Page 23 of The Devil's Conflict

“Probably figured people would see that and give it back to him without much other thought,” I agree. “Could it be another kind of cipher like Misha used on his phone?” Considering that Crypt is currently working on decoding the one that Cryos managed to get off of Vlad’s old underboss’s phone, he might be able to see if it’s the same kind of one or something different.

“Call Shadow first,” Bullet orders. “We’ll need him to have a look at this. Then, once we talk to him, we’ll call Church to decide what to do next.” He looks at me. “Rose offered to stay and watch the bar, and I’m going to put Theo and Hulk here to watch while we head out. Or do you need to stay?”

I shake my head. “Rose has this place well in hand, and Sandy is a good back-up.”

“Alright, then let’s ride out and figure out what the hell this fucker was hiding now. I’m about done with all this bullshit. Might be time we get back to boots on the ground and find Vlad the old-fashioned way.”

“You won’t hear a complaint from me,” I tell him as I follow him out.

“I’ll patch this up later,” Stone offers. “And it might not hurt to have Syn come in with the dogs after hours or first thing in the morning when no one is here to check and see if Dagger hid anything else in here too.”

“She feeling up to that?” I ask, knowing how badly the morning sickness has been affecting her.

“She’s trying to be as normal as she can,” Stone replies. “I’ll talk to her, and she honestly will probably want to anyway. She’s worried the dogs will regress in their training since she doesn’t have as much energy. I offered to help her, but she about bit my head off at the suggestion, so I don’t think she’d agree to me bringing one of them myself.”

“Welcome to life with a pregnant woman, son.” Bullet chuckles. “When your mother was pregnant with you, she alternated between sobbing, laughing her ass off, or throwing shit at me. It was a roller coaster ride for nine months. She did better with your brothers though. Clearly, you were the problem.”

I snicker, and Stone ignores him as we step out and shut and lock the door again. We make our way down the hall, with Bulletstopping to let Rose know we’re heading out. I follow Stone out to our bikes. I ignore the pouts that Amanda and Blair send my way when they try to get my attention.

“Those are the new servers?” Stone questions once we’re outside and out of earshot. Hulk pulls up just as I straddle my bike. I nod. Stone sighs. “Brother, those two are going to be trouble.”

“Yeah, I know,” I grumble. “But I need servers.”

Stone chuckles. “I don’t have to worry about Syn since she’s not going to be in here for a while since she can barely stand the smell of alcohol right now, but I can already imagine if those two get too friendly with King or Viper, there’s going to be a catfight.”

“I think Izzy would get scrappy,” I muse thoughtfully. “She’s quiet, but she’s wily.”

Stone nods. “Yeah, true. Still, it’s trouble in the making, brother. I hope you got a back-up plan.”

“Not yet, but I will.” I sigh as Bullet comes out. Then I give him a wry smile and add, “Just means we might need to top up that bail fund a little more.”

Stone chuckles. “We just might.”

“Let’s ride,” Bullet announces as he climbs on his bike, nods at Hulk, then starts it up and we’re heading back into town, the notebook securely in the breast pocket of my cut. Time to see if we can figure out what secrets Dagger was trying to hide.

ELEVEN

THEA

It’s time to meet the Coven and figure out why the men are so scared of a bunch of women.

I get backto the office even more frustrated than when I left. The asshole I was guarding today was the kind of guy that if he were in the military and under my charge, I’d have taken him to the ground and proved to him that he wasn’t shit and made sure to embarrass him in front of all his buddies. I only had to do it a couple of times, but it was enough to get the point across.

The asshole, Chad Merrithew, is some wannabe celebrity influencer that spent the entire day with his phone in his hand walking around and talking about how he’s so famous he gets the hot bodyguard. When I pointed out the contract he signed stated I am not to be on camera, he got belligerent and sulky. Especially when I confiscated his phone twice and deleted the videos he was trying to post of me. He threatened to fire me,but the moment I headed for the door and reminded him he still had to pay for my services for the whole day no matter what, he realized I wasn’t going to be pushed around.

So the rest of the day he spent calling me uptight, or trying to get me in his videos without my face. However, as soon as my time was up, he lost all chill and tried to pin me against the wall to kiss me, telling me he knew I had a thing for him. I left the stupid bastard gasping for air on the floor without so much as a word, and then took his phone and deleted the video I knew he was trying to record. He was pissed, I could see it in his eyes, but I didn’t give a shit. I just hope that the next woman who might be around him will be strong enough to handle him. I’ll mention it to Shadow and see if he wants me to report it or not, but I would guess no. Bikers don’t really like to deal with cops after all.

I park my car out front and stalk inside, ignoring the curious look from Eric when he sees me. My shift is about done, and I desperately need to go home and relax. It’s Friday, which means I’m off for the weekend, and it’s the first one where I’ll have the apartment to myself. And while I love my brother, I’m excited for the quiet too. Not to mention, I need to clean and do all the boring shit that I’ve let slack this week, which isn’t like me.

I head straight to my desk to get to work on the report that needs to be completed, ignoring the looks that I get from everyone. I hear someone approach and glance over to see Bowie standing there. He’s one of the more quiet ones around here, but I’ve also figured out that he’s also the one in everyone’s business. He’s subtle about it, but I have no doubt that there isn’t much this guy doesn’t know or realize. “Problem?” he asks, leaning against the side of my desk.

“Not unless you count the idiot client I just left,” I tell him tiredly. “Oh, and I probably should tell Shadow he’s probably going to get a complaint call about me.”

“Why?”

I pause for a moment, unsure of how much to reveal to him. Though I guess he’ll hear about it eventually. “The asshole tried to pin me against a door at the end of the day and I put him on his ass,” I reply simply.

Bowie’s expression doesn’t change, but his eyes do. They go hard and cold as ice. “Did he now?”

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