cuticles with a concerned expression. “How’s the Club?”

“Fine,” Lachlan scuffs the toe of his boot against the ground, a heavy sigh passing his lips. “We haven’t had any slowdown from this bullshit with the GiGi’s, so that’s better than expected.”

Grant shakes his head, rubbing a hand across his face in exasperation. “Are you still pouting about that?”

“I’m not pouting.”

He’s totally pouting. “Why are you pouting?”

“Lally’s sad he got left out of threatening the GiGi’s.” Maddock supplies, smirking at our youngest brother. Lachlan flips him off but doesn’t deny it.

“It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, Lachlan. Plus, it was in the middle of the night. That’s not exactly your free time.”

Lachlan huffs, mumbling something under his breath that makes Merrick elbow him in the ribs. Sensing the impending struggle, I quickly cut in before either can start a real fight. “I seriously doubt that’s the last run-in we’ll be having with the GiGi’s before this is all over. You can come to the next one, Lally.”

“How are things with ole Rosie?” Maddock smirks at the vicious look I shoot in his direction.

“She’s fine.”

“Heard you had a bit of a scuffle,” Maddock continues, mirth-filled eyes locked on me. “Tell me you at least fucked her after you killed that prostitute.”

Grant turns narrowed eyes in my direction, his tone brooking no argument. “Callum knows better than to put his dick anywhere near her pussy.”

Silence spreads through the room, broken only by Lachlan’s exaggerated whisper. “Who’s gonna tell him that Cal can put his dick in several places that aren’t her pussy?”

“He’s going to murder you, and I’m going to laugh,” Merrick’s voice is so serious that I’m a bit surprised Lachlan doesn’t look more concerned.

Grant physically turns away from our idiot brothers, focusing solely on me. “We need to talk about the break-in. It’s already drawing attention.”

“Yeah, way to stay under the radar, Cal.” Lachlan snorts but doesn’t continue when Grant gives him a hard look.

“It has complicated things a bit,” Grant continues, pulling his attention away from our brothers. “But not irreparably. The Father isn’t yet aware of our predicament with the GiGi’s, and I’d like to keep it that way. But the GiGi’s are only part of the problem. The main thing right now is steering the focus away from the fact that Red went missing at the same time Callum rejoined the Family. He’ll get too suspicious, and we won’t be able to keep the target off Cal’s back.”

Maddock nods, shuffling to stand closer to the space heater. “Hopefully, the old dick won’t figure it out until we’re well past all this shit.”

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