Page 68 of Smooth Sailing

There was something else.

Something huge.

A mountain between him and a life.

A mountain between him and his Club.

A mountain between him and whatever might happen with Diana.

A mountain he’d been eyeing since he joined Chaos, and he still didn’t know if he wanted to climb it.

His life was steady and predictable. He couldn’t say he was happy, he couldn’t even say he was content.

He could say he was breathing, he was safe, he didn’t have to worry about money, and he had people he respected around him.

And with the life he’d led up to Chaos, that was better than he expected he’d get.

Scaling that mountain to see what was on the other side? Something that could be an oasis. Or it could be a desert of shit.

In his experience, the most likely vista was a desert of shit.

So…yeah.

Climbing that mountain was all kinds of iffy.

But now was now.

Big Petey had been right, there was something more with Suzette.

She knew something.

Something that Babic was tweaked about even more than being convicted of a rape that included serious physical injury, which would give the man a minimum of twenty-five years, and a maximum of life.

So it was something big.

This meant it wasn’t only Pete they left back at Diana’s place. Muzzle was there too. Driver was back, and he’d brought another Aces brother, Gash. They were sitting outside the coffee joint, a table away from a couple of goons.

Babic wanted to make a statement?

They were gonna make one too.

He pulled into the parking lot of some public tennis courts off a road called Indian School. Eight was already there. And for some fucked up reason, even though it was a hundred and six degrees outside, two lunatics were playing tennis.

Other than that, no one was around.

He rolled up beside Eight, parked, and Diana jumped off.

He swung his leg over after she did.

Eight eyed her, looked to Hugger and grinned.

“You say no to her,” Hugger replied to Eight’s unspoken comment.

Eight’s grin got bigger before he asked Diana, “What kind of tacos are we havin’ tonight?”

She huffed before she shared, “Harlan doesn’t want tacos every night. I’m making white chili and serving it with Red Lobster biscuits.”

“What time?” Eight asked.

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