Page 45 of Devil's Due

She presses her lips together, a sign which I’ve noticed means she’s thinking. “Can I speak?”

I give a quick look around. It’s just members, no old ladies, sweet butts or prospects within hearing. “Yeah.”

“I’d be dead if you hadn’t been there, Beef. Those kids? Well, they took that off my mind for a while, but now I’ve got to face up to the facts. I need someone on my side. And someone who saves me rather than tries to kill me is someone I know I can trust. Your prez is your boss, isn’t he?”

I remember a nod isn’t sufficient. “Yes.”

“Then if he wants me to, I’ll speak to you both.”

“I want that,” a voice bellows from the direction of Demon’s office.

She stands. “Lead on, MacDuff.”

Chuckling slightly, I go to put my arm around her. “Take hold of my elbow, Beef. Just steer me in the right direction.”

“While you’re in with Demon, I’m gonna head out to her place. See what’s going on.”

“Can you see if you can find my white stick? It was in my bedroom…”

“Cops will be there, Ink,” I warn.

Stevie’s expressive face shows she hadn’t thought of that.

He nods. “I’ll do what I can, Stevie.”

She thanks him. I’m more interested in what he can find out rather than anything that can be saved.

I’m not surprised to see Pyro going with him. He’s got firefighter friends who may well be in attendance and who might be able to give him a clue as to what accelerant was used or anything useful.

I just remember to stop her in time to move a low stool out of her way, then we’re walking in to Demon’s office. I place her hand on the back of a chair. She takes a second before she sits down. Anyone else I would think she’s taking in her surroundings, but clearly she can’t be. After a moment she nods and holds out her hand in Demon’s general direction.

He reaches over the desk to take it. “I’m Demon, President of the club.”

“Stevie Nichols,” she responds. “Though I expect you already know who I am.”

“I might,” Demon replies, the smirk showing through in his voice. “If you were who you say you are. Sit.” When she does, I take the seat next to her. “First off, Stevie, are you alright?”

She closes her eyes briefly. “I’m fine, apart from a bit of a cough. That’s nothing. I shouldn’t be, wouldn’t be fine if Beef hadn’t been there. I don’t think what’s happened has really caught up with me yet. I’m just so pleased I wasn’t alone.”

Demon’s eyes catch mine. We don’t need words for the sentiment to be exchanged between us that we’re both fucking glad I was too. We all know if I hadn’t been she most likely wouldn’t have made it out alive.

“I told you I was the prez. My role is leading this motley crew, running our businesses and keeping everyone in the club safe. If we’re providing you protection, you are our business. But if that’s going to cause any harm to come to my club, I need to know about it. Beef got you out of the house, as he should. But from the soot on his cut he was wearing it. Anyone watching would have seen him take you away.”

“Not necessarily here,” I tell him. “Fuck, they’d already know I was involved with her, Prez, from the amount of times I’ve been to her home and have been checking up on the dog. But I wasn’t followed here, I made sure of that. I could have stashed her anywhere.” But I can’t deny someone might know the Satan’s Devils are involved.

Stevie’s nodding. “I don’t want to bring more people into it. That’s why I left home in the first place, couldn’t risk putting my family in danger.”

Again, Demon and I exchange glances. Her leaving wouldn’t necessarily guarantee they’d leave her folks alone, but now’s not the time to tell her that.

“She’s in Witness Protection,” I tell him.

“Have you a handler? Someone you can call? Get you moved on?”

“That’s the point. That’s what he’d do.”

It doesn’t take a genius to realise why she doesn’t want to do this officially. “She can’t go anywhere without Max, her dog,” I tell him.

Prez digests that for a moment. If she refuses to go to her handler, it means we can’t get her off our hands. I wait, wondering what he’s going to do. His next words show me he’s not going to run her off, or not immediately.

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