Page 11 of Taming Raptor

I scoffed. “Man, whatever.”

“He’s not interested because he’s hooking up with Cookie,” Venom told them with a shit-eating grin.

“No fucking way,” Reaper replied.

“Oh shit, really?” Snow added.

“What?” I snapped. For some unknown reason the thought that they too had fucked Cookie in the past pissed me off.

“Easy, bro. I’m just saying that you practically ignored her every time we’ve been to your clubhouse to party. That chick always gives you such heated stares, I can’t believe you never caught fire. I’m surprised you’re with her since you never seemed interested before,” Reaper explained with a shrug.

I didn’t say anything, and Venom started bullshitting with Snow. Thankful for his save, I kept my mouth shut. I’d never been big on airing my dirty laundry. Lost in thought, I tuned them out as I flipped through the menu.

Reaper was right. So was Venom and I kinda hated it. For years after she came to us, I intentionally ignored her because I firmly believed she was too young for me. My tastes had been a little rough even then and she was practically a kid. Then as the years went by, I watched her hooking up with my brothers.

I told myself I wasn’t pissed off but in a way, maybe I was. It was like I’d fucked up my chance. If I hadn’t pushed her away in the beginning, maybe I would’ve been enough for her. Well, after she was old enough. Fuck. I shook my head. No sense going there. I liked my life exactly the way it was.

“Venom, I wanted to see you and catch up on life, but we have a favor to ask,” Snow revealed as he dropped his voice to avoid possible eavesdroppers. I immediately perked up. We were there after the lunch rush and the only people were several tables away, but obviously this was important.

All conversation ceased when the waitress came back to take our orders. Once she was gone, Snow glanced at Venom to gauge his reaction.

“Okay,” Venom drawled out as his brow furrowed. “You know I’d do anything in my power to help you, but if it involves my club, then I need to take it to the table.”

Snow nodded his understanding.

“You called to check on me, so I know you already know about our clubhouse being attacked several weeks ago. Hacker was a cunt hair away from figuring out who it was but then shit locked down tighter than Fort Knox. It was like they knew what we were doing and were one step ahead of us. We have a few leads, but not a lot. We wanted to take you up on your initial offer to see if Facet could find out anything more. We’ll pay for the information, then depending on who it is, we might be paying you to take care of the situation.” Snow stroked his salt-and-pepper beard. Soap was silent but I noticed his jaw clench as he fisted his hand that rested on the table.

Intrigued, I watched the three of them like a hawk—no pun intended. Reaper’s fingers strummed the table in an obvious show of irritation. Soap was about ready to crack a tooth, and Snow’s initial good mood was doused.

“Brother, I already told you we would help. The minute that happened we voted to lend a hand, but you declined, and I respected that. However, if you’ve hit a dead end, we have no problem digging into it.”

Snow scratched his jaw in contemplative silence and appeared torn.

“Luke, you have always been there for me. You bailed me and Loralei out when shit hit the fan for her without question. Clubs set aside, you’re not just my best friend, you’re my brother as far as I’m concerned. We can handle the situation for you regardless of who it turns out to be. This is what we do. Can you send Facet what you have so far?” Venom asked.

“I’ll do one better. After the weird way every lead went cold, Hacker didn’t want to send anything over the net. I guess there’s an encrypted link on there for Facet to follow. He said if Facet was as good as he thought he was, he’d figure it out.” Snow inconspicuously slid a thumb drive across the table as he reached for a napkin.

With a snort, Venom rested his hand over it, then grinned and acted like they were talking about riding weather. There was a bit of friendly competition between Facet and the DSMC’s computer geek, Hacker. Honestly, they were both smarter than all of us put together. The difference was, when Hacker and the DSMC needed really dirty work done, they paid us. They had slightly more moral fiber than we did—which was okay. We were happy to pick up that fiber and wrap it around a fucker’s neck.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the waitress approach with our food.

“Can I get you boys anything else?” she asked after she had distributed our plates.

“No, thank you.” Venom grinned and the girl blushed. I’d have bet my last two dollars that she would stick around and flirt, but she must’ve been too overwhelmed by the amount of testosterone at the table. I chuckled.

When she was checking on the other diners, Venom carefully pocketed the thumb drive.

“I’ll get this to Facet as soon as we get back,” Venom assured Snow.

“Appreciate it, brother.” Snow nodded with a flat-lipped stare before he cast a glance at Soap. Something was off with the big guy. At first, I thought maybe it was the shooting, but it seemed deeper than that.

For the rest of the meal Snow and Venom bullshitted, with the rest of us chiming in every so often. By the end of our visit, I was convinced Soap was dealing with some shit—and not dealing with it well.

Venom had to take a piss before we headed out, so I waited for him at the table. I watched as Soap seemed to lose his shit on his president. Snow gave it right back and Soap quickly came to heal. Reaper stepped between them, and I saw him snap at Soap who gripped his hair and bent over at the waist. At first, I thought he was gonna puke, but then he righted himself and must’ve apologized because Snow gripped him by the shoulders and rested his forehead to Soap’s. They spoke briefly.

The handful of times I’d met Soap, I had liked him, but disrespect was something that wasn’t tolerated. Which was why I was glad to see that he appeared remorseful of his outburst. I was also very curious and made a mental note to have Facet pull up the details of the shooting for me. Since we didn’t end up stepping in, I had forgotten half of what was said in church the day we discussed it.

That also could’ve been because I was a bit preoccupied with a certain sexy blonde dancer. And I wasn’t sure how to process that. Instead, I ignored it, boxing it up and shoving it in the deepest, darkest corner of my mind. The same place all my secrets and regrets lingered.

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