Page 63 of Devil's Vengeance

I shook my head quickly. “I looked into that. Nothing I’ve found saidthey trafficked. Plenty of rape charges on their members, though. Increasing her security was a good call.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you, asshole,” he growled. “You’re lucky I wasn’t the one making the call to keep you alive. You’d be in that chair if it were up to me.”

From the looks on their faces, none of them wanted to keep me alive. Only the fact that Nevada pushed for it right before he died kept them from putting me in the ground. I owed him my life several times over.

“Enough. How many of them are here?” Croy growled.

“There were at least fifteen in the bar. I haven’t gotten an exact number of how many are in their club. At least thirty based on arrest records.”

“So probably more than fifty,” Reaper added. He was serious, and the only one not bothering to waste his time glaring at me. He looked at Knox instead. “Call the Phoenix chapter. See what they know.”

He nodded and made note of it. He was the newest officer, having only been in the position a year. He took over the secretary spot right after I was promoted from prospect.

“I want a meeting with their prez,” Croy said out of nowhere. We all looked surprised at that. Aside from alliances, crews didn’t intermix and they sure as hell didn’t have meetings. What the hell was he planning?

“Prez?” Clink queried.

Croy looked up at him, his expression filled with a dark promise. “I’m going to tell him in person that his club is at war with mine. He should know what’s coming for him.”

My stomach dropped. He wasn’t just demanding the heads of those who attacked us and killed Nevada. He wanted to decimate their entire crew for what they did. Me and my issues brought my crew into a war.

“Knox, make it happen. Somewhere outside our territory, so he knows it’s neutral. I don’t want him getting any stupid ideas. Clink, call Ruiz and update him on what we know. The fucker already tried messing with our supply. We need more security for our drops on both ends. Brewer, set up a run through our territory. I want a show of force.”

They left, and I was going to push to my feet to leave too when Croy stopped me. “Not you. Sit down.”

I slowly lowered myself back into my seat, eyeing him warily. “Prez?”

He ignored me, taking the phone Reaper handed him. He scrolled through whatever Reaper was showing him and nodded once before handing it back. Then he looked back at me.

“You said more than once that this asshole was coming for you through a woman. The same chick who was in your room last night?”

A heavy weight settled in my gut. “Yeah… Her name’s Mariah.”

His face gave away nothing. I had no idea why he was asking about her. She wasn’t part of this. She was an innocent caught in the crossfire. She shouldn’t have been involved in the first place.

“I’m pulling her security. I want to draw this asshole out. If he wants her as badly as you say he does, he’ll come for her. Then we can get our hands on him.”

CHAPTER 38

MARIAH

Going back to work wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped. I thought with enough distractions, I could get through it, but my head snapped around every time the door opened and I jumped if anyone dropped a book or shut the door too hard. Regina must’ve noticed because she didn’t fight me taking over story time. Being around the littles helped a bit, but as soon as they were out the front door, I was feeling twitchy again.

“Okay. I’ve tried to be patient, but something is obviously wrong. Time for you to tell me what’s going on,” Regina said, sitting down beside me. Her expression was firm, but her touch was kind as she put her hand on mine.

I shook my head automatically. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Is it about that slimy biker? Is he bothering you again?”

Technically, yes. And that was part of it. But his whole crew showed up last night. Or at least enough of them to cause that much damage and murder someone. When it was just him coming after me, I felt like I could deal with that. I had self-defense lessons and a taser in my purse. I could take on one slimy biker with a god complex. But I couldn’t do anything about an entire crew. And I doubted the silent alarm would be enough if they tried to come here. I didn't want Regina or anyone else getting hurt because of me, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take for Chase or hiscrew to deal with Trick, either. I wasn’t well off enough to be able to quit my job and walk away.

My head and my heart were conflicted, too. Seeing the heartache on Chase’s face, feeling the way he clung to me, it all made me feel closer to him. Too close, maybe. I was falling for him, and that would make walking away just that much harder. But I felt like I needed to. For my safety and the safety of everyone around me. Staying with my parents was fine for a night or two, but Trick found me once. It wouldn’t be that hard for him to find me again. The town wasn’t that big. And I didn't want him hurting my family.

The fear of what was coming, the despair over what was lost, and the sadness over what I’d lose if I walked away, all combined to make me an anxious mess, and I couldn’t hide that from Regina. Not after everything I’d been through in the last few months.

“That slimy biker, Trick–”

“Now that’s not very nice,” a familiar voice drawled. “I took you out on a date and everything.”

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