Page 63 of Tripp

“Oh yeah? Who told ya that?” Marek questioned. I personally couldn’t wait for the day when we could teach Koritz a lesson, snatching his life once and for all.

Did I mention that the Knights were riding the legal side of the fence these days? Because that theory gets tested every once in a while.

A man who was a couple inches taller than Koritz sidestepped one of the DEA men and came into full view. It was dark and I couldn’t make out much except that he was bald and stalky. When he moved under one of the lamps, however, I saw he wore a cut, but I couldn’t make out the patch.

“You know where he is, and if you don’t tell me I swear to Christ I’ll rain holy hell down on your club.” It was then I recognized his voice, had heard it a few times before. Unfortunately.

All of a sudden, an eruption the likes of which I’d never experienced before exploded around me, men screaming and barreling toward the intruder.

Rabid.

VP of the Savage Reapers.

Psych’s right-hand man.

He dared to set foot on Knights soil?

Inside our compound?

The closest any fuckin’ Reaper got to our clubhouse was outside the gates when they’d left me for dead, shot to all hell.

Koritz, along with his men, drew their weapons, and it was then we decided to show our cards as well. The smirk on the DEA agent’s face would have been alarming if I’d thought enough to give a fuck.

“Well, it looks like you boys are in a bit of trouble.” He puffed out his chest as best he could given his girth. “I’m sure those guns aren’t registered.” He made a move but stopped when Marek started shouting.

“Take one more step and I’ll blow your head off, Koritz. Agent or not.” The malice in Marek’s voice left no room to wonder if he’d actually follow through or not. A glint of reservation flashed in Koritz’s eyes, his men looking to one another for guidance. But they wouldn’t find it. They dared to disrupt us, to show up on our doorstep asking about a worthless piece of shit. Adding to their stupidity, they brought Rabid with them. We should’ve killed them all just for that shit, but we didn’t just have ourselves to worry about right then. The women in our lives took precedent over our need to show those fuckers who was boss. That didn’t stop Hawke, Jagger, Stone, Ryder, and Cutter from spouting off at the mouth, though.

“Just get rid of ’em,” someone shouted behind me, everyone’s voices blending together and making it difficult to distinguish who was saying what.

“Fuck them for bringing that Savage piece of shit here,” another yelled. If Marek didn’t do something soon, all hell was gonna break loose, that much I knew for sure. Thankfully, Trigger had been able to keep the women away from this shit; otherwise, I had no doubt we’d be engaged in a whole other kind of standoff. And fuck Breck for passing out earlier. We needed all hands on deck in case shit went down, and based on all the hardware pointed at everyone’s heads anything could happen.

Tense moments passed and still we all stood there, threatening the others in complete silence. Until our prez finally spoke up. I released the breath that was stuck in my lungs. I had no idea what Marek was gonna say, but at least it was somethin’.

“We don’t know where Psych is, and we don’t care. We’re done with the war, have been for some time now,” Marek spewed, his conviction a practiced one. If I hadn’t known better I would’ve believed he spoke the truth. “Now unless you have a warrant, get the fuck outta here.”

I got the feeling Marek wanted to say something else, but he surprisingly held his tongue. Probably for the best. We didn’t need to invite any more trouble into our lives than was already present, although I was sure Koritz wasn’t gonna stop until he’d buried us somehow. Literally or figuratively. Either way would be bad.

And Rabid . . . fuck! I thought for sure we were done with the Reapers, what with extinguishing their leader and all. But it looked like he was itchin’ to start up a whole new war with our club.

Koritz eventually lowered his weapon, his men following suit. “I’ll be in touch. You can count on that.” The only thing we could do was watch in silence as they filed back into their vehicles and slowly backed out of our lot.

There was no resolution that evening, and there wouldn’t be one for a very long time. I was sure of it.

Rabid knew our club was the last to see Psych alive, Marek, Stone and Jagger agreeing to meet him at the warehouse to exchange Sully for Adelaide and Kena. The rest of the men who’d accompanied Psych that day had all been extinguished, and looking back we should have chased down Rabid and taken him out as well, tied up all loose ends. But the VP of the Reapers had always been a follower, and we honestly thought once his prez was no longer in the picture, along with their supply being cut off from the cartel, that their club would’ve imploded from the inside.

Our arrogance had just come back to bite us in the ass.

Tripp

The past two months had flown by in a blur. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find Rachel. It was as if she’d disappeared off the face of the earth, abandoning her kid like she didn’t give a shit about the little boy. Then again, actions spoke louder than words, and while I’d initially been outraged at what she’d done, I came to believe that she knew she wasn’t a fit mother, her selfishness for drugs clouding any maternal instinct she could have possibly had toward her own baby.

Even though only a short time had passed, the infant was growing quickly. Whenever Sully brought him by the clubhouse, there was a look of love and adoration in her eyes for the baby she cradled in her arms. I saw a peace come over not only her but Marek as well. The tension between husband and wife seemed to have evaporated, replaced by exhaustion, mostly due to late nights with the little boy would be my guess. If I asked my prez I was sure he’d tell me he’d prefer sleepless nights caused by a baby over all the other shit that had kept him up until the early morning hours.

All had been quiet where Reece’s ex-husband had been concerned. She’d filed for divorce but her lawyer couldn’t locate Rick, which wasn’t a surprise to me, although I never let Reece in on that little tidbit of information. Not until now. I couldn’t hide my secret any longer. Sure, I’d been a vault in the past, most of the club’s dealings requiring the utmost discretion, and even though that would always remain, the situation with Reece was different. Outside the scope of what I was used to dealing with, so to speak.

“Reece?” I whispered. “Are you awake, baby?” She groaned, snuggling closer and slinging her arm over my chest, her head buried in the crook of my neck. The heat from her naked body made my dick twitch, as if I hadn’t just exhausted him over the past couple hours.

“Reece?” I repeated, trying my best not to move because the feel of her next to me was too good.

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