Page 104 of Deserter

My heart raced and I fought to hide the grin that was creeping onto my face. Things had been calm with the syndicate in place.

Too calm.

Bear, who’d always been partial to Molly, waited impatiently in the hallway for an update. “We handlin’ this, Grey?”

“As soon as we know she’s gonna be okay and we get her settled, we’ll deal with the gangbanger.”

The bedroom door opened, and Doc stepped out. “I gave her some meds for the pain. She’ll be out for a while. It’s gonna leave a scar, but it could’ve been a lot worse.”

I cracked my knuckles, already gearing up for the fight. “The baby?”

Doc smiled. “Guy was stupid. Without the lights, he assumed that he took care of it. Blade didn’t go in deep and missed damn near everything. He did beat the shit out of her though, so now we wait and see.”

Bear brought a fist up to his mouth, suddenly looking a little green. “Baby? She’s knocked up?”

“The fuck does it matter?” Wolverine snapped. “We gonna kill this guy or plan a goddamn baby shower?”

I smirked. “The old man needs to get the murderin’ over with so he can get back to bed. He’s got a prostate exam in the morning.”

“Fuck you. I don’t want that cocksucker breathing the same air as her for a second longer than necessary.”

His jaw tightened and I backed off. I’d seen the old man deal with any number of threats against the club without breaking a sweat.

This was family though.

“We aren’t leaving her here.”

I turned back to Bear, ready to remind him who called the shots, when I saw the look on his face for what it was.

The idiot had fallen for a nineteen-year-old girl. And make no mistake, Molly was still very much a girl. She was flighty and flaky and had almost ended up dead at the hands of the latest punk in a long line of punks.

He was thirty and up until a few seconds ago, appeared to have his shit together. Obviously that assumption had been incorrect because the guy had his head wedged so far up his own ass that it was back on top of his shoulders.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I growled. “Bear, you and Doc get Molly to my place. The rest of us will handle the grown-up shit while you help her pick out colors for the nursery. You can babysit until we’re back.”

The ride over to the topless bar was uneventful, but as we roared into a nearby parking lot and my men began dismounting and drawing their weapons, it became clear that they were aching for blood just as much as I was.

“Outlaws still control this club?” Wolverine asked as we stepped off our bikes.

I nodded. “Yeah. I got some ideas on how to handle that problem though.”

With a laugh he said, “I bet you do. Now, hear mine.” His smile disappeared and he was suddenly serious again. “Ain’t gonna be one witness left in that building to say jack shit about what went on tonight. How’s that strike you?”

I adjusted my skull ring with a grin. “Look at you, old man. Getting on the same page as me and everything. We send ‘em to meet the Reaper and torch the place. I figure if we send in Hawk for the girls—”

“Maybe you didn’t hear me. Not one witness.”

Fuck.

I wasn’t okay with taking out women, especially not ones who had fuck all to do with a situation like this.

“No,” I finally said, shaking my head.

Wolverine paused with his gun in his hands. “The fuck you mean, no? You put the goddamned syndicate in place, Jamie. You really think that if the Outlaws get wind of this that they’re still gonna play by your rules? They’ll bring a war. Now, we make it quick. They won’t know what hit ‘em.”

I hadn’t gone up against him as long as I could remember. If there was ever a hill to die on though, this was it. “Last I checked, you handed over the motherfucking reins to me. I control this club and I’m telling you that we aren’t taking out innocent people—”

“You realize what you’re doing? You’re signing a death warrant for every man here right now. You can take your goddamn treaty and wipe your ass with it for as much as it’ll be worth after tonight.”

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