Page 103 of Menace

Only this time he had his brothers taking his back and saving him from believing a lie and making a massive mistake. A mistake that would have cost him his life and his club.

Only one thing stood out in his mind.

Harper. His little cat.

“Prez, does this mean I can reach out to my ol’ lady and let her know what’s goin’ on?”

The look on Maniac’s face and on those of his brothers let him know it was not to be.

Not yet anyway.

“We need one more day, brother. We need to shut this down and shut it down permanently. I have a feelin’ she’s goin’ to be back tomorrow and will come at you with guns blazin’. I will be in the meet with you and will tell her that under no circumstances will we be puttin’ our necks out for a kid that’s not even ours. Then we wait to see what she does next.” His prez smiled. “She has a play ready, brother, of that I’m sure. We just need to know what it is.”

Lucky sighed but nodded. He could do it.

He could go one more night without talking to his girl.

One more night.

THIRTY

Lucky

A Day Ago

Another night spent rolling around and getting hardly any sleep. He had no idea how long he would be able to follow his president’s rule. It was getting harder by the minute to stay away from his woman.

It was damned early but he couldn’t stand another minute of lying in bed and doing nothing. Getting up he used the bathroom, got ready for the day then went down to the kitchen to get some coffee.

With a mug steaming in his hand he walked out to the garages. Rather than hanging around the clubhouse doing nothing he was going to work on the bike he wanted to restore. He hadn’t touched it since he bought it and it was a great way to get his mind on something else.

Busy stripping the bike he didn’t pay attention to the rumble of bikes leaving the compound. It was a normal background noise to anyone living here.

He was engaged in what he was doing when his phone gave an insistent buzz from the workbench where he had left it with his kutte. Picking up a rag he wiped his hands as he walked over. He frowned when he saw Ink’s name on the screen and checked his watch. Eight in the morning, it was too early for the brother to be up and about.

“Brother, what you doin’ up so early.”

He reached for his coffee and grimaced. Cold.

“I’ve got shit, brother. Some fuckers tagged my shop sometime last night. Got fuckin’ spray paint all over the outside but that’s not why I called you. There’s some threats in between the usual crap the kids spray on the walls, one says ‘go home or else’ the other ‘get out or else’. The cops are sayin’ it might be our competition but that’s bullshit. I’ve closed the shop for the day and called in a cleanin’ company, we should be open for business again tomorrow. Mark and I are the only ones at the shop today. Everyone else is havin’ the day off. Mark already spoke to Harper and she’s goin’ to relax and take it easy. He’s sendin’ her some breakfast a little later, he’s worried about her. Couldn’t share with him why she’s not lookin’ so great the last couple of days.”

All he heard was the threats and his woman not looking great.

“I’ll get onto Byte to see what he can find. And what do you mean my woman’s not been lookin’ so great?”

Ink snorted. “I meant she’s been a bit down and we both know why that is. As soon as this shit with ‘you know who’ is sorted she’ll bounce back. Don’t go lookin’ for shit where there is none, brother. I just thought I’d let you know she won’t be at the studio today.”

He was grateful his brother had thought to let him know. “Thanks, bro, I appreciate you keepin’ me in the loop.”

“No problem, Lucky. Talk to you later.”

Lucky stood there for several seconds with the phone in his hand before he dropped it onto the bench and went back to the bike. He worked for about two hours when Mouth came to find him. His prez was looking for him.

With a sigh he cleaned up, pulled his kutte back on, and went back to the clubhouse.

The brothers from their other chapters hadn’t left yet, most of them were heading out in the next hour or so, and most if not all were nursing hangovers after the party last night. A party Lucky had left early.

He was surprised to see all the presidents waiting on him in Maniac’s office along with the club’s officers.