Page 95 of Nevada

“In here, princess, I’m your ol’ man and while I fuckin’ love your attitude and backtalk, it won’t be appreciated in here. Do me a favor and save the bad girl routine for the bedroom?”

I flick him a look and I can see the amusement in his eyes. “You’re an ass.”

He bends to my ear. “An ass that you love.”

We approach a long meeting table and Bane is at the helm.

Before we even sit down, I ask, “What happened to the girl from the club?” I don’t know these guys from Adam, and I trust nobody.

“Couple of the ol’ ladies took her to get checked out. Didn’t notice until we were walkin’ out that she may have a fractured leg from bein’ kicked, and a broken rib.”

My mouth parts. “Fucking assholes.”

Bane eyes her. “And you are?”

“Star,” I say. “I’m the reason we’re here and why the boys were in the club. We’re looking for my sister. Tilly. She was taken?—”

He holds up a hand. “I know the details, Cash filled me in.” He flicks his eyes to the chairs around the table. “Will you all sit, for fuck’s sake, you’re makin’ me goddamn nervous.” Hornet and Viking move to their seats near Bane, along with another guy who sits to Bane’s left. “This is Shadow, my VP.”

Nods and chin lifts go around the table as the men sit. Nevada pulls out a seat for me and if I’m surprised the men are letting me sit with them. I try not to show it on my face.

“Next time you assholes plan on comin’ into town and goin’ undercover, give us the heads up.” Shadow does not sound impressed. He’s not as big as the other three men, but solid enough, and has an air of ‘don’t fuck with me’ about him. His short hair is shaved at the sides and he has tattoos on either side of his head. What is with all bikers being fucking hot? I’ve not seen one pot-bellied man anywhere…

“Truth was, we had no clue you were involved in the shit goin’ on with Monty Jefferson,” I say. “We found out the junkyard we were lookin’ at had a sister company which led us to the club, it’s a front for embezzling money and the Jefferson name comes up a lot on other non-existent business names around the city.”

“No shit. We’ve been on Monty for the last eight months,” Bane replies. “You bargin’ into that meetin’ could’ve been a big fuckin’ disruption for us.”

“Meant no disrespect.” Harlem interlaces his fingers as he looks at the prez. “But with all due respect, a girl’s life is at stake…”

“So is my sister’s.” The words leave Bane’s mouth and I’m shocked to my core. “And if you don’t think I wanted to rip that motherfucker’s jugular out tonight, you’re dead wrong. The trouble is, Monty’s smart. I’ve been watchin’ him for some time, and if it weren’t for this shipment of girls we’ve been waitin’ on, trust me, I would’ve hung him from the town square by his balls by now.”

Okay, so we have a common denominator. Good to know and it means Bane is motivated.

“When did she get taken?” I ask. I feel all eyes upon me.

Bane clears his throat. “A few weeks ago. She was hangin’ around some bad people, and she hasn’t been seen since. Our IT guy, Phoenix, is one of the best hackers around, and he saw footage of her bein’ hauled out of that goddamn club inebriated and nobody knows a goddamn thing.”

“Heard rumors the Skeletons were involved,” Shadow goes on. “But none of that has been confirmed. Wouldn’t put it past the slimy bastards. We do our fair share of wheelin’ and deelin’ but we don’t mess with traffickin’.”

Nods go around in appreciation.

“So this meeting tomorrow night?” I say. “The girls, what happens?”

Bane’s darkening blue eyes meet mine. I almost get a shiver down my spine and while I respect what he’s doing for his sister, I wouldn’t mess with this man. He spells danger just from the way he holds himself. I hope he does exactly what he says to fuckface Jefferson, and soon.

Bane takes a long draw on his cigarette. “We make the transaction, then we’re gonna ambush Jefferson, torture him and his men until we find out everythin’ they know. The only reason I haven’t done that yet is because only he knows the meetin’ location for security purposes, and if we kill him, that meetin’ will never take place.”

“He’s a goddamn asshole,” Brew mutters. “Need to take him down. The piece of shit gave you a free fuckin’ woman and didn’t even blink an eye.”

“Clearly she won’t know shit,” Haze offers. “Or he wouldn’t be givin’ her to you.”

“Doubt she’s been trafficked,” Bane says. “But that doesn't mean she wasn’t forced to do shit against her will. She was terrified when I got her in the car. The sad part is she’d rather come with me and risk whatever it is I might do to her, than stay in there with those assholes.”

A lump forms in my throat.

I fill them in quickly on what we know so far, and how long I’ve been looking for Tilly. Bane, at least, looks sympathetic to my cause. “The Caruso takedown blew things apart,” he says. “The whole operation from here to Texas, as well as New Orleans, Oklahoma, even down to Florida was blown wide open. It’s a smash and grab for who’s takin’ over operations. If anythin’, this just threw things further into the underworld than it was before.”

I look to Nevada, his hand on the back of my chair protectively. “So what does this mean, Jefferson is the new Kingpin of Mississippi?”

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