Page 33 of Out for Blood

Bear grunted, and moved away from her as she came to sit back down with us. People started to stir on the grounds as her face turned serious again.

“We should talk.”

This couldn’t be good.

“I need to make another coffee before we talk about this.”

“Oh please,” Orla got up and moved behind the bar to make the coffee. “You couldn’t even make the first one properly. I’ll make it and bring it outside. I don’t want ears on us.”

Hawk and I looked at each other, dread filling me. Orla knew everyone and anyone in this town. She knew the deep, dark secrets, and she knew how to protect the club. She’d been doing it for years, even when we weren’t around.

Whatever she had to say…if she didn’t want our own club’s ears on it, that meant bad news and for once, I didn’t know if I was ready for it.

Hawk sat with me and Orla out on the side porch, away from prying eyes and ears. He was satisfied with the coffee Orla had made for him, which I could see was annoying him.

“How the hell do you get it to taste so good?” Hawk asked, looking down at the coffee as if it was a magic potion. “It’s the same damn machine I use.”

“Yes, my dear friend, but you suck at making coffee.”

“What’s going on, Or?” I asked, interrupting them before they got into an all out war with each other.

“I was at an event last night,” she said. “I knew Neal would be there, so I decided that I would do some hunting around to see if he would notice I was there and his ex-wife wasn’t.”

“And?”

“He noticed,” she said, pulling a smoke from her bag and lighting it. “He’s going to try and run you guys out of town. He knows the girls are here. They aren’t safe anymore, Coop.”

“Why?”

“He has always had plans for them. He thinks women are his to sell for something he wants. He did it to Sheridan once. Made her give some guy a blowjob in front of a room of people. Now, he thinks those girls are his to control, so he’s going to sell theirvirginities to the highest bidder. He wants to run Kilkenny and if the depraved are here, willing to take innocent girl’s virginities, then he’ll do it too.”

I felt the rage build in me before I grabbed a smoke off her and lit it myself. Like fucking hell he would touch those girls.

“He needs to fucking disappear, Ace,” Hawk said through gritted teeth. “All the boys would agree.”

“Sheridan never told me that.”

“Why would she?” Orla replied. “She was embarrassed for a long time. Ever since that night, she had walked on eggshells around him until the girls were old enough to understand why she had to leave the house. She still protected them the best she could, and since he never touched them, she knew it was safe, but he’s just a sick S.O.B.”

“Did he hurt you?” Hawk asked her.

“No, he wouldn’t do that. I’m not his type.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m not a pushover. I mean, Sheridan wasn’t always, but after years of his gaslighting, she broke.”

I wanted to crush his fucking windpipe and burn him alive. I stubbed my smoke out.

“Hawk, grab Chains. We’ll go and visit the fucker.”

Orla jumped up. “Well, I’ll go and keep Sheridan busy so she doesn’t notice you missing. She’ll try and stop you otherwise.”

She was right. Sheridan was too good for her own good. I nodded and headed to my bike, putting my helmet on and waited for the boys to join me. The longer I waited, the longer I wanted to run my foot all up and down his face and string him up naked for the town to view.

Chains and Hawk jumped on their bikes and we took off down the road and into the town with vengeance on our minds.

SHERIDAN

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