Page 45 of I Should Hate You-but I Don't

He disconnected the call. While he'd told Kingsley about their dad almost getting killed in prison during his last phone conversation, he hadn't informed him that he'd put a requestinto visit Tom Pruitt. Whether River and Kenna's dad allowed him to come in and talk with him was still up in the air.

There was nothing he could do until he heard from the prison.

"Hey, Prez?" Big John approached him, turning his baseball hat backward. "We had visitors today."

"Do I even want to know?"

"Probably not, but seeing how they were on official business, I think I better tell you." Big John reached inside his vest and extracted a piece of paper. "Sheriff Hampton wanted me to pass this on to you. He's interested to know if these two men are familiar to you?"

He unfolded the paper and held it closer, squinting. It was a piece of copy paper with two scanned driver's licenses—in black and white, no less.

Angling the paper, he studied the pictures. The names weren't familiar to him, but the pictures were. Rachet and Palmer.

"You know them?" asked Big John.

He rolled the paper up and slipped it into his pocket. "What's the sheriff want with them?"

"They're suspects in the arson happening around here."

He fisted his hand and absorbed that bit of information. So the fires were aimed at Gem Haven. A scare tactic, maybe. A threat, definitely.

"We need to up security. Have Guy get at least four members who are willing to go up on the ridge and camp out. I want eyes looking for any sign of fires around the clock." He took out his phone. "All of Gem Haven gets locked down at ten o'clock. Tell the members no visitors are allowed at the clubhouse or the cabins. For now, we'll let those in the campground visit the bar, but be prepared to have that stopped immediately at any sign of trouble."

Big John whistled. "You think the arson is a personal message to Gem Haven."

"The sheriff's suspects are two Valdone Motorcycle Club members." He met Big John's gaze. "They want Gem Haven."

"I remember your dad having problems with them years ago. There were a few times, we weren't sure if he'd hold on to the compound."

The last time Valdone made a play for Gem Haven, Zane was ten years old. Most of what he'd learned about that time, he'd done so by going through his dad's records, which he kept in the office.

"He wouldn't let Valdone steal from him." He widened his stance. "If they keep setting fires, I'll go after them. I'm not going to sit back and watch them burn the whole mountain down."

Snake approached him carrying a box. "Where do you want them?"

He'd purchased another load of rifles for the club. They needed to be assembled in the next several days.

"For now, put them in Cabin D." He looked toward the door. "How many boxes are there?"

"Twelve in all." Snake shifted the weight of the box. "Razz and Conner are out there with the hand truck."

He addressed Big John. "Let's get some of the members on the manufacturing. The sooner they're done, the better."

Big John walked off to oversee the production. Zane strode outside, looked through one box, and nodded his approval to Razz. Getting more weapons was the right decision.

A loud whoop drew his attention away from the delivery. He gazed down the hill toward the bar. Snake jogged away from his bike toward the front of the building. He squinted, recognizing the backpack before realizing River was the woman Snake was talking to.

He checked his watch. Time flew. He hadn't realized River was off work yet.

Hopping on his motorcycle, he rode to the bar and pulled between the two. Close enough, Snake backed up so as not to get hit by the Harley.

"Get on." He flipped the footpeg.

She waved to Snake and stepped up, throwing her leg over the seat as she slid behind him. He put the other peg down and ensured her foot was on it.

Without acknowledging Snake, he looped around and took the private road that would lead him to the entrance of the Gem Haven compound. Once through the gate, he opened the throttle.

River hugged his back. Confident that she was secure on his motorcycle after having her ride with him for the last several years, he whisked her away from the land he called home, the people he called family.

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