Page 6 of Panther's Magpie
I roll my eyes at him. “Let her go back to her perfect life in California,” I tell him.
He shakes his head. “If she escaped, they will be looking for her.”
I rub my hand on my face. “So what do you want me to do? This isn’t some safe house.”
“You sound angry at her. Did she do something that we should know about?” he asks.
“She abandoned my sister to those beasts. Why shouldn’t I be angry at her?” I growl.
“Maybe because if she hadn’t, we wouldn’t even know Aspen was in danger?”
I hate when he is rational. I don’t want to let go of my anger, though. I need someone to hate and right now, it’s Maggie.
“Fine. She stays, but you deal with her. I don’t want to see her until I get Aspen back.”
He shakes his head. “I can do that.”
He stands to leave. I let him, looking around the table.
“Thank you for the support. Aspen is the only family I have outside of this club.”
Talon nods. “We will get her back safe and sound.”
“I have the number,” Meek tells me, sliding a piece of paper my way.
This is why Meek is our recon guy. He is a wiz when it comes to anything tech-related. He can get me a full background check on anyone in the world within minutes.
“Everyone but Hawk out,” I demand.
They all listen. After several seconds of silence, I dial the number on my burner phone.
“Who the fuck is this, and how did you get my number?” the man answers, angry.
“Nice to speak with you too, Adlet. I hear you have something that belongs to me. I am only calling to get her back before we have to come west and meet face-to-face,” I tell him.
He snorts. “Panther? Is that you? What is it you think we have?”
“A pretty blond chick. Waltzed into the wrong bar. Return her, and we can pretend this never happened,” I tell him.
“Oh, that pretty thing Monster has taken a liking to? She really is a pretty thing. Has curves on her too. I think we are going to enjoy having her around. How about you let us keep her for a few weeks, and we will return her only a little worse for wear?”
My hands clench at his words. Hawk gives me a hard look. I need to keep it together.
“You see, I would, but then that would be like doing you a favor, and well, you have never done anything for me. So I’m going to give you the opportunity to do the right thing and keep the peace.”
“And if I don’t? What will you do then, boy? Start a war? Over some pussy?” He laughs as if it’s the funniest thing in the world.
I clench my teeth together, but force myself to smile as I talk to hide my irritation. “There is this thing called respect. Right now, we have it between us. We let you stay west and do your shitty criminal activities without a single complaint. We even let you travel through our territory when you want to go to other places to do your dirty deeds. It works out well, doesn’t it?” I ask, not expecting an answer, so I continue on. “That will all come to an end. You say it’s pussy. It might be, but that pussy doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to us, and while we can find more pussy, you can’t earn back respect that has been lost.”
The line is silent for several minutes. Then he finally speaks.
“Never cared much for respect anyway. Have a good evening, Panther.”
I throw the phone against the wall as I curse.
Looks like war it is.
CHAPTER
