Page 5 of Consequences

“She hasn’t told you what they did to her?” Colt asks.

Even as he asks, his stomach knots. The last thing he wants is any type of visual on top of the sight he’d already seen. Hearing her ask if they were there to kill her as she cowered in metal shackles on her wrists still wakes him in the middle of the night sometimes. And she’s not even his wife.

“No, she hasn’t. I can’t help but think that’s part of the issue. It’s hard for me to understand when I don’t know, but I’m not certain if I want to fucking know. Or maybe I do. I have no goddamn clue.”

“You don’t,” Psycho says, his voice deadpan as he locks eyes with the Summerville President. “Let her work through it how she needs to. We can put up with a lot more than the women can, and she went through a worse hell than any of us ever have, even when we got locked up.”

“But—”

“No. Trust me on this. Knowing only makes you want to murder everyone who had any connection to the assholes who hurt her. It drives you insane.”

“Knowing what Lex went through in that fucking basement, not to mention the threats O’Malley sent her, was more thanenough to make me crazy. And she didn’t have it even half as bad as I suspect Dani and Lacey had it,” Colt says. “Which kind of brings us back to the main reason we’re here. What the fuck do we do with our supply source dilemma?”

Lex being kidnapped by the Savage Slashers along with three other old ladies proved to be a calculated attack. Their gun supplier, the Russian International Organization, lost control of their organization. One of the higher ups, Ivan, pulled the strings behind the scenes, and wanted to take down the Drifters to hurt the RIO so he could take over.

Ivan had ties not only to the Slashers but also the Kingsmen. The men run by a former Havoc Outlaw who put a club together from behind bars. If he wasn’t a sick, demented freak, Colt would be impressed with his commitment and reach. But because of this betrayal, the Drifters haven’t committed to sticking with the RIO, even with Ivan dead.

“Well, considering how badly Boris wants us back, we’re going to have a hell of a profit margin with the RIO,” Dax says. “Money speaks to most people, but especially the guys in my clubhouse.”

“But… having their house in such disarray caused all this shit to implode like it did. We lost men, and we almost lost women. And because of that, Ivan was involved with the club who took your wife. Not to mention taking part in hurting her, which proves the Russians aren’t in full control,” Psycho points out.

He has a valid point. Colt can’t deny that he’d like to break free from the organization even though they have over thirty years’ worth of history with them. They had no idea what a major player was doing, and Colt can’t help but wonder if it was due to ignorance or just disinterest.

“But do we really trust the Irish? Not to mention the fact that we won’t be making nearly as much money. They’re the ones who actually killed Black Valley men,” Dax says. “It’s kind ofhard to get in bed with a former enemy like that. At least, it is for me.”

He nods in response. “But is it really better to stick with the enemy we know after being cut off at the knees multiple times over? We can only regroup and come back so many times.”

Looking between them, Colt leans back and studies them as they continue their arguments. There are manybutsin the conversation, and he wants a realistic solution. This will be the first decision Colt will make as the new President, and he can’t fuck this up.

What would Lex do?

It’s no secret that his wife was a large—if not the largest—reason he’d been selected to sit at the head of the table. She’s smart, and she’s rational. As much as her emotions can get the better of her, she knows how to separate club and personal. For the most part. As long as it doesn’t involve her brother or father.

“Is there anything we can get from one side and not the other?” Colt asks, an idea hitting him.

“Big artillery can only come from Russia. The Irish either don’t handle it, or they don’t have a way to get them to the States, depending on what it is,” Psycho says.

“How much of our business is big guns?”

Dax sighs and shakes his head. “Not much out our way. The largest we have are AR-15s.”

“We have about half and half on our side,” Psycho says.

“And we have a decent amount on our end. I don’t know that I’d say half, but enough that we’d feel it if we lost those customers,” Colt says. “What if we focus solely on big guns from the RIO? They have the largest profit margins for us to begin with, not to mention Boris’s new deal to keep us as customers.”

“And small guns from the Irish?” Psycho asks.

He nods his head. “Yeah, but we can also do a few shipments from the RIO, too, to make sure we’re staying supplied, but thebulk will come from the Irish. Let them both know we’re doing this on a trial basis to see where we’re making money and if the risk is worth it on our end.”

Both men lock eyes with each other before nodding slowly. Psycho actually looks impressed, which means a lot to Colt, but there’s a bit of annoyance that he seems genuinely surprised he would have the brains to pull this off.

“Not bad, Nichols.”

“It’s a good option. And as long as we stay transparent on both sides, they’ll continue to try and incentivize us to convince us to make long-term commitments,” Dax says.

“And it gives the Irish time to get access to the things we can only get from the RIO, letting us know if it’s even possible,” Psycho says. “Looks like new blood in here wasn’t a bad idea after all.”

Colt lifts his brows. “You thought this was a bad idea?”

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