Page 31 of Atlas

I’m locking up the front door when Lynette’s black sedan pulls up beside all the bikes. She’s driving, and she barely has the car off before she’s sprinting across the asphalt with Bullet right behind.

I whip the door open so she doesn’t go crashing through it. She wraps Willa in the tightest hug.

Willa tires to wriggle her way free while I clap Bullet on the shoulder. “This was unexpected,” he states flatly.

For a second, I think he’s giving me a funny look, but he’s not. He doesn’t mean me and Willa. He means the quarter million dollars or maybe more that we unearthed.

“Tyrant and the rest of the guys are in the back. The trunk’s near the loading door. I almost wish whoever it belonged to would jack the door up and come take it away.”

“Whoa, I’m okay,” Willa says behind us as Lynette tries to smother her. “We’re going to get this figured out.”

“Tyrant’s on it.” I try to be helpful, but that just makes Lynette frown at me. She’s every bit the tall, goddess ice queen, and right now, in her black blazer and skirt suit, she’s intimidating as fuck.

I have this feeling, deep down, that she never liked me. I hate the term, but I’m pretty sure she thinks that I’m a fuck boy. She doesn’t like her sister being so close with me. On the upside of that situation, she’s always assumed that we’ve been sleeping together. She’s never believed Willa’s denials, but to be fair, Willa always answers her questions with snark and a hint of mystery, which could only leave the impression that the situation was up for interpretation.

Bullet doesn’t have a kid sister who he raised like his own daughter to protect, which means that he’s always taken my denial of being anything more than friends as the honest truth.

While I’m debating silently whether he’ll try and castrate me when I tell him, my parents pull up.

Mom, Dad, and Georgia are mystified as to why they’re here. My mom’s expression is part hopeful and part worried, and for a moment I think she’s expecting me and Willa to make some kind of announcement about our relationship after last night’s dinner. One look at our faces and the fact my cub brothers are here, and the hope is replaced by concern.

“What’s going on, baby bro?” Georgia asks as she crosses her arms. “There’s a lot of bikes here.”

“Not many, really,” I counter. “But everyone’s in the back. You’ll find out right away.”

“Are you in some kind of trouble, son?” Dad rests his hand lightly on my shoulder. I surpassed him in height by the time I was fifteen, so he has to reach up quite a bit.

Mom bites down on her lip and clutches the strap of her purse tightly.

Willa’s already taken Lynette and Bullet to the back. My family is so innocent. Sweet. Civilians. They didn’t ask for any of this.

I remind myself that this didn’t happen because I patched into Satan’s Angels.They’re going to be safe because of my club.I could have handled their shame at me doing some below the belt shit, but I couldn’t stand bringing trouble to their doorstep.

So far, that hasn’t happened, even in the worst of times.

“I think that Tyrant should explain what’s happening. He wanted everyone together to hear it. It’s trouble, but not what you’re thinking, and we’ll all be okay. I promise.”

I’ve been making a lot of promises that I’ll do everything in my power to keep, but I know I shouldn’t keep uttering them when I have no real power to make them a reality.

Dad wraps his arm around mom’s waist and Georgia follows right behind me. She’s practically vibrating with all her questions but clamps down on them. She does look nervously from Tyrant to Raven, then from Gunner to Crow, and over to Bullet.

She grew up here, but she hasn’t been in Hart in quite a few years. Other than the cookout, this is the first time she’s been around my biker family. Anyone would be intimidated by these big, rough looking men and their club vests full of patches.

The trunk is already open. My parents gasp when they get a good look at what’s inside and Georgia groans.

“Wow,” she mutters darkly. “You were right about leaving the trunk, although I still think it’s pretty cool.”

“Is that… is that play money?” Mom asks, but she quickly shakes her head, laughing softly at herself. “No, of course it’s not. How much is that? Enough to buy a house?”

‘Enough to buy a house here in Hart and then some,” Tyrant confirms. “And whoever stashed it in that barn is going to be coming back for it. I’ll make this short and simple until I have a better idea of how it’s going to go. We need to go on the defensive. Instead of us trying to locate the owner of this…chest… we’ll make sure that we leave a trail they can follow. We’ll come to an agreement where they stay far away from Hart, andthen we’ll return their money. We’re not going into lockdown again.”

“And if they don’t like that generous offer?” Crow asks darkly.

Scratch the fuck out of that, it’s not Crow. It’sRavenhis borderline psychopathic alter ego. He rolls his neck to the side, cracking it like people warm up their knuckles before a fight. If there’s anything Raven loves, it’s his wife Tarynn, and a good beat down. If he’s doing the beating. And sometimes, I’m pretty sure, he even enjoys it if he’s the one taking it.

“That’s the only offer they get. However they got this money, it’s too close to our homes for comfort. How long is it before they bring their shit into Hart? Whatever it is that they’re selling, they’re not welcome here. Hart isours.”

Raiden raises his voice in a rough shout of agreement and the other men all follow. I give a shout too but tone it down and edge closer to my parents, who are both trembling.

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