Page 47 of Mad Max

Casper catches my eye from across the room we use for Church. A group of us came in here to wait it out. Seemed like the only place large enough without pulling in the whole damn club.

And where we can talk freely.

“You hear it?” Casper asks.

“Was there when it happened,” I say with a nod.

“It legit?”

I turn to Kooper. Not sure what he’s looking at, but it ain’t me, as he has his head down.

I nod for the rest of the boys and supply an answer for him. “Yeah.”

He finally looks up, and I’m not sure what emotion I see on his face before he asks, “Can we trust her?”

The doors open before I can reply, and I’m shocked at what I see, just like the rest of the brothers in the room. Law and Flint walk in first, Bulldog closing the door behind them as he comes in last. But the one between them all, that’s the shocker.

There’s an unspoken rule that chicks don’t come into Church. And maybe since Church was never officially called, it’s cool for the fairy to be in here. Never seen it before. Don’t think anyone else has either, all of us staring wide-eyed as she looks for a seat. Not many are open, with most of the officers in here and the rest of us feeling a bit invested with how we’ve been connected to this from the start.

Casper kicks a chair out for her, the place Bass would have sat if he wasn’t still out of state. Seems like a decade ago that he and the two prospects went to work with the other chapters on our black ops gig and we were making plans to go international in the beer business. Who the fuck knew we’d be doing this shit on our own soil, in our own backyard? I’m sure there’s a bit of irony there, but I ain’t got the time to figure it out. Just like a few other things going on in the club right now, I’m pushing it to the side to deal with later.

“What’re we dealing with?”

Casper knows his place, but he also knows when to ask questions. And now is the time, after our prez and VP listened to the recording Flint had of Cheyanne’s phone call.

I was there when it happened. She even put it on speaker for me to hear, trusting me without a second thought. Once the call ended, Flint was pulling her in with the other two officers. I know the boys messed with her phone; it’s what we do to protect the club. She didn’t even fight when he came and got her, already predicting that her calls were being monitored, I’m sure.

A few of the boys heard bits at the end, which is why Domino and Jumper are in here. Atom, Casper, and Kooper noticed her being taken away. And Chains was just coming in with Bulldog from the garage when he was pulled away by Flint. We all got pieces to work with, but only a few got the full story. I knew most of it till I was told to wait outside. The unknown part is what was said after they all heard the recorded call.

“Flint?” Law looks to our tech man, and everyone else does the same. All but me and the fairy. She’s tracing the veins of wood on the table, and I’m just watching her. Don’t need to look at a brother to hear him.

“Call came in just under forty minutes ago. Wasn’t able to trace it ’cause it’s a burner phone and the call didn’t last very long. Duke has decided it’s time to get paid. He’s asked Cheyanne to bring the money, and he’ll supply the girls. Says he got a nice crop, and to provide some good faith that what happened last time won’t happen again, she actually gets to pick from the group.”

“How many do we expect he has?” Jumper asks, but it’s not Flint who speaks first, and I think he’s more shocked than anyone else in the room. No one talks for him. He hates it. But he also knows when he might not be the one with all the info, so he lets the fairy explain.

“He didn’t say. When I met with him last time, he said I wasn’t allowed to pick, that I had to give him criteria and he would supply it. Didn’t think I would have this chance so soon. I expected it to be at least a few buys, maybe a year or so.”

“You were willing to play this role for a year?” It’s Domino who’s asking this time. He might not have been in the hole with us when we brought her in that first night and asked her questions, but he knows it all, just like the rest of the boys in the club. The entire group is trusted, and we don’t keep secrets from our brothers. Not when there’s a potential threat and we need all eyes on the lookout for things that don’t fit.

How the fuck has it only been two days since she came here? Has it really only been a few weeks, two months tops, since the party? It can’t be. No fucking way has time slowed and everything I’m thinking about has only happened in such a short time. Shorter if I only count the handful of times I’ve actually seen her.

This shouldn’t be happening. Not like this. Not so soon.

But it did and it is. And there ain’t no going back to what was. Not anymore. Not with her.

She shrugs. “If that’s what it took. I had no plans on time, just to find Candy.”

“We think he’s low on cash or worried he’s going to lose his investor, and that’s why he gave an incentive to get Cheyanne to the meet. Either way, he’s giving us an opportunity. He set up a meeting tomorrow night at a stockade a few hours south. Different direction than the last but still close enough not to be an inconvenience for her,” Law supplies.

“And we can trust this? How do we know this isn’t a trap? A setup? How do we know she didn’t have this already planned out?” Kooper voices what I’m sure is in the hearts of the rest of the boys. I notice Chains nodding, along with Atom. Bulldog has on his scowl that says he doesn’t believe her. Be it because of his old lady or what, he just doesn’t like her.

“I trust her.”

Heads swivel to me quickly, and I meet the eye of each brother. Even see the smirk on my prez’s for a second before he hides it.

Two things I don’t do much of: I don’t talk a lot, and I don’t trust often. Law has my trust. And through him, the club as an extension. Not all the brothers, but a few. I trust who leads the club and what the club is about. Might have some unresolved issues from not knowing my dad and my mom’s bad judgment in men when I was growing up. However you want to shrink-wrap it, it takes a lot for me to trust someone. And when I do? I’m loyal to a fault.

Hell, a day ago, I would have tossed her out if Law asked me to. But not anymore. Maybe not ever. Who knows what would have happened? I just know now that what I feel for the fairy is strong, and I trust her. And I know she knows I’m not lying. I’m not just saying this to get in her pants or to get something out of her. I’m giving her my trust with zero strings attached, just like she does with me. Girl’s been showing me her trust from that first night she fell asleep in my arms without a second thought.

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