Page 24 of My Knight

Yarder nodded once. “But I think that’s a small price to pay to get Boone and Gibbs off our asses.”

I didn’t know much about the Devil’s Knights. The name carried weight, but not in a way that had ever affected us directly. I squinted at Yarder. “They’re cool?”

Yarder shrugged casually like we weren’t talking about inviting a whole new kind of heat into our business. “From what I know. I’m not worried about what they’re gonna ask of us.”

That was good enough for me. If Yarder wasn’t worried, I wouldn’t be either. He didn’t bet blind.

“What about Stretch?” Dice asked, breaking the momentary silence.

Yarder exhaled and leaned back in his chair. “Hopefully, with the Maranga stepping in, he’ll come to his fuckin’ senses and get his ass back here before Boone and Gibbs get to him. He’s obviously sniffing around them, but if he’s not careful, he won’t be for long.”

“I’m not worried about Stretch,” Compass said with a shrug, like he was shaking off a mosquito. “He was dumb enough to take off on his own to try and fix shit, so he can take care of himself as far as I’m concerned.” He paused and looked around like he knew what he was about to say would sting. “I know that makes me a dick, but him taking off could be making shit worse for us.”

Dice, who had been close with Stretch since they both patched in, let out a low growl. “That’s fucking bullshit, Compass. You can’t be mad at him for trying everything he can to find the end to all of this.”

Compass jerked his chin in my direction. “That end include Saylor getting the shit beat out of her? Pretty sure Pirate ain’t too happy about that. That might’ve never happened if Stretch hadn’t gone after Boone and Gibbs. We all saw the note.”

The room went still.

“Screw you,” Dice spat and slammed his palm against the table.

“Knock it off!” Yarder snapped loud enough that even Compass flinched. “We’re not gonna start going after each other. Stretch shouldn’t have taken off, but I’m not putting the blame on him for what happened to Saylor. That probably would’ve happened either way. Boone and Gibbs are ruthless. We know this.” He looked at each of us in turn. “We get the Maranga involved, and all of this’ll be over.”

Dice’s jaw ticked, and eyes still locked on Compass, but he didn’t say anything more.

“We just lay low until Leo and Brynn get here. We’ll keep looking for Stretch, but don’t stir up anything more,” Yarder ordered.

Dice stood abruptly, and his chair screeched across the floor. “We done then?”

Yarder gave him a short nod.

Dice stormed out, as his heavy boots pounded against the floor. The door slammed behind him hard enough to rattle the walls. Loyalty ran deep with Dice.

Yarder turned his gaze to Compass. “You had to go there?”

Compass just shrugged. “You know we all feel the same way. Stretch went rogue, and now we’re paying for it.”

He wasn’t wrong. Not really. But I got why Stretch did what he did. We were all sick of the endless back-and-forth with Boone and Gibbs. Stretch just snapped first.

Yarder looked at me. “Saylor doing okay?”

I gave a quick nod. “She’s just pretty beat up. Should be fine.”

“You clue her into all this?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. She hasn’t really asked.”

Aero chuckled from across the table. “I’m sure the girls took care of filling her in.”

Yarder sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. “If they did, Poppy and I are gonna have a word. I told her not to say anything to Saylor about this.”

I raised a brow. “So you want me to tell her?”

Yarder nodded. “You’ll give her the facts. No fluff. No emotional mess like the girls would. And hopefully, that’ll all be over soon and just be a story to tell our kids one day.”

My chest did a weird thing at that—like a muscle I hadn’t used before clenched tight.

Compass clapped Yarder on the shoulder. “Can’t fucking wait for that, brother.”

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