Page 104 of Tempting Fate

He’s the SAA which means security is his domain in Brutus’ absence.

“Me,” he replies without hesitation.

I swear Bebe mutters, “God help me” under her breath before she huffs. She passes Slash her pen and a small notepad. He scribbles down his number. Her movements are jerky when she accepts it back from him.

“Why you?” Toker whines. “None of us wanna be stuck in the compound either.”

“He got hurt on my watch,” Slash tells him. “That means I’m takin’ first shift.”

A strange silence grips the room in the wake of his frank assessment. It’s a paralysing mixture of not knowing what to do next and not wanting to leave Fret that I decide to put an end to quickly. The Mayberry kids won’t have the luxury of fully falling apart until we have them secured inside the compound. Once we have them safe, they can work through their feelings. Until then, and especially with Brutus’ bullshit like to touch them soon, it’s up to me to keep them in one piece—both literally and figuratively.

“Need you to talk some sense into Hunt,” Slash murmurs tersely as Bebe slips out of the waiting room. He pauses to watch her leave, then returns his attention to me. In his gaze, I see my own frustrations over our president reflected. “Know you have your suspicions. I have mine too. Won’t stand by and let you drag my little brother into this mess. Won’t let him be Brutus’ next target.”

“Already planned on talkin’ to him.”

“Call me if he won’t listen to you.”

“Will do.”

Sensing the tension and simmering rage in my best friend over what he sees as my overstep, I bite my tongue to refrain from telling him that I plan on doing more than ordering Hunter to quit antagonising Brutus. Slash might shy away from the truth about his mother’s real identity, but I know our alliance with the Trinity will be the deciding factor if we end up in a war with the Maddison clan. Because of that I want to discuss with the youngest Hudson genius exactly what he thinks is going down between our president and our enemies. Then I’m going to get him to go over everything Cub’s uncovered to see if he can map out his best guess as to Alex’s next moves.

A pair of fresh eyes as talented as Hunter’s are just what I need before I take anything more to Angelis and the other second-generation patches.

“Right,” I say with as much authority as I can muster when everyone looks to me for guidance. “Slash, since you’re stayin’ here, I’ll leave it up to you to organise which brothers you wanna post on the entrances to start with. Text me with a list of your upcomin’ rotations, and I’ll make sure our brothers are here when you need them.” With a wave of my arm, I gesture to everyone else. “The rest of you are leavin’ with us. Between me, Hunter, and Toker, we’ll safely escort you to the van. Hunter can drive you back to the compound, and any brothers not on sentry duty tonight will meet us there.”

Slash nods his agreement with my arrangements but refuses to meet my gaze, then pulls his phone out to focus on the job I gave him. His unusual reaction bothers me, but I let it slide. Everyone’s feeling the same anxiety I am. The shit has hit the fan for the Shamrocks MC with more likely to come. We need to get past it as fast as we can, put the Shamrocks on the downhill run back to normalcy, so I can put a stop to whatever Brutus is up to, once and for all.

Blanking my best friend in return, I motion for my patched brothers to lead the way out of the waiting room. Once Toker shouts that the corridor is clear, I follow Charlie, Crystal, Nadia, then Lily and her brothers out into the open hallway. As we head for the elevators, my woman drops off the back of the group to link hands with me.

“What is Dad thinking? Leaving with Joseph and only taking Joker and Bear for backup.”

I slow our strides so I can talk to her alone. “I don’t know what he’s thinkin’, but I need you to run your mind through the last few months with him—maybe even the last few years since he left Inadale to move back to Perth. Something’s not right, and I needa get out the front of it before it blows up in our faces.”

As quickly as shock enters her expression at my bold request, it’s replaced with a benign kind of acceptance. “I can do that.”

Although Lily tried to hide her reaction, the speed with which she composed herself is a testament to how strange Brutus is acting. Their relationship is fraught, and he’s levelled some betrayals on her head that she’s struggled to move past, yet Lily is a daddy’s girl at her core. For her to easily accept that something’s not right with her father proves she feels it too.

Brutus has gone rogue.

“I want to speak to Fret first,” she replies, leaning into me as we approach the elevator doors that Hunter is holding open for us. “I have some ideas, but I can’t promise that they’ll be useful.”

I offer her a curt nod, unable to formulate a comforting response.

Because what’s left to say?

Neither of us are in the position to make promises to each other.

19

LILY

“Got a minute to talk?” Zeke places a cup of coffee on the workbench behind me, then squats next to me to check out the progress I’ve made with the vintage Harley frame I’m restoring in my free time. Once he’s done inspecting my work, he runs his finger along one of the welds. “Did you use the number seven Lincoln rods like I said?”

“Yeah. Even quenched the weld in warm water.”

“Can tell,” he muses. “This’s definitely your best work.”

The same awkwardness that came between us at the hospital and again during the tense journey back to the compound last night takes over the workshop. He’s avoided me since we returned, so I know he hasn’t tracked me down out here to discuss my father.

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