Page 9 of In the Midst of Chaos

Instead of moving, I stayed behind her, resting my arms on the back of her chair, on either side of her neck. When she stiffened, it gave me a sick satisfaction to know that I still affected her.

“Looking good, Gunner.” Finley smiled at the MC President as she crossed her legs.

I could feel the rage coming from my brother. As for me, I found it sexy as hell, and I knew being attracted to Finley was trouble. Liking Finley meant betraying my brother, and I couldn’t do it. At least not anymore.

“Finney.” Gunner nodded. “I’d hoped you’d stay away longer.”

Nate snorted, and Finley chuckled.

“Me too, Gun-Gun, me too.”

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked. “The shipment from Ireland gets here tomorrow. From the airport, we have to transport it here, and then we can distribute the arms to the buyers.”

Before Gunner could reply, Finley spoke again.

“Where’s Crow?” Her head moved around the table and then stopped on Venom, the club brother’s father.

“He’s locked up,” he told her.

“Ever since it happened, the feds have been on our asses,” Gunner said.

“Do you think he turned rat?” Finley asked.

Venom’s hand came down hard on the table. “My boy would never betray the club.”

Finley didn’t flinch; she just shrugged and relaxed back against the chair, her neck pressing against my thumb.

Before I could think things through, I started to caress her nape.

“How many crates are there?” The tilt of her head was the only indication I got that her question was directed at me.

“Twenty.” It was a lot of firepower, and if caught, we would get in some serious shit.

“Gunner,” Finley said in a sweet voice.

“Here we fucking go,” the president muttered.

“Can I have my welcome-back party at the bar? And maybe leave a few brothers behind to, I don’t know—riot or something?”

“You’re paying for the damage.” Gunner pointed a finger at me.

“You are already making more than enough with the guns.” Finley crossed her arms, and I was so damn proud of her for standing her ground and for the family.

“My bar tends to get destroyed whenever you waltz in.”

“I’ll stay behind and party,” Nate added right away to cut off Gunner’s comment.

I cut Nate with a look.

“You’re coming with me,” I told him. One, because I trusted him to have my back, and two, because I didn’t want him with Finley. It’s not that I didn’t trust him; it was that I was—fuck—I was jealous of the friendship they had. He got to touch her and hug her all while I could look but not touch.

Nate took a drag from his cigarette, then ashed it. “Become VP—it will be fun, they said. This is bull. I never get to have fun anymore.”

“Brother, you got a fucking STD from fucking so much at the last lock-in.” Andre laughed.

Gunner, annoyed with all of us, told us to shut the fuck up. Then we started to strategize the pickup and the drop, all while Finley’s welcome-back party would serve as a distraction to get the cops who weren’t on our payroll off our back.

“Nathaniel,” Finley called as we walked back toward the common room.

---