Seduce Me

Chapter 12—Casey

It’s been over six hours and still nothing from any of them. I keep pacing unable to stop. I know I’m wearing the carpet thin, but my nerves are so shot. And I don’t care. I need to move. Bella’s already packed her things and is ready to go back with us to the club. She’s even contacted her professors and helped me contact mine about our ‘family emergency.’ I seem to be having a lot of those lately.

Cops came by when Bella came back in the door. Harlow knew they would come and gave us a cover story she made us repeat several times. We were all listening to loud music and didn’t hear a thing. It helped that when Bella walked in we had the music blaring. We even added a bunch of questions about what had happened. One of the female officers eyed my face, but I shrugged it off saying that Harlow and I got into a bit of a fight over a guy. Somehow they bought it and left us alone.

Harlow’s tried several times to get me to eat, but I want nothing to do with it. My stomach is in knots and just the thought of food makes me want to throw up. She also insisted that she check me over for injuries, even though I knew I didn’t have anything but a few bumps and bruises. It could have been so much worse.

It baffles me that Jace thought we had more than we do. I’ve never given him the impression otherwise. Or at least I never tried to and I was always straight with him. He never once gave me any indication that he had this other side to him. He was always so damn caring towards me especially after I lost Mia, never once even raising his voice. A twinge of sadness creeps through me as the loss of the Jace I thought I knew envelops me. Why did he change? What the hell happened? So many questions and ones that I will probably never get any answers to.

I turn to Buzz, who’s been eyeing Bella since they got back from her apartment, never letting her out of his sight for more than a few minutes. “Anything?”

“Nope. This shit takes time. You gotta settle down. They’re fine.” He says way too calmly.

“Easy for you to say.” I pace… And pace. My mind clouds with so much shit it may just explode. I can’t lose him, I just got him back.

“I’m about two seconds away from sitting on you.” Harlow calls from the couch. I don’t stop, but gladly take the irritation her words make me feel.

“How can you just sit there like this isn’t bothering you?”

She waves her hand. “It’s not. The guys know what they’re doing and they’re not stupid. And it’s one guy… Piece of cake.”

I huff at her and nibble on my fingernails that are now raw and on the verge of bleeding. How did everything go to shit so fast? What the hell changed?

Buzz’s cell rings and I stop dead in my tracks, eyes glued to him and ears peeled to the one sided conversation.

“Yeah.”

“Got it.”

“Yep. Cops came by. Took care of it. There are three still in the building, but have left us alone.”

“Alright.”

He shuts off the phone and looks at me, not saying anything for a moment.

“What!” I yell, needing something from him.

“Apparently your boy is smart. He went to his folks’ house about thirty minutes from here where there is a huge party going on. Boys are sitting outside… waiting.”

“First, he’s not my boy.” I say through clenched teeth. “Second, is everyone ok?”

“Everyone’s fine. Action hasn’t started yet.” He smiles and Bella sighs. I turn and she is staring at Buzz like he is the be-all-and-end-all, but when he looks she snaps her head away.

Whatever, I don’t have time for their dramatics right now. “So we wait.” I say finally plopping down on the couch for the first time.

“We wait.” Harlow says. “So you and my brother finally get shit sorted?” I look over at Buzz not really wanting to talk about this in front of him. Breaker is outside the door guarding it. He must have sensed my hesitation because without a word he gets up and goes out the door for the first time since he got here.

“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I blow out after he shuts the door.

“Okay… That was fucking clear. Spit it out.” Bella starts laughing looking over at Harlow who spoke. I get the distinct impression they will be ganging up on me really soon.

“What?” I ask.

“I like her.” Bella points to Harlow. “A lot.” Harlow smiles.

“I don’t get that much, most want nothing to do with me.” Harlow shakes her head turning her glaring eyes back to me. “Spill.”

I sigh, lean back on the couch and put my arm over my eyes. That’s such a loaded question and every word I say will be evaluated and she will read what she wants to into each of my words. “He wants me to move in with him, but I told him no.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think he’s come to terms fully about Mia and what I did. I think it’ll blow up eventually. I agree, now more than ever, that I need to be home, but I need my own place. I need to know that when this whole thing goes south, I have my own space to get away.”

“You honestly think he’s gonna let you have your own place?” I remove my arm from my head and stare at Harlow. “You’ve been around just as long as I have. Shit, Cruz demanded I stay with him. You think that after all these years, now that my brother has you, he’s going to let you just walk away?” She shakes her head. “You know this life Casey. It’s not new to you, at all. He loves you and you love him. Yeah, there’s shit you gotta deal with, but that doesn’t change anything. My brother is bossy, overbearing, stubborn and possessive, but he has a good heart. He won’t let you leave this time.”

“I don’t want him to hate me.” I sound so pathetic I want to kick my own ass, but there is so much truth to my words.

“He doesn’t. He’ll work through his shit just like he does everything else. You believe in him, right?” I nod. “Then trust that he will take care of you no matter what. He won’t make the same mistake twice.”

“God… I want one of these men.” Bella sighs and I can’t stop the small smirk that plays on my lips.

G.T.

Four fucking hours now and this damn party is still in full swing. I called Buzz over two hours ago hoping to relieve Angel a bit. Now, I’m just getting fucking pissed this guy is wasting my time. If there weren’t a fucking shit ton of people spread throughout the house, we would have gone right in. But here we are waiting in the fucking trees for the asshole to leave. If he’s smart, he’ll stay, but I’m banking on him not.

Pops comes over and sits next to me. We sit in silence waiting.

Three hours later, we are all getting fucking antsy as shit, mostly hungry and really fucking temperamental. Rhys has to walk off several times to get himself together.

“There he is.” I whisper and the guys’ eyes snap to the blue four door that Jace just got into. Each one pissed and ready for blood.

“Let him move. Once he gets to a clearing, take him.” Pops says with authority. After Jace gets in his car, he turns off the driveway. The guys hop on their bikes and I climb in the cage. We take off, but the bikes stay far enough back because of the roar and we don’t need him seeing us quite yet.

My body is pulsating and my good hand is fisted so tight I’m sure my knuckles are white. I want this fucker. Now. No one messes with Ravage and no one fucking messes with my girl.

Pops gives the go ahead signal. “Go!” I bark at Tug, who pulls ahead gunning for the car. We’re lucky the fucker took the back roads, clean up should go pretty easy.

Tug moves the cage swiftly, pulling up alongside of the car. Jace looks over and I wave my gun saying hello. His eyes widen and he attempts to pull ahead of us. Tug is smarter though and maneuvers the cage close enough not to hit, but instead Jace veers off the road, the dirt of the ditch stopping his car.

Tug stops and I jump out quickly running to Jace’s door and yank it open. His body is hunched over the steering wheel and his moans do nothing to stop my anger. This fucker will pay for putting his hands on Angel. “Get out!” I bark, yanking his shirt and pulling him out of the car. My brothers park their bikes and join me on the side of the road.

“Need to move him into the woods for a few.” Dagger says. “And make it quick. It’s quiet but not for long.” His words piss me off. I’d love nothing more than to take my time ripping this asshole to shreds.

“Get up!” I kick him with my boot and he grunts, but doesn’t get up. I nod to Rhys and Dagger to pick the asshole up by his arms and move him further into the darkness. I punch him hard sending his head flying to the side. I hear a faint laugh coming from Jace’s lips. “What the fuck are you laughing about?” I punch again his head snapping back.

“You’re a stupid bunch of fucking idiots.” He says spitting blood out of his mouth. Dagger and Rhys pull on his arms tight, almost yanking them out of the socket.

“What the fuck did you just say?” I lift my leg kicking him hard in the ribs.

“Paine was right. You all are a bunch of fucking sheep, following each other around. Where do you think he is right now? Burning down your clubhouse or fucking your girls?” He laughs. This time I don’t stop each punch as I feel his bones break under my knuckles.

“Stop!” Pops barks and it takes every ounce of willpower to do so. “How the fuck do you know Paine?”

“He’s going to destroy every single one of you assholes. So, go ahead and kill me, I don’t fucking care. I did my part.”

My body shudders and my breathing is rapid. I pull away from them and grab my phone dialing Angel.

On the second ring, my mind believes the worst and I yell for her to pick up the damn phone. On the fourth ring, she finally does. “G.T.?” her voice is soft.

“Baby. Are you girls okay? What’s going on there?”

“We’re fine. Just fell asleep. Are you okay?” Her voice picks up as if the fog from sleep lifted.

“Good. I’ll be back in about an hour. Alright?”

“Alright. Love you.” She says.

“Love you too. Go to sleep Angel.” She hangs up the phone quickly and my breath catches imagining something happening to her. I pull the phone away from my ear and quickly dial Buzz.

“Bolt that fucking door. You and Breaker inside with the girls keep them in the same room. No one leaves. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Jace is hanging from Dagger and Rhys. I want to kill him. End this. But now that he knows Paine, Pops will not allow it. We’ll need to find out what the fucking connection is. Shit.

I look at Pops. “Son, he’s gotta come with us.” He digs in his pocket grabbing his phone. “Gotta call the clubhouse see if what this asshole said is right?” He walks off.

Becs steps forward. “You wanna do this or you want me?” I simply nod at him. “Tug, get the tape. Dagger and Rhys, make sure he doesn’t move, doesn’t talk. Search him and the car, then light the car up.”

I nod standing there. None of this is turning out like I fucking wanted. Pops comes up. “You tell the girls nothing. We’ll take him to the old warehouse and see what we can get out of him.” He sighs. “I know you want to end him. You will when the timing is right.” I nod, knowing the brothers wouldn’t take that pleasure away from me. “Clubhouse is fine. Brothers from Clayton are there and have everything under control. Everyone is on guard and nothing out of the ordinary. He’s feeding us a line of shit. But the fact he even knows about Paine says something and we need to figure it out.”

“He has to stay away from Angel.” The words escape my mouth without thinking, caught up in my worry.

“You think we’d let that fucker anywhere near the compound?”

“Nah. I know.” He lifts his chin and moves to the guys.

The ride back with the fucker in the back of the cage is daunting. Tug and I do not speak. The fact that we are driving this asshole back to Angel’s apartment is not lost to me, but he will be leaving as soon as they drop, me, Cruz and Becs off.

As I walk into the apartment, Angel gasps and runs into my body. I catch her and squeeze her tight. She begins patting my body frantically and under other circumstances, I’d have some smart comment, but now is not the time. “Are you okay?” She says breathlessly.

“Yeah babe. I’m good. Have a seat we gotta talk.” She moves away sitting next to Princess on the couch, Bella next to her. “Breaker you need to ride with Tug.” He nods and heads off. “Buzz you’re with us, but we’re all riding home together.” He crosses his arms over his chest.

“What’s going on, G.T.?” Princess asks grabbing Angel’s hand. I kneel down in front of Angel and look her in her lost eyes. “

“Club business. You done packing?”

“Yeah. Pretty much everything but a few things that mean nothing. Buzz loaded the car.”

I pat her leg. “Alright. We gotta get home now.”

“Okay.” She whispers.

“Load up.”

One week and three days, we have kept this fucker alive and he keeps this fucking goose chase up. We’ve gone on every fucking lead this asshole has sent us on and nothing. Each one a pile of shit. The shit from his house, Buzz did all his techy stuff and we canvassed every lead, again nothing. The thing that pissed me off most was all the fucking pictures he had of Angel on his fucking laptop. He took pictures of everything from her getting out of her car to shots inside her apartment. No fucking clue how he got those, but he had them.

I want the fucker dead, but Pops keeps saying not yet. It fucking pisses me off, but I stand by my Prez and he keeps telling me to beat the shit out of him, which is not a bad release. We’re on the lookout for the fucker’s dad. After searching for him, he miraculously disappeared, but Deara, Princess’s friend has one lead, her boys are checking out. We just sit and wait.

We have learned that Casey was Paine’s target. She is, after all, a brother’s kid and he wants blood. It was Jace’s job to get in good with her and supposedly that’s all he was told. I think it’s a bunch of fucking shit that he’s spewing.

Angel is back to herself in more ways than one. The crying has all but halted. I know she misses Mia, fuck I do too, but she is no longer crying every minute of the day. She doesn’t think I notice though that she’s a bit jumpy. If a brother happens to walk up behind her, she is seriously startled and her face doesn’t hide it. I’m hoping that shit clears up soon.

Doc says that now I can start moving my arm and getting it back into action. He’s got these fucking exercises that Angel makes me do, but she’s usually naked when she makes me, so it’s a win-win. I feel it getting stronger by the day. And I get to ride now. It sometimes fucking hurts, but I don’t say a damn word about it. I suck that shit up.

Pops got a call from Ransom about the information on Rabbit we’ve been waiting for, but we have to meet him on his turf. Not that I blame him, last time we were together bullets flew everywhere.

Pulling up to Gizmos, a local bar, I kill my bike, parking it in the very front of the building. Pops, Dagger, Cruz, Becs and Rhys all pulling alongside. We proudly wear our rags as always, but going into another clubs territory is always an iffy situation. We have an understanding with Ransom though, so Pops agreed to a meeting here.

Walking into the bar, all eyes are on us. Dagger is first, then Pops and Becs, followed by myself, Cruz and the rest of the brothers, just to be on the safe side.

“We’re here to see Ransom.” Pops says to the overly made up bartender with her boobs barely covered in a bikini top.

She points across the room. Darting my eyes there, Ransom is sitting in a booth with a barely legal blonde straddling his lap, smiling.

Everyone in the bar is focused on us, they move to the side when we walk by. “Sorry to break up the party, but we got shit to discuss.” Pops states with authority.

“Dammit Pops. I was just getting to the good part.” Ransom looks up smiling, red lipstick covering his lips. “Babe. Make yourself scarce and find me later.” The woman crawls off of him and Ransom slaps her ass on the way out. At one time that would have appealed to me, now, nothing.

Sliding into the booth, Pops and Becs sit on one side while us brothers stand behind. “What is it?” Pops asks, as he steeples his fingers in front of him.

Ransom pulls his cut away from his body and his other hand reaches in. We all start to grab our pieces. “Relax. Just gonna grab a piece of paper.” I keep my hand on the barrel of my gun as I watch him do exactly as he said. He slides the paper over to Pops.

Pops unfolds it carefully and reads it. He then folds it back together. “This is?”

“Meeting. Rabbit’s crew. Some top secret bullshit and every one of those fuckers will be at it. It’s mandatory.” Ransom smiles. “Told you and this is confirmation.”

“And you know this how?” I ask suspiciously.

Ransom eyes me. “I’ve got guys everywhere searching for this fucker. I even have a guy in his club. He’ll be dead before he can say a fucking word, but I got what I needed out of him.”

“When is it?” Pops asks.

“Tomorrow night. 8pm.”

“What are you gonna do?” Dagger questions beside me.

“Not a fucking thing. Gonna let you have this one. But…” He trails off and smiles. “All I ask is you stop by here after it’s done so we can toast it together.”

“What proof we got this is right?” Rhys speaks for the first time and catches everyone’s attention.

“You got my word that this is what I was told. It’s as good as it gets.” Ransom doesn’t break eye contact from Pops and I believe him. There is no underlying malice to him. I believe that this is what he was told. Whether it is right or not is up for debate still.

I chin lift to Pops, who turns and looks up at me. I’ve always had a great knack for reading people and this is no different. He’s always relied on it. “Good. We’ll be here tomorrow around 9.” He says and we all stand and shake hands.

Hopping on our bikes, Pops orders, “Church, now. Get there.”

“I believe him.” I cut in to the argument that has been going on for the past fifteen minutes. These fucking men are making my damn head ache. It needs to stop. “He’s got no reason to lie and he wants the fuckers just as much as we do.”

“You don’t think it’s a fucking set up?” Dagger asks his eyes piercing mine.

“Nah. I don’t. Saw it in his face.”

“I agree.” Pops cuts in. “We need to get rid of Rabbit. Get Buzz in here and have him pull it up on his GPS.”

Dagger leaves the table and brings Buzz inside. “Buzz, we need to see this place.” Pops hands him a piece of paper. Buzz leaves the room coming back seconds later with his laptop. A quick click of the keys and he is pointing to our destination.

Buzz shows the screen to all of us. An old warehouse stands in the center with a large number of trees surrounding it.

Sure enough, there are tons of spots for people to hide, so getting in and out undetected isn’t an option. “We need to do it remotely.” I say looking at Buzz and then Pops who nods. “Can you rig up explosives and detonate them from your computer?”

“Fuck yeah.” Buzz’s huge smile reminds me how much he gets off on this shit.

Looking over at Pops, “It’s our only option. There will be a shit ton of guys and with such short notice, we’ll barely have enough time to get in, rig it and get out.”

“It’d be cleaner too, but fuck I want Rabbit.” The fire in his eyes burns bright. We all want Rabbit, but doing this remotely will be the best thing for the club and that is what matters.

“I know. Buzz, we’d need cameras to see who goes in and out. We need to make sure that fucker is inside before it blows.”

“Not a problem. I’ve got a stash,” we all stare at the man. What the fuck. He shrugs and continues, “Of shit that’d be perfect. Got all the equipment to rig it up. I’ll just need some cameras.”

“Breaker!” Becs calls through the door, he rushes in.

“Yeah?”

“Need cameras to be rigged up remotely. Ask your brother. Get at least ten and pay cash.”

“Got it.” Breaker nods his head and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

“Buzz, tell your brother what you need, then you ride with us. We go check out the place, quietly.” Pops orders.

It’s time to roll, God it’s great to be back in the mix.

After scoping out the place, we head back to the clubhouse and make the plan, and head back out to the site after dark. The place is deserted which I find eerie. Either Rabbit doesn’t think we know anything about it and isn’t afraid or the meeting isn’t happening. I am hoping for the first.

After rigging the explosives and the cameras, we meet back at the clubhouse and discuss everything, laying out how we expect everything to play out and hope it does exactly that.

“Hey, Angel.” I walk up behind my girl and she jumps. “Sorry, babe. It’s just me.” I pull her long blonde hair to the side, raking my lips over her neck. Shivers take over her body making me smile. The smell of cherries emanates off of her and I want to lick her from head to toe.

“Hey.” She whispers turning around in my arms. I crash my lips to hers and suck her bottom lip. Her moan spurs me. She wraps her arms around my neck diving into the kiss.

“As great as it is that you two got your heads out of your asses, I don’t need to watch it.” Princess barks.

Angel pulls away and grins. “Come on baby. I need you.”

“Did he go in?” I ask Buzz who has been eyeing the three computers he’s got set up in Pops office.

“Yeah. Here, I snapped a shot of it so you can confirm it.” Buzz pulls up the picture and sure enough, Rabbit and his VP just walked into the building.

“How many inside and out?” Pops asks.

“Inside. 87. Outside. 6.” Buzz answers not skipping a beat.

“You counted?” I ask surprised that he thought of it.

“Fuck yeah.” Buzz smirks, his finger twitching to push the button.

“Alright. Give it here.” Buzz’s face falls and Pops laughs.

“Bud, you’re not a full member yet and Pops needs to do this shit.” I answer holding back my own smile.

He hands over the computer. “Push these.” He points to three buttons. “Once you do, it will be thirty seconds before it blows.”

Pops stares at the screen. Who the hell knows what is going through his head. When his eyes lock with mine, I nod curtly. He does the same with Becs.

Pops hits the buttons Buzz told him to and we wait staring at the three screens. I never realized how long thirty seconds is until this moment. The small countdown clock on the screen is down to 5… 4… 3… 2… 1.

Nothing happens.

Nothing.

“What the fuck?” Pops roars, standing up so quickly his chair flies to the ground. Buzz scrambles to the computers, pressing all the buttons it seemed like at once.

“Buzz?” I question.

“I don’t know what the fuck happened. It should have blown.” He scrambles, fingers still flying across the keys. There is now no movement on the screens even the guards have disappeared.

“Get the fuck over there now and find out what the hell happened.” Pops yells enraged. Becs puts in a call to the Clayton and Guthree chapters to meet us there. We need bodies and back up, fast. We load up and head to the site.

The tension is so fucking thick you’d need a damn machete to cut through that shit. We all ride in two cages to the site not wanting to make any more noise than needed and park away from the building. There are no people in sight, it looks totally deserted. Four other cages pull up behind us and our brothers from Clayton and Guthree get out with us.

Moving slowly through the edge of the tree line, no one has come out of the building or is guarding it. My phone vibrates in my pocket. It’s a blanket text from Becs saying for everyone to surround the building, he will text us to start the countdown to open the doors when the coast is clear.

I scope out everything around us and there is nothing.

I head to the side door with Buzz at my side. We stand and wait. A few moments later, my phone vibrates saying to start the countdown. My adrenaline kicks in and I hold up five fingers to Buzz and count in my head. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… I nod to Buzz, who kicks the door open which flies with no restraint.

A sudden metallic smell waves into my nose. With my gun drawn, my eyes dart around the building. “What the fuck.” I say softly. Dozens of men lay on the linoleum floor, blood seeping from their bodies, not one moving. Bodies lay with heads practically cut off of them; stab wounds straight into hearts and some have limbs chopped off.

I’ve done some wicked shit in my day, but this… This is a fucking massacre, something I have never witnessed before and never want to again.

“Clear!” is yelled out by several of the guys. I look up into all their stunned faces, not one seeming to put words together at the moment.

Becs reaches for his phone. “Pops. We got a huge fucking problem.” He starts and tells him everything that we see, even to the graphic details that I know will be etched into my head for years to come.

I walk around slowly, careful not step in blood or on a body, which makes it very difficult. “Find Rabbit.” I say out to anyone and everyone. That fucker needs to be gone.

“Found him, I think.” Zed says grimly. “And it ain’t fucking pretty.” I slowly walk over to Zed with most of the guys close by.

A man is lying in a pool of blood, a large knife is impaled through his skull, but there is a piece of paper covering his face. I grab the paper tearing it off of the body. To my relief the man is Rabbit. When I look at the paper, my heart stops as I read the words.

“What’s it fucking say?” I look into Becs’ eyes, hopefully conveying my thoughts.

“It says… ‘This is how Paine is really done.’”

“Paine did this shit?” Dagger asks pissed off.

“Yeah. It’s spelled P-A-I-N-E. He beat us to the fucking punch here.” I growl and turn to Becs. “Needs to go up.”

Becs nods and turns to his phone. “Pops we need to light it up. It will all land on us. We gotta clean it up.” He nods. “Got it.”

“Find whatever the fuck you can and get this shit ablaze and fast.” Becs orders and we get to work.

Entering church, Pops stands at the front of the table fuming. “That piece of fucking shit!”

“Gotta get rid of him.” Dagger speaks.

“No fucking shit. How the hell do we find him? We’ve got every fucking chapter looking for him and nothing. So you fucking tell me how the hell we’re gonna do that?” Pops fires back.

Pops is always so damn even keeled that having his rage show up is a bit unnerving. I knew shit was bad, but having him go off, shit is worse than I even thought.

“We need to see if Buzz can do some of that techy shit and track him. It’s a long shot, but it’s the only thing we got right now.” I say calmer than I feel. I need to keep my head on straight especially if Pops is going to lose his shit. “Let’s assess this.” I say motioning towards Pops, who takes his chair so we are all at least now sitting.

“Alright. Positive. Rabbit and his guys are dead.” The guys nod.

“Paine could be anywhere. We keep our eyes and ears open, but he won’t make it easy.”

“We need to get over to Ransom’s. How we gonna play this?” Cruz asks.

“Tell him exactly what fucking happened and we question him. We need to know who the fuck his informant was.” Pops states, placing his fists on the table.

“You think he’s a rat?” Dagger asks.

“Never can be 100%. Eyes and ears open.” Pops says, dismissing us. “Son.”

“Yeah?”

“And you thought it wasn’t your time for VP. Bullshit.” He smirks and leaves the room.

Leaving church, my eyes lock with Angel’s as she sits at the bar with Princess. Cooper’s sitting on her lap looking up at her with wide eyes. I know how he feels. She is beautiful, I can’t blame him.

Stalking to her, Angel smiles but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Hey baby. Gotta head out.”

“K.”

“Uncle G.T.!” Cooper screams catching me off guard. Turning to the little guy, his smile is infectious.

“What’s up little man?” I ask ignoring the fact he just called me uncle, but I guess that’s to be expected since Princess is now his mom. It just happens to be the first time and by the smirk on Princess’s face, she caught it too.

“Casey gonna pay airplane wit me!”

“She is? Sounds fun.”

“You wanna pay?” His face turns excited and damn I didn’t want to disappoint the little guy, but I have shit to do.

“Can’t. Gotta head out.” Cooper’s face falls and my gut clenches.

“Hey, Buddy. It’s alright we’ll have lots of fun. Let me talk to your Uncle G.T. for a minute okay?” Angel looks over at Princess. “Take him?”

“Sure.” Princess looks at me knowingly. “Be careful,” she says as she walks away with Cooper.

Angel’s eyes grow wide and I can see in her face she wants to ask, but she refrains. “I gotta head out. Be back in a bit.” I pull Angel up from her seat and slam my lips to hers. I need to feel her against me. With all the shit falling apart, I need this woman more than my next breath. She doesn’t fucking know it, but she is holding me together. The fact I can come back from all this bullshit and bury myself in her is getting me through it.

“I’ll be here.” She smiles.

Gizmo’s is hopping. Pops, Cruz, Dagger and I meet up with Ransom sitting in the same spot as before with a different woman on each side of him. After getting rid of them, we are able to get down to business. Pops does the talking. After he had his ride, his head is clearer and his anger slightly dissipated. It is there, just hidden well.

I sit studying Ransom’s body language; which is difficult because he gives nothing away. There is only a slight flickering in his eyes that I could have easily missed had I not been paying attention. He says he didn’t know shit was going down, but we are all leery of it. Too big of a coincidence.

Ransom already took out the fucker that talked to him, but said he’d investigate and let us know. Pops isn’t happy. If Ransom doesn’t come up with something, we’ll be taking his ass out. And the fact that Ransom took out his informant before we could talk to him is another reason we don’t know if we can trust him.

“Drinks.” Ransom calls out to the waitress, who brings shots all around. “Didn’t go as planned but the fucker Rabbit is gone. Let’s drink.” We all look at each other and then swallow the drink.