Page 48 of Mad Max

After she confirmed I wasn’t a serial killer.

I still find it funny that she called and just asked. I should probably tell her that most people don’t know who’s a serial killer. Even though she called someone connected with the club to verify me, there was still a good chance I was one and no one knew.

“Fuck, not another one,” Domino groans. “This is fucking spreading. Law, you got to do something about it.”

“What exactly you want me to do, Domino?” Law says with the voice of a dad talking to a child that’s complaining life isn’t fair.

“I don’t know, get us all vaccinated or some shit? With the way things are going, we’re all going to be chained up by the end of next year,” Domino vents as he gestures to the rest of the brothers at the table currently unchained to a woman.

Bulldog grunts. “Having an old lady ain’t so bad.”

“Pretty sure you were singing a different tune six months ago.” Chains smirks at Bulldog, who just rolls it off his shoulder.

“What can I say? I’m a changed man. Got myself a Lady now.” Bulldog grins with pride.

The boys chuckle, and I just keep watching my fairy. She might not know what’s going on, but the boys do. By saying I trust her, I’ve put a claim on her. Not sure if her uncle’s going to kill me for this or not. He didn’t seem too bothered by the idea that I had feelings for his niece earlier today, but I know he was just teasing me at the end, asking if I loved her and shit. Not sure what love is, but I know I trust her. Never trusted a woman before, not ever. If only one woman earns it, then she’s it for me.

“Wait, how do we know it’s that serious? Could just be a fling, right? Mad Max, tell me it’s a fling. Tell me the sex is what’s warping your mind and you ain’t tying yourself up. Us single Hounds got to stick together, man. Don’t leave me hanging.” Domino looks to me and then to Cheyanne. “You don’t want him, right? I mean, he’s twice your size and can crush you. Don’t you want someone nice and safe, like a banker or some shit? Someone out of the club?”

He’s pleading for her to agree, and she just gives him a look that says she’s confused, and I kind of am as well.

Why the fuck would he be pushing my woman on another? Kid’s looking for a beatdown.

“Domino.” He stops his rant to look over at me. “Leave my fairy alone,” I growl, keeping my anger in my words, enjoying watching his eyes pop.

“Ah fuck, he’s gone and done it. He named it.”

His whispered words, spoken in fear, have me huffing a laugh. Kid’s legit worried about going committal on a woman. If he only knew it’s not something you can hide from. I never expected this. Never thought it was an option. Wasn’t looking for it, but one touch and I was hers. And she was mine.

“Looks like it’s fucking official now,” Kooper says, but he catches my eye before he looks at her and winks. If I trust her, then so does the club. That conversation is now dead in the water, and the boys do what’s right and move the fuck on.

“Yeah, congrats and all that, but let’s get to a fucking plan already. I don’t want to be waiting till the last minute to figure this shit out.”

Got to love how the VP keeps us on track.

This is taking a lot longer than any of us expected. Especially me. I’ve never had to split loyalty before. And the first day I say out loud that I trust more than one person in Church is the day my allegiance is challenged.

Worst of it is that they’re both on the same side. It’s me who doesn’t like it. I can appreciate that they both see what’s needed and have thought it through, just fucking hate the outcome.

“I don’t like it.”

“You keep saying that, but you aren’t giving us anything else to work with.”

God, how I both love and hate how my fairy is taking this. She’s all business. She’s hot as hell, but I also want to strangle her. She’s not getting what I don’t like about it.

“And I’ll keep saying it till we figure out another plan.”

“Ugh, I need a beer and food. Tell me when the lovers’ quarrel is over.” Domino grunts as he pushes off the table and limp-walks out. His leg isn’t in a cast, but he still keeps most of his weight off it like our doctor told him.

He leaves the door open, and a few of the brothers follow. We’ve been at this for five hours, and I’m the only one still arguing about the plan. But that’s just the way of it. Till Law tells me to fall in line, I can say whatever the fuck I want and the club’s got to listen. We decided long ago that there will never be a time that a voice that isn’t the majority isn’t heard. If one person says it’s a fucked-up plan, then we look for ways to work around it together. Enough of us have been fucked over by a majority vote outside the club that we make sure it ain’t the same inside.

I, for one, question every single juror who thought I was the guilty party. Did I fuck up a guy’s life? Yes. Did he deserve it? That and more. But apparently the justice system doesn’t see it that way.

“You might not like it, son, but it’s the way it’s got to be. She’s the only one with the connection and no ties to us that Duke can find. It would look suspicious if she doesn’t go or if we send someone in her place. Even if Duke is running this under the nose of his own club, I know he’s probably got enough resources to know who’s working with us and who ain’t. He might not trust your fairy, but she’s got a link to her uncle that gives her a voucher of legitimacy that Flint can never fake with all the hacking and fake IDs he makes.”

I grind my teeth as I bear the weight of Law’s words and the hard pat on my back as he follows the others out of the room.

Now it’s just me and the fairy. I sink into the nearest chair and look over the intel on the table. Maps, computers, blueprints of surrounding buildings. We’re going in as smart as we can. But I still don’t like it.

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