Page 3 of Lorcan

“We’ll go and talk to Ace, but we’re not interrogating them, Finn. I just want to talk to them.”

Finn didn’t agree. I could see it in his eyes but he nodded and headed over to his car. I looked once more on the crumbling building before me, just knowing this was going to ignite a giant stick up both my brothers’ asses.

But fuck it. If they had done their job right, we’d have gotten Ronan before this shit got worse. It was time for me to mop up the mess, per usual, and set Ireland back on track.

Finn hated being here. I could tell. He and I had been friends for years, he’d always had my back, but he was a stubborn bastard. We made our way through the woods on foot, our car wouldn’t make it through these narrow tracks. It made it perfect for them though, it was just wide enough for their bikes.

As we came up to the clearing where they had built their clubhouse, I could hear music pumping and loud shouting. It was funny how the woods hid the noise and the raucous behaviour from everyone else.

A few of the men outside quickly got up and headed inside when they saw us, obviously to alert the president. The women they were talking to remained outside, but kept a wary eye on us. I held my hand out to stop Finn from moving any further. I wanted to remain amicable with these guys for as long as possible. They could come to us.

Finn was already edgy. This could either be amicable for all parties, or he’d lose his shit and start an all out war which we didn’t need right fucking now.

“Relax,” I said, under my breath. “I need you to be fucking level right now.”

His shoulders relaxed a little bit and he waited. I turned back to see the president, Ace, and his VP, Dog, coming our way. I didn’t like Dog one bit, there was just something angry and unjust about him but I knew Ace to be a good man.

He was the reason I hadn’t run them out yet.

“Lorcan,” Ace greeted me as he got to us. “You are welcome to come inside.”

“I’d rather we met without prying ears,” I put forth. Instantly, I saw Dog’s shoulder tense and his upper lip curl in defensiveness. “Had an incident earlier today and wanted to run it by you, in case you heard anything.”

“Sure,” he offered. “We don’t hear much, Lorcan, we stick to our club and that’s it as you know.”

“One of my businesses was torched early this morning,” I said. “A brazen attack, for sure, and I know we have our enemies but I have to ask.”

“You think because we’re an MC, we would want to burn your damn studio down?” Ace asked me.

Instantly, I felt a shift between us all. I’d never said it was my studio. Finn caught onto it as well. Ace turned to his VP and told him to shift off. One angry exchange of looks later and he was trudging back to the clubhouse.

“He’s a hot head but he means well,” Ace said. “I’m sorry, we hadn’t heard anything but if we do, you’ll be the first to know about it.”

“How did he know it was the studio?” Finn asked.

“He was working overnight, he probably saw it,” Ace said, but I could see he didn’t believe it himself. I didn’t want to believe it could be him, but neither could Ace. he would close ranks.

I knew how these things went. Just like we would. “Like I said, anything we hear, we’ll come calling.”

I shook Ace’s hand and moved off, having an awful feeling I was about to get shot in the back but I kept going.

This was just one minor thing I had to deal with. Ronan was the first and foremost on my agenda. My phone dinged with a message as soon as I got in the car. I looked down at my business manager’s name. Keeva was a constant friend and someone I trusted implicitly.

KEEVA

Can you come to mine? I need to talk to you.

She wouldn’t ask me if it wasn’t important and I knew that but fuck me it was bad timing. Finn tore out of the spot we’d parked in as I put my car into gear.

LORCAN

Sure. I’ll be there in five.

Putting my phone in the center console, I took off toward Keeva’s penthouse suite at the new luxury apartments that had gone up in the last year. I had to be paying her too much if she could afford that, but I was happy for her. She’d once been a porn star working for my uncle’s business. From the stories I’d heard, he’d not exactly been accommodating toward his star’s, more like he took a little double dipping that went a little far. Keeva didn’t have anything to say about him but that just made me wary of what could have happened to her. I know when I took over, a lot of the star’s were pleased.

I rolled up at the apartment block and got out, heading through the security gate with a slight wave to the guard on duty who buzzed me in. I got in the elevator and hit the button for her floor. A little flap opened on the side with a keypad. She’d given me the code before but I could never remember it. I grabbed my phone and called her.

“It’s 7026,” she answered immediately and hung up.

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