Page 43 of Property of Chaos

Andy’s eyebrows shoot upward. “You’re the people who bought it?”

“Aye.”

“Huh.” He rubs his chin with the tips of the fingers holding the cigarette. “Elders will love that.”

“Come on,” I tease. “Heard your district is one of the more progressive ones.”

“We’re heading that way,” he cedes. “But a lot of us appreciate keeping things simple, too.”

“We won’t be any trouble,” I assure him.Much.

“How big are we talking?” Andy squints toward the house, standing tall behind the front paddocks like a gothic monstrosity against the dark tree line beyond.

A flicker of light from behind us draws our attention, Andy glancing across the road at the same time as me. The light spills across the front garden, painting her flowers in warm hues before the curtains are tugged closed, two inches or so left open between them.Hello, enigma.

“You know, a few of the brothers have heard some unsavory things about the woman who lives there,” Andy states. “I’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt, but she has tattoos on her skin that make me tend to believe what I hear.”

“Not tattoos,” I mock, lifting my ink-covered hands to cover my gasping mouth.

Andy smirks. “Very funny.”

“Don’t judge a book by its cover, brother.” I slap him on the arm and then turn toward the farm. “Go grab your motorhorse there and meet me in the yard. We’ll talk dimensions and costs, yeah?”

He rolls his eyes at my taunt and takes a last drag of the cigarette before stamping it out. “At least my ride doesn’t invoke fear whenever I pass.”

“Fear?” I scoff, calling behind me as I walk. “Why? Because it’s loud?”

A beat passes while Andy mounts his ride, catching up to where I am near the driveway. “Because you disturb the peace,” he calls down from the saddle. “It shows disrespect for others when you force your presence into their lives like that.”

“Good,” I grumble. “Fuckin’ thing is doing its job then.” I give what I get, and respect isn’t often one of those things. “I’ve got a deal for you.”

“Of course you do,” he sighs.

“How does forty acres of usable land sound?”

“As in, you’ll gift it to us?” He perks up.

“As in, I’ll let you farm it.”

He sags. “Oh. I’d have to run it past the elders, but it could be viable.” His mouth twists before he adds, “Is this payment for the barn?”

“Figured you lot would like that better than getting cash tainted with sin.”

He opens his mouth to answer yet shuts it just as quickly as the approaching growl of a motorcycle cuts the otherwise quiet night. Andy twists in his saddle to look behind us. I switch to walking backward.The hell?

“Your animal good with that fearsome noise you were just talking about?”

He veers off the road, cutting across the grass behind me to get nearer to the fence. “He’s pretty good.”

The lone headlight grows in size as the noise doubles, dust cutting across the bobbing white light.

This is what I get for leaving my fucking tracking on.Vanessa’s curtains appear to be still pulled, yet I can’t quite tell from this distance. If I’m this fucking on edge with a sole brother riding close to her house, I’m sure gonna be fucked when the whole fucking club runs riot across the road.

The rider slows their approach, perhaps having seen the horse or likely to cut the dust as he pulls to a stop before us.Loki.

“What is it?” I close the distance between myself and my enforcer in two long strides.

He leans back on the seat, the engine idling a grumbling burble. “Loading dock is on fire.”

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