Page 56 of Flyboy's Nightingale
“Yeah. Riley asked Avery to bring her some of the things from her office to work on my leg until lockdown has been lifted.”
Prez nods looking tired. “Good! Is there anything else before we dismiss?”
“I want to nominate Prospect Noah for a full patch. He’s the longest prospect we’ve ever had since he can’t seem to keep his mouth closed. Which is something I respect out of him because we may not like that he has something to say, but when he does, it’s always the truth. Shit, most of the time it’s the kick in the ass that we need. He’s also put himself between our Ol’ Ladies and danger, never having to be asked,” I throw out, standing to my full height.
Duck grins leaning back into his chair. “About fucking time. I never thought that kid was going to get the vote.”
Torch laughs, “And why haven’t you brought it up for vote?”
“I’m the one who backed him. We all know that it means more when a brother brings it to the table than the one who backed him.” Duck shrugs.
“You are the biggest asshole of us all, you know that, right?” Pretty Boy chuckles. Hearing him chuckle and not looking so twisted up is nice to see.
“We can bring it up when we have a full house. It won't be official until Coin is here to cast his vote. Does that work for you guys?” Prez asks, bringing the jovial air in the room back to a dull roar.
Everyone agrees to do the preliminary vote. We go around the table, everyone throws out some form of, “Hell, yeah.”
“That brings us to a close. A new brother to be added as soon as Coin is home and we’ve dealt with the pest running around our town.” Prez drops the gavel, releasing us.
Pretty Boy jumps, rushing to be the first out of the door. He makes only about three steps out when he comes to a stop. He stands there staring at the person in front of him, preventing the rest of us from leaving church. Pretty Boy doesn’t speak, just stands there before moving around the person who was blocking him. When he finally moves, Torch's voice causes that feeling of rage inside of me to heighten to new levels. I just told her that I wouldn’t let anyone else hurt her again, and here she is scared out of her fucking mind.
“What’s wrong, Riley?” Torch’s shoulders go tight.
“They were here.” Riley is in hysterics as she shoves her phone into Torch’s hand. “They threatened the club.”
Torch grabs the phone from her, looking at whatever is on the screen. Torch’s jaw flexes before he lifts his eyes searching for someone. The rage that appears on his face makes the air in the room cackle with electricity.
Torch starts barking out orders, “Smith, Wesson, and Duck, get out to the gate and check things out. Pretty Boy, you and the two prospects start checking the outer perimeter. Razor, you better have all the fancy shit online and ready. We’ve got rats roaming too close to home.” The brothers get moving, notquestioning Torch, trusting the man that’s set to be president of this club one day. A chorus of “Yes, sirs” and “You’ve got it,” is thrown over the brothers’ shoulders.
Torch turns, heading back into church. The ones of us who didn’t receive orders go back in with him. I want to know what the fuck is on Riley’s phone, and why she looks like someone has murdered her best friend. Once we’re all back inside the room with the door closed, Torch slides Riley’s phone across the table toward Prez. Steel leans forward, picking it up before throwing it across the room.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” he roars before turning to glare at Razor. “You better know exactly when, where, and what fucking direction they went after taking that fucking photo!”
“Luckily, before you threw the phone against the wall, Torch sent me the photo so I could get the metadata off it. It was taken two fucking weeks ago from right outside the front gates. Where the hell was the prospect that was supposed to be watching the gate?” Razor snaps, looking up to Torch.
“I don’t know at this very moment. I will be finding out shortly.” Torch turns, leaving the room, and slamming the door on his way out.
“Prez, this is too fucking close. Something about all of this doesn’t add up,” I grumble, making my way to the T.V. with information still displayed on it.
“Flyboy, we’ve always trusted your gut. What’re you seeing that we don’t?” Steel’s voice is tight with anger.
“It’s the fact that these two assholes are moving around, and somehow aren’t on any cameras. They have to be getting help from somebody. Razor, can you bring up the photos of when they got to town? Can you move slowly through any others we have once we see those?” I ask him, not looking away from the set.
Razor does what I ask. I watch closely as the images flash across the screen, one at a time, by the fourth image, I realize the only reason we see them is because they want us to. “Fuck me. It’s staged!”
“Whole sentence, Flyboy! Break it down in simplicity,” Prez snaps.
So, I do. I spend the next two hours going over each photo and small glimpses of video until they understand and fucking see what I do. When Razor finally catches onto the pattern, it’s like I unlocked the missing piece in his mind. The information starts to pour in, and we’re so close to finding these assholes that my skin itches. I can’t wait to show them what happens when you mess with an Ol’ Lady of the club. Most of all, what it means to mess with what’s mine!
“Let’s go see what’s going on out there, and then get some rest. That way, when we find these fuckers, they pay,” Prez says, making his way out of the room, leaving me to follow.
What I find when I get out the door, is what I’ve always wanted, but never fucking thought I would get.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
Riley
