Page 133 of Moon's Promise

“I’m too old for this shit.” Viper turned in Shade’s direction.

“Don’t look at me. Take it up with Reaper and Rider. The club was their bright idea.”

Moon’s gaze went back and forth between the two men. “You’re joking, right?”

Viper’s silence made his chest constrict.

Viper was the only reason he was still in The Last Riders. Regardless of whoever took over as president after Viper, his ass would be out. And it wouldn’t even fucking matter because, without Viper in the club, he wouldn’t want to be here, anyway. He knew Viper was closer to the other brothers than him, whereas he felt Viper was the older brother that life had denied him.

“Not really. I don’t know if I can go through another possible traitor, like Memphis.”

Moon rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward in his chair. “It’s not your fault Pace got killed.”

Viper didn’t seem convinced. “I’m the one who asked Wizard to send me someone to take point on hiring someone to snoop around for us.”

“You didn’t know Pace was Wizard’s nephew.”

“It doesn’t matter to me who he was related to. He was a kid, still wet behind the ears.”

“Shit.” Moon grew more vehement. “He was twenty-six and served two years in the Army before he was dishonorably discharged. Wizard sent Pace here because he was tired of his sister nagging at him to let him become a Last Rider. He should have sent anyone but Pace. I warned both you and Shade that he was too gung-ho. That’s why he got thrown out of the Army and lost every job he managed to get. He reacted without thinking of repercussions. Hell, remember when Wizard told us he saw an Uber driver being carjacked by a gang? Pace waded right in and nearly got his ass killed then. Spent two weeks in ICU, yet it still didn’t make him think before his mom’s house caught on fire and he ran back in for her fucking photo album.

“It sucks he’s dead. I don’t know who fucking killed him, but I do know for fuckin’ sure that Pace told Puck he needed to take a dump to get back inside the club for a reason. That reason is what got him killed, not you. All he had to do was tell Puck what he was really up, which is why Wizard sent Puck, anyway.”

“Unless it was Puck who killed him.”

Shade’s soft input made Moon’s eyes jerk to his. “You don’t seriously think it was Puck, do you? He was on the porch the whole time.”

Shade nodded his head toward the monitors. “He could have done something to the security feed.”

“Puck would have taken the bullet for Pace if he could have,” Moon argued back.

“I agree.”

Moon reared back in his chair aggressively. “Then why did you say it?”

“That’s what I heard a couple of women saying. They aren’t buying that the coroner ruled it as a suicide, either. They’re grasping at straws, which is, if we’re honest, all we have left.”

“He didn’t commit suicide.” Viper’s grim voice drew their eyes. “I don’t give a fuck what the coroner ruled.”

A snort of anger escaped Moon. “The old buzzard should have retired ten years ago. He can’t tell the difference between a kneecap and a brain.” Frustrated, he stood up to pace in the office.

“Pace’s gun was there,” Shade continued, squeezing the football.

“I don’t care if it was in his hand,” Moon argued. “He didn’t off himself.”

“He was also the one who hired the informer.” Viper leaned back in his chair to hook his foot on his knee. “What in the fuck are we supposed to do now? We don’t even know who in the fuck Pace hired.”

“I was hoping they would have come forward by now to either you or hightailed it to Wizard,” Moon admitted.

“Me, too.” Viper studied the tip of his boot as if it held the answers for the universe.

“Wizard has no clue?”

“No. And the only people who knew Pace had hired someone were Wizard, Shade, Puck, you, and me.”

None of them brought up the fact that Puck had the knowledge, which could have been the reason Pace was killed. All of them liked and trusted Puck, and despite Shade voicing what the women were saying, Moon didn’t really believe Shade thought Puck had betrayed the club.

“Me telling Pace to keep it to himself who he’d hired is biting me on the butt, isn’t it?”

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