Page 51 of Biker's Conquest: Property of Rage

“I’LL FUCKING PAY YOU JUST GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE.”

Doesthis motherfucker want me to rip his head off? I throw my phone down before continuing to search the house for more signs of what might have happened to Keyshawn. I find blood on a wall.Blood…

I barely have time to calm down before Ruger gets there. The smell of cigarette smoke hits me harder in my kitchen, so I walk outside for air to help clear my head, and look for continuing signs of a struggle outside the house. After a few minutes of searching, I find a bootprint – about a size 11 mens.

Right before Rugergets to my place, I find two cigarette butts. Hand-rolled. I pick them up and smell them.

Indian tobacco.

My gut tellsme this has something to do with Oske… Why can’t I get a hold of her ass? I need Ruger on the case here. Because something isn’t right and I don’t like it.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Hunter “Hawk” Sinclair

It took a while for us to talk Deacon Hollingsworth off the fucking ledge.Rage.He cooled off over the years, but this unbridled fury erupts once in a while and now, he’s decided to butt heads with Wyatt, who has been handling his gambling sobriety by being the world’s biggest dickhead. I pull Juliette away from the twins and our older daughter to come to our meeting out at The Fire Spot.

She insists that we take the bike, which I pretend to hate. I fucking love that she’s in love with my hobby. It’s something special we can share together, a life we can share with our kids — without some of the extremes. I feel even more protective of my family these days. There’s nothing wrong with being country, or a little rough around the edges, but I want them to grow up safer than I did.

Dad might have called me soft but… I don’t care. I would do anything to keep this family safe and together.Anything.Juliette holds my hand as we walk into The Fire Spot. The bar looks just like it did when I first met Juliette. There are still bullet holes in the giant pillar down the middle of the building. I squeeze her palm lovingly at thememory of those first days together. Before Santa Fe and the babies. I knew she was mine the second I saw her.

Wyatt sits there staring at his phone with dice rolling across the tops of his fingers. It’s hard not to assume he’s still gambling when he does shit like that. But he sets his phone down and it’s just one of those photo slideshows.

Owen bought his nephew his first cut — and it looks stinking cute.

I try to take his attention away from the photo of his child for a hot second so we can get this business with Deacon over. “So? Deacon. You still don’t trust him?”

“He has to come clean about whatever he’s hiding but… I have no reason not to trust him. He agreed to come here, right?”

"My only job here is to make sure you don't rip each other's throats out."

"I'm fine," Wyatt snarls. "He's the one lying, sneaking around, and now demanding my permission and resources to kill someone. It's fucking crazy."

Ducati engines make a distinct purring sound. The noise slowly approaches the Fire Spot. Wyatt's left foot taps anxiously keeping roughly the same pace of the dice rolling across his fingers.

"Relax," I grunt. "I'll be the mediator."

"What am I supposed to do? Stand around looking cute?" Juliette snaps.

"Yes. As quietly as possible."

She rolls her eyes, but Wyatt's terrifying glare convinces her to stay silent -- at least temporarily. Deacon storms into the bar visibly pissed off. Red all over. Hair a goddamn mess. Cigarette in his mouth. He blows a gigantic plume of smoke inside.

"Ruger's five minutes behind me. Fucking snitch."

I jump in before Wyatt can escalate the situation.

"Hey, calm down, man. We want to help."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes. And to be frank, we both know that you have some weird undercover shit going on."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Secret dealings," Wyatt says in a calm voice with threatening undertones. Juliette draws her body closer to mine, already wisely choosing to stay out of this conversation.

"Where the fuck did you hear that? All my business dealings are above board. I pay my club dues, report everything to the club. I help people."

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