Page 67 of Butcher

“Boys!” Ruck called out and everyone quieted down. “These are the friends from Tucson we’ve been telling you about. I’m not going around the fucking room like this is some kind of convention and introducing you all, so go do your thing and get to know one another.” Ruck grinned over at Lock. “Come on, let’s get a beer.”

For the next half hour I dragged Isla along with me as Toxic introduced all of us to people. He was the social one so it was always easier to let him lead. I couldn’t help but grin at the road names as we met each man present. It just brought me back to my military days.

“We’d all go with you if we could,” a man named Relay told us with a wistful look on his face.

“Yeah,” another said. “It’s been too damn long since I’ve seen any action. Starting to get itchy, you know?”

I knew exactly what he meant. Toxic shot me a grin and I knew exactly what he was thinking. These were our kind of men. The kind who craved violence and destruction.

“Pretty sure if you’re getting itchy, Code, that means you’ve caught something,” One of the others, named Bolo, joked. “Always wrap your dick up.”

We all laughed at that. Even Isla seemed to be relaxing and enjoying herself.

“Who’s your old lady?” Bolo asked, nodding at Isla.

“This is Terror,” I told them. None of the guys approached her, they just gave her friendly nods. “It’s her place we’ll be heading to.”

“Who’s going with us?” Toxic asked.

“Me, Bolo, Drifter, and Overdrive,” Kilo answered. “Ruck’s been in a foul fucking mood all week knowing he can’t come along.”

“Why not?” Isla asked, looking around at them.

Overdrive grinned at her. “Too many responsibilities here to take care of to take him away for a couple days.”

“Besides, if something happens to one of us, no big fucking deal,” Relay added. “Something happens to our prez? All hell will break loose.”

She nodded, looking curious and I knew she was going to spend the rest of our drive picking my brain about club life. I was fine with that. Talking about my club, the rules, our brotherhood, that was easy. Trying to figure out how to navigate the way I was feeling and try to communicate that to this woman? That was infinitely more complicated.

CHAPTER 23

Butcher

“Don’t step there,” Isla warned.

Ricochet froze, foot in the air, and looked over at her. “Why not?”

“There’s a pit trap there,” she told him.

I eyed the leaves covering the forest floor and grinned. This woman was something else. She’d already pointed out the places she’d put animal spring traps down. She wasn’t hunting for wild game though, so she’d put her scent all over the area and there was no bait to be found. Because when the time came, she knew she’d be the bait, and her prey walked on two legs, not four.

“Like the kind with stakes in the ground?” Hellfire asked.

“Yup.”

“Have I told you that I like her?” Smoke asked me. “This is going to be so much fucking fun.”

“Unless you’re runnin’ through andend up with your foot in one of those bear traps,” Hush pointed out. “Won’t be havin’ so much fun then.”

“Look right here,” Isla told us and pointed toward a nearby tree. There was a small gray spot of spray paint near the base. “That lets you know there’s a trap nearby.”

“Smart,” Lock said, studying it.

She shrugged. “I figured I may not remember if I didn’t need to utilize this place for years.” Her eyes were shining with excitement as she smiled over at us. “Hush is right, it would suck to end up stepping in one of those.”

We followed her around as she continued to point out the places she had traps set up. When she’d shown us the last trap, we stopped and took a look around. The cabin was remote. There was only one road in—and it was bumpy as fuck—and out, and the cabin was surrounded by foothills.

“Hush, Priest, let’s take a walk. I want to find the best place to post up our snipers.” He glanced over at Riptide. “You going to be able to set up out here?”

---