Page 28 of Dagger

He jerked a nod. “I’ll get on it as soon as we’ve finished here.”

Elise’s brow furrowed, and I marveled at just how fucking cute my woman looked. I studied the bruises on her face, and my jaw clenched just as my fingers involuntarily twitched with the need to ball into fists.

“You okay?” I asked.

The furrows on her brow deepened, and she turned to Colt. “Are you authorized to screw with Barrington’s money?”

“Not exactly, Duchess,” Colt replied gently. “But what Hannigan doesn’t know won’t hurt him, and if it helps us catch the bad guys, I’m all for it.”

She fell silent for a minute before cocking her head. “Don’t let this one,” she jerked her thumb toward me, “get you on the wrong side of Hannigan.”

My back stiffened.

Abe laughed softly.

“I like her,” Cash announced.

“Yeah,” I agreed, shooting Elise a meaningful stare. “Me too.”

She blinked, and her cheeks flushed.

I had to bite back a groan at the fact my dick took that opportunity to twitch like a motherfucker.

It had been a long time since I’d been with a woman, but I wasn’t a teenage boy, and I could control my urges just fine. Still, with Elise being so close, my control was being tested in ways I never thought possible.

Cash elbowed me and muttered, “Down, boy.”

“Fuck off,” I muttered back.

Atlas took the opportunity to raise his hand and point at Stafford. “What the fuck went on that night when you dumpedthe van containing those girls on the road leading from town? Who chased us, and who the fuck fired on our asses? Was it the Feds?”

Stafford glanced at Colt before his eyes slid to Atlas, then to me. “Case of mistaken identity. Those girls were bound for transport, so we made a plan to dump the van for our agents to pick up. We decided to tell Henderson I was ambushed and got away by the skin of my teeth. At first, my colleagues thought you were the Sinners. It was only when they got close to Bowie on his bike that they saw he was a Speed Demon and backed off.”

“They fuckin’ shot at us,” Atlas said accusingly.

Brett grinned. “Didn’t hit you though.”

The boys chuckled while I sat back in my chair, mind going over everything we’d learned.

Seemed the Feds were close to nabbing Henderson, but they still had a way to go before they gathered enough evidence to take his sick buddies down with him. The Sinners had already proven to be a problem, but with the added threat of being taken down, they’d step up their game, and the first people they’d come for were the Demons.

My club needed to be ready for out-and-out war, and that included our women and kids. The men we were dealing with were hardened criminals and had everything to lose. They wouldn’t go down without a fight.

My officers needed me to rally them, but I couldn’t do that effectively with the damned Feds listening in to our convo. Club business wasn’t their business.

“Need to talk to my boys,” I said pointedly, my stare going to Colt. “Can you get started on making Barrington’s cash disappear, and take Brett and Elise with ya?”

He nodded and got to his feet, followed by Stafford.

“You don’t have to send us out. We can all help each other,” Elise offered quietly. “Ican help you, John.”

“You already have, Leesy,” I replied, dipping my head to look her in the eye. “But what I’ve gotta say to my officers is private.”

“And there’s me actually starting to believe the club has changed,” she sassed.

My eyes narrowed at the snit in her voice. “It has. You’re a woman sittin’ in Church. We gotta gaggle of other women out there who can make grown men’s balls shrivel up inside their stomachs on the daily, and we love the bones of ‘em for it. You’re not bein’ dismissed ‘cause you’re a woman, Leesy; you’re bein’ dismissed ‘cause you’re working with the Feds. We’ll have another meet and dig deeper about Henderson, baby, but for now, my officers and I have to work out our next move.”

“Don’t call me baby,” Elise bit out angrily.

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