Page 19 of The MC's Little Brother

“No, I’ve never seen that before. Do you know the name of the crew?”

She nodded. “They’re called the Devil’s Disciples. Apparently, they’re located not far from here. I wasn’t sure if I needed to be worried or not.”

The logo I didn’t know. The name, though. I was familiar with that. “I know about them. They’re dangerous. Did you see the logo around here?”

“No. The precinct that sent us the warning is close to the border with Arizona. They’ve driven through their area before. Can you tell me anything about them?”

I frowned, handing her back her phone. “Not a lot. They’re an outlaw crew. They think they can make up their own rules. And because they’re more likely to resolve issues with violence, they get away with it. We don’t associate with crews like that.”

She put her hand up before I could get defensive. “I didn’t say you did. I just want more information. Since there’s been a lot of strife between the station and your crew, I thought maybe if we started working together more, we might be able to bridge the gap a little.”

That actually didn’t sound like a bad idea. We needed to make some headway with the local cops so the harassment would stop. They were leaving us alone for now, probably because Prez and his law partner were throwing lawsuits at them left and right, but I didn’t know how long that would last.

“Let me do more research. I don’t think they’ve ever come to this area before, but it’s better to be cautious with crews like theirs.”

She dipped her chin to acknowledge me. “I appreciate that. Normally I’d go to Lawson with this stuff, but with the lawsuit, it’d look really bad for me. I noticed you jogging past Main Street and figured it was better to ask than let any of the new guys panic and start assuming that the crew had anything to do with yours.”

I was going to tell Prez anyway, but I understood her caution. “Thanks. I’ll get back to you with more information.”

She left, and I made a phone call to Prez to let him know what went down before finishing my jog home. I had a lot of shit going on right now, but if it was for my crew, I could take a little time to get Hernandez the information she needed.

Xander was awake when I got back, poking around in the fridge. He still looked rough, but he didn’t jump or flinch when I came in, which was a start.

“Hey. Did you eat?”

He shook his head. “We finished the pizza last night.”

And I didn’t have much in the way of ready-made crap. I liked cooking. It got me away from my computer for a while.

“Gimme five minutes to clean up. I’ll make something.”

I ducked into my room to grab my stuff before heading upstairs. The one bad thing about this house was that there was only one shower. There was a half bath right next to the kitchen, but it didn’t have room for me to add to it. I cleaned up quickly since I didn’t know how long Xander had been waiting, but when I came downstairs, he wasn’t in the kitchen anymore. I paused, listening for him. Where the hell did he go?

12

Melissa

My vacation was officially over, and I had to head to work that morning, but I figured I’d stop by Wraith’s to check in on the brothers before I went in. They were still awkward around each other and I hadn’t figured out yet how to change that. They were still home when I got there since Wraith’s bike was still in the driveway. I was going to knock on the door when I noticed Xander standing on his toes to look through the garage window. I didn’t want to startle him, so I shut my door loudly to signal my presence and lifted a hand to wave at him when he looked over his shoulder. He looked guilty, but there was nothing wrong with being curious.

“Did you want to take a look?”

He lifted a shoulder uneasily. “I was just curious.”

“Sure. Lemme grab the key.”

I ducked into the house long enough to find the key to the garage. I knew Wriath kept it locked, but I didn’t know where he kept the key. I eventually found it in a drawer in the kitchen. I could hear the shower running and forcefully ignored that mental image in favor of heading back outside with Xander. Thor was at his feet, happy as a clam, since Xander wasscratching behind his ear. I chuckled, giving his chin a scritch before opening the garage door.

“Woah,” Xander breathed, coming to stand beside me. I nodded.

“Most of the guys’ garages look like this, honestly. Not all of them know the mechanics of their bikes, but those that don’t pay Butch to help them with restoration. Usually by exchanging babysitting because he doesn’t like charging his brothers money.”

“Is he on the crew?”

I nodded. “Sure is. You’ll meet them all soon.”

He didn’t look overly excited by the prospect, but he’d figure out soon that they weren’t that bad. The crew looked rough, but they were all teddy bears at heart. Even Wraith, who was stoic with adults, but sweet with Gracie. He was teaching her coding because they were so similar and she was crazy smart.

Since it didn’t look like Xander would go into the garage on his own, I went in first, studying the bike Wraith was upgrading. I knew my fair share about bikes, having been raised by a biker crew, and this one was an old classic. Smaller than his bike now, but once it was done, it’d probably sell for a lot. Xander shuffled forward, trailing his eyes over the parts curiously.

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