Page 31 of City of Salvation

Ryan lowered into the chair behind the desk. Dark circles rimmed her coffee-colored eyes, and her inky hair was piled up on top of her head. It looked like she’d been raking her hands through it. Truthfully, she looked fucking exhausted, making me wonder what went down during her time in Sinaloa.

“You look like shit, Ryan.” My comment gained me a scolding look from Gunner and a middle finger from her.

“Yeah, well, fuck you too,” she said. Her head popped up, looking between Nikki and me, pointing a long nail at us. I wondered how she gave Gunner handjobs with those claws.

“We fuck, Dex. If he wants a hand, he can use his own,” she responded to my apparently not-so-silent question.

I shrugged a shoulder at the glare still coming my way from Gunner. He should have been used to the shit that came from my mouth by now. I didn’t know why he was looking at me like I’d pissed in his beer.

“Okay. Someone fucking explain to me what the fuck happened tonight,” Ryan commanded. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, but not because I was intimidated. Authority Issues was my honorary middle name, and she was running dangerously close to setting me off.

In my peripherals, I caught Nikki pursing her lips. Silence grew between the four of us.

Trouble in paradise for the best friends?

Interesting. I’d thought those two told each other everything from their favorite foods to their shit schedules. I cleared my throat, the heavy silence unsettling, knowing that we needed to address the situation sooner or later.

“Nikki sent out the distress signal tonight.” I turned in my chair to face the woman of the hour. “Which, by the way... How did you know that he would be at the Reaper club? And did you know he wanted to take you beforehand?”

Ryan stood so quickly that I thought we were under attack, but she was just royally pissed.

“Where the fuckwereyou? And what the hell do you mean someone wanted totakeher?” she asked, her eyes landing on me.

Nikki quirked an eyebrow at Ryan, but her anxiety wasevident as her pink tongue darted out, tracing her full bottom lip before nervously tugging it between her teeth. “Sorry,Mom,I didn’t realize I needed to tell you my every move,” Nikki said pointedly. “And Ryan’s not the only one who’s got connections.” Their eyes met, and a million unspoken words flowed between them.

Yeah. There’s more to this shit than they’re letting on.

I felt marginally better when Gunner’s face was screwed up in suspicion too. At least I wasn’t the only one in the dark here. I kicked a booted foot up on Ryan’s desk, ignoring her bitching about getting dirt on it. I was tired as fuck, and were rolling into the early hours of the morning.

Clapping my hands to gain everyone’s attention, I launched straight into the shitstorm we were about to find ourselves in. “Okay, I don’t have time for this. Here’s what I know: the Russians want Nikki…badly.”

Her blonde bun careened to the side as she whipped her head toward me. She didn’t need to speak for me to know she wanted to skewer my balls. I had to cover my laughter with a cough. Her anger was adorable, but if I told her that, she’d find one of Ryan’s stashed knives and stab me.

“How do you know that?” she demanded, folding her toned arms under her breasts. The move accentuated the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra, and like a fucking teenager who’d never seen boobs before, my dick jumped at the thought of her nipples touching my shirt.

I can never wash that now. I’m gonna fuckin’ use it as a pillowcase.

I smirked, loving her ire and needing a distraction from the shitstorm we were all in. “Jardani clued me in. Reapers are supposed to trade you. In exchange, the Russians will help take Los Muertos and us out.” Nikki blanched at thestatement. “Wanna share with the class why they want you so badly?” I asked, an edge in my tone.

Nikki could keep her childhood secrets, but if anything in her past put my club in danger, I needed to know that shit. I had a duty as club enforcer to protect us from threats, even if the threat came from a five-six blonde spitfire who clobbered men with her heels.

“What are you saying, Dex?” Gunner asked, now resting his hands on the top of the desk. He’d moved closer to Ryan, shielding her with his body. Ryan’s eyes hadn’t left Nikki until now—now, they were staring me down.

“They want the territory,” Ryan whispered.

I nodded, confirming her suspicion with my own, noting she’d yet to demand Nikki answer my question about why the Russians might want her. Nikki was gorgeous—stop you in your tracks gorgeous—but offering to send weapons and bodies in exchange for one woman? Yeah, that wasn’t your run-of-the-mill skin trade agreement.

Nikki was worth a lot to them for some reason.

The woman in question looked like she was mentally a million miles away. Her thumbnail found her mouth, and she started gnawing on it. Irritation started crawling up my spine. There was something else going on here, and it didn’t look like the girls were going to fill us in—or not me, at least.

Clearly, I was not part of the group.

Which was fucking fine with me. I could go back to my bed and fuck my hand till I fell asleep. Tonight, I’d tell Pres what I’d learned, and we’d decide what action the club would take. I wasn’t part of Los Muertos anyway, so they could do whatever the fuck they wanted, and they didn’t have to tell me jack shit about it.

But I wasn’t going to stay and feel like an outcast.

I pushed myself up out of the chair, ignoring the three sets of eyes on me as I turned to leave. “Alright, this has been fun. Try not to get kidnapped again, Nikki, and we’ve got church tonight, Gunner. Try and act like you wanna be a part of the club.”

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