Page 36 of A Twist of Fate

“I’m surprised to see you here prospecting with the likes of us,” he finally said when I didn’t acknowledge his bullshit. We were the only two in the clubhouse since most of the members were on a run. It didn’t slip by me that he had been pushing a member of our Florida chapter out the door when I showed up. It seemed a strange time to be meeting with another club member when the rest of the guys were gone. Just another thing I was cataloging away.

I offered up a simple shrug of my shoulders in response to him. The man had been one of the main two men to cause Ever so much grief over the years, even before all the shit blew up when she was a teenager. The other of the dynamic duo had disappeared before Toby died, and it had me curious if that was the reason T-Bone had possibly been targeted by a brother within the club.

Crow didn’t seem to want to take my silence for what it was. Instead, he kept running his mouth, trying to get me to throw him whatever bone he was searching for. “You seemed ready to take all of us out not too long ago. How did you go from that to prospecting? Better question, how did you become a prospect without a brotherhood vote?”

“That’s a question for your President, not me.”

“Too bad he ain’t here to answer and you are.”

I turned my full attention on him then. “If you were so concerned about me becoming a prospect without a vote, maybe you should have already taken that up with Merc. If you already did, and he told you not to worry about it, then I suggest you listen to your President.”

“You’re the prospect here! You don’t tell me what to do!”

“No, but I’m pretty sure your president does.”

“What? You gonna rat me out to him?”

I pointed to the eye in the sky that was always running in the clubhouse now since Toby’s death. “I don’t have to. You already did that for yourself.”

Crow laughed. “They aren’t on,” he stated with a certain amount of smugness that led me to believe he had purposely made sure they weren’t running. The thing that I knew, and he didn’t, was that there were other cameras running that didn’t feed into the club’s security center. They fed directly to Merc’s system, which he checked while he was away. I had to hand it to the man, you don’t suspect there’s a fox in the hen house and leave things to doubt. He had plans in place to make sure he was seeing the bigger picture. The fact that he had trusted me with that information was something I wasn’t going to divulge to my number one suspect. Crow was hiding something big even if it had nothing to do with T-Bone’s death.

It was a few days later when Merc came to see me at Permanent Marks. Normally, I might think it was odd that he came to me there, but considering the fact that he wasn’t sure who he could trust within his own club, I understood.

“Take it you saw the video, and the fact that the common feeds were cut for a while?”

He tipped his head in a nod. “Saw it all, even what you missed before you got there.”

“Anything worth noting about that?”

“Nah. They were already done talking shop by the time they were in audio range.” Merc sighed. “I know I can’t trust him, but I’m coming up short on why.”

“What now?”

“We’re looking at several properties down in the Jacksonville area. He’s headed that way, whether he wants to or not at this point.”

“Why keep him in the club if you suspect he had something to do with T-Bone?”

“No proof. I can’t bring it to the brothers without any. It could go one of two ways. Either they lynch the bastard only for us to find out it wasn’t him. Or they come for my head for putting a brother out on a limb with no proof he deserved to be there. If they oust me, others would follow, and the rotten dregs are what you’d have left running this chapter. I won’t see that happen. Besides, I need to know which other apples he’s spoiled along the way.” Merc glanced around the shop. It was quiet this time of day since it was still early. “Haven’t been here since Ever inked me up.”

“Thinking about more work?”

He shook his head. “I think the last thing I got inked spoke volumes about my life. Can’t imagine anything more important to put on my skin.”

“That’s a hell of a memory to be your last.”

“It is. It was a hell of a lesson to get through my thick skull too. I think the constant reminder will serve me well.” He knocked his knuckles against the countertop, and then tipped his head at me once more. “I’m heading home. My woman did not take too kindly to the fact that I up and left this morning after being gone most of the week.”

I laughed. “Better stop off for some baked goods and coffee to make amends.”

“Ah, I see you’re already prepared for when a good one manages to get you settled.” The door opened and Gretchen walked in then, taking all of my attention from Merc. I watched her as she took note of the two of us standing there talking. Then she moved to tuck her bag under the counter without saying a word. Merc had been watching me the whole time, seeing I couldn’t take my eyes off of the woman before us. “Maybe that’s already happened.”

“Not yet,” I informed him.

“Better know what you’re doing there,” he warned before leaving the shop. I knew exactly what I was doing. Waiting. It was all I had left. Waiting for Gretchen to be okay again, and for her to notice that I could make her happy again.

“What was that all about?” She finally asked after Merc was gone.

“Just some club business,” I managed to tell her.

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