Page 46 of Dozer

I tilted my head in agreement. “I’m a yes.”

“When Sully is ready to step down, I want Dozer for my enforcer.”

I stood, checked the hall, and closed the office door. My gut tightened, and a low hum clouded my thoughts. After the situation with the Crawlers, Blade proved to me I’d made the right call backing him as president.

Going legit didn’t mean hard decisions could be avoided.

“We need to talk about the Crawlers,” I said.

Bullet had disposed of the bodies. His property stretched into the foothills. They’d found their final resting spot among the scrub and oak.

“I want to set up a meeting with the cartel,” I said.

“What the fuck for?” Blade asked.

I returned to the chair and sat. “Because we have a common enemy.”

The three dead Crawlers had settled the score. Wrench wouldn’t see it that way. He and I still had our unresolved issues. I didn’t see those as Heller issues. They were personal.

The cartel hadn’t accepted the loss of their heroin. Knowing his club wasn’t going to save him, Stitch had given up the information I needed.

“We know where they’re milling the heroin, cutting it with fuck knows what. I think it’s time we make a deal with the cartel, let them know who has their product.”

“I’ve got my issues with the Crawlers,” Blade said. “But we’re a small time MC dealing in stolen car parts. Razor made the mistake of thinking he could get in bed with the guys supplying H up the eastern seaboard.”

I leaned forward. “Stitch wasn’t bullshitting when he said Wrench wanted to see the Hellers burn.”

“In a couple weeks, we talk to Wrench,” Blade said.

I drew in a deep inhale through my nose. “Your old man double-crossed the Crawlers. Promised the cartel he could mill and distribute. He was determined to kill Wrench and take over the Crawler’s network. Heplanned to patch over the Crawlers, make them Hellers. He needed Vance back in to modify the weapons for his new army of dealers.”

Blade leaned back in the chair and scrubbed his face with his palms. “He’s going to fuck me over from the grave.”

“Nah, Razor’s deals died with him. We need to make new deals.”

“Not without a vote.”

I shook my head. “You can’t mix the club in with this. It’s separate.”

“Fuck it is. Anywhere I go I represent this club. Rogue, I told you I’m not my old man.”

I growled. “Did you ask the club how they felt about new leadership before you stuck the needle in Razor?”

The color drained from Blade’s face. He sank into the chair. I leaned across the desk. “No. You made a decision that you’d carry alone because you love this club. Because at the end of the day, leaders make the hard fucking decisions. You don’t pussy out or table it for a vote.”

Fuck, I didn’t want this to become a rub between us. Just as he had in the barn, Blade needed to own his choice.

“It’s got to be a yes from you. I’m not running this club. I’m not making decisions on my own anymore.”

His head snapped up, and his gaze locked with mine. “Anymore? What decisions have you made on your own?”

My jaw clenched. I’d chased behind Razor attempting to clean up his wreckage. “I trustedWrench. Now, Texas is dead, we’re in a war with the Crawlers, and the only way I see us getting out is letting the cartel get their hands bloody instead of Hellers.”

I growled and cracked my neck. “I’m done with this shit. I want to schedule a run down to Daytona or Sturgis. I want to get back to riding bikes and riding pussy.”

“We trust Toja Ortiz more than the Night Crawlers?”

“Fuck no. We fuck them both.”

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