Page 31 of Haze's Jewel

I turn to look at him and nod. “I’ve always followed your good advice. No matter what, I’ll break even on the damage. I might even end up with a new boat out of it.”

Tank’s face lights up and he claps me on the back with one hand when he gets close enough. “Attaboy. I taught you and your brother right.”

Siege steps into my line of sight. “If you two are finished congratulating each other, maybe we can get to figuring out what the fuck happened.”

My club brothers apparently scare Anna, because she clings to me even tighter. I wrap her up and pull her closer as we discuss the situation. Eventually Trix and my brother show up. Trix is carrying a long fur coat. She’s holding it out to Anna like she’s trying to catch a scared little rabbit in a net. I frown at her, grab the coat and wrap it around my lady’s shoulders.

“I want you to go with Trix and my brother while me and the rest of my club brothers figure out what happened here tonight.”

She pulls the coat around her more tightly. “Will you please be careful?”

Winking at her, I reply, “I’m only ever reckless. You know that, sweetheart. Now, go on. I can’t concentrate, while you’re running around looking all beautiful and fuckable in your pretty dress.”

She blushes a bright pink and it makes me grin like a madman. I give her a hard kiss and send her on her way. I like how reluctant she is to leave my side in a crisis, and how she asked me to be careful. This is an unexpectedly dangerous situation and she’s worried for my safety. Something about that warms me from the inside out. I can’t look away until she’s totally out of sight.

Suddenly, a big hand appears in front of my face and Siege snaps his fingers. “Wake the fuck up bro. We’ve got serious work to do.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

A young voice speaks up from behind me. “So is your new girl a slut or what?”

I turn around and slam my fist into the foul-mouthed prospect’s face. “Shut it, prospect.”

Siege reaches out, places his hand on the new guy’s chest and gives him a strong push. “Back of the line, prospect. If you keep your mouth closed and your eyes open, you just might make it through the night without losing your opportunity to prospect with our club.”

Turning to me, he demands, “Tell us everything. Start at the beginning.”

I start with the asshole from this morning, aggravated with myself for not tuning him up when I had the chance. I describe how he was drunk, harassing Anna while I parked the car and tell him about throwing him out, and even the conversation with his brother. Zen is there taking notes on his tablet. I know he’ll immediately start looking for two brothers in Las Salinas with the first names of Scott and Corey, last name Dukes.

Rigs speaks up, “I don’t understand why he would target Anna rather than you.”

I shrug. “Who the hell know why drunks do the things they do?”

Tank interjects, “I’ve been drunk a bunch of times. When I get into a bar fight. I don’t beat on the women. I tend to punch the fuck out of the man who pissed me off. So, I’m with Rigs on this one. I get why he set your shit on fire. I don’t get why he wasted precious time to slut shame the woman who wasn’t receptive to getting perved on by him.”

Siege cuts through the static flying back and forth between us. “The why of it doesn’t fucking matter at this point. It only matters that we figure out who this asshole is and beat the truth out of him.”

Rigs absentmindedly fiddles with the cross hanging around his neck, “Siege is right. We aren’t going to logic our way through the inner workings of an intoxicated man’s thought processes. Right now we need to concentrate on finding the fucker and showing him the error of his ways.”

Zen looks up from his tablet. “I think I have something.”

“Tell us what you’ve got,” Siege states.

“I got a land records match for Corey Dukes. It’s an old run-down farmhouse on the outskirts of Las Salinas.” He zooms in with the screen turned around for everyone to see.

I speak up immediately, “What are we waiting for. Let’s load up and pay this asshole a little visit.”

Siege snarls, “Load up indeed. For once I agree about storming his place. We need answers about what was going on tonight. If there’s any evidence linking him to this crime, he needs to be arrested and locked the fuck up. If we let this go, that will be sending a clear message that this kind of behavior will be tolerated. If word gets out that we let this happen, our property and womenfolk will ever be safe again.”

***

Siege picks a team of six of us to pay this asshole a visit. Zen sends us all location pins and we use it to navigate as a group to his place. As I’m riding down the interstate, my mind drifts back to Anna and how scared she was and how worried she was for my safety. I decide right then and there that I’m going to do everything in my power to make her mine. Some way, somehow, I’m going to convince her that I’m everything she needs in a man.

Once we exit the interstate and are on an isolated one-lane paved road I know there is very little chance of us being noticed by others. That will minimize the risk and make this whole situation go a lot damn faster.

We park half a mile away so he can’t hear the roar of our motorcycles. Then all six of us creep forward until Rider gives us the signal to stop. Rigs moves forward to scout out the grounds and returns fifteen minutes later to give a report.

“There are two vehicles present, a beat-up blue pickup and a newer model Honda Civic. I’m guessing the truck belongs to Scott Dukes and the Civic belongs to his more successful brother.”

---