“Shell.” I leaned forward and extended my hand, palm up, so I could examine it.
After a tremblin’ hesitation, she laid it in my hand and exhaled a long cloud’a smoke. “I’m fine. Thank God, Wes Potter drove by in his squad car because he forgot something at home. He saw these huge-ass fuckers talking to me in the yard and asked if I was okay. Obviously, I said no. Wes waited with me for them to leave and even checked the house. Charlie and I gathered our shit and drove up here as soon as it got dark.”
“When was this?”
“Last night. I knew they’d be back, and this morning I got a text from Vaughn. You know him? He works with Mags Marie over in Port Coquitlam? Apparently, they fucking got to Mags and killed her when she refused to work for them. Vaughn agreed to take over when they threatened him too.” She sucked in another deep drag from the cigarette. “What the fuck is goingon, Boner? I did not sign up for this level of bullshit. My kids were home!”
“Hey, I hear you,” I said, low and smooth, gently pattin’ her arm above the bruise before lettin’ her go. “Seems they’re targetin’ our dealers like this. I found Jelly dead in his apartment.”
She scoffed. “Jelly was an idiot with tons of enemies. It could have been anyone who killed him.”
I arched a brow. “Yeah, if there wasn’t a pattern now that I hear they came for you and they got to Mags Marie. I’m real sorry about this. You know we’d never want you or your family harmed.”
Somethin’ in the line’a her shoulders relaxed a bit. “I know, Boner. I wouldn’t be working with you if I didn’t think you were a group of rebels with good hearts, but this is too much. I have to think of my family.”
“And I have to think’a mine,” I countered. “You can’t just stop workin’ with us, Shell. You run North Van, for fuck’s sake. It’d cause serious issues for more than just our chapter if we closed up shop.”
“Well then, what’re you going to do about these bastards?” she spat. “I want them dead, Boner.”
“You and me both,” I promised. “Let me think on it, yeah? We just got this info, so I need to talk to my Prez and the brothers about our course’a action. But we will not leave you hangin’, you get me? In fact, if you want, I’ll leave Pigeon here with you. Call him your cousin or whatever the hell and take him with you wherever you go ’til we get this fixed, yeah?”
She stared at me querulously for moment before tappin’ out her cigarette and pullin’ a can’a Febreeze from the same drawer she’d stored her smokes in.
“Fine, leave the kid. He’s a little awkward, but Midge loves his tattoos. I’ll keep shit going, but my family stays here with Pigeon. I’ll make trips back to the city as need be.”
“Agreed.” I leaned a hand into the desktop and chuffed her lightly under the chin. “Thanks, Shell. I promise, personally, I’ll see this doesn’t happen again.”
“The only reason I’m not getting on a plane to Mexico is because I know that, Boner,” she told me quietly, touchin’ me briefly on the cheek. “Now get the fuck out of my house.”
BLUE
I wokeup Friday morning lying in the bathtub with a brutal crick in my neck and my left leg so numb it wouldn’t support my weight when I tried to stand.
I’d closed myself in the bathroom because it was the only room in the house with a lock.
And last night, the Raiders had a party.
I’d almost forgotten what their parties were like, relegating the memories to the deepest recess of my brain. They were rowdy to the point of chaos, breaking chairs and bottles, throwing each other through windows or into walls when inevitable scuffles broke out over stupid wounded pride or drunken declarations. There were no Old Ladies allowed in Rooster’s club, so the only women were biker sluts, women who were usually hooked on drugs or danger who needed the Raiders for their hit of either substance. When I walked in after my first shift at Eugene’s, Meatloaf was fucking someone right beside the door. He’d sneered at me when I walked in, balls deep inside a woman who was screaming loud enough to wake the dead.
It didn’t get any better the deeper into the house I went.
Rooster was being fellated as he casually drank whiskey with his Sergeant At Arms, Macho, and when he caught my eye across the crowded living room, he beckoned me to his side with a snap of his fingers.
I was exhausted.
Thursday was my double duty day at Lin’s and Eugene’s, and both jobs were physically and socially taxing. All I wanted was to fall into bed, text Aaron for a minute, and escape into dreams.
But I knew better than to say no to Rooster.
So I picked my way through the warm bodies writhing together to the rock music spilling tinny and crackling through an old speaker and stopped at his side.
“Grab us some more beer, girl,” he said, meeting my eye as he pet the blonde head of the woman on her knees in front of him. “Make yourself useful like Crystal here.”
I fought against the shiver of revulsion that moved through me and turned to his bidding. Before, when I was young, I hadn’tgrown into myself yet so none of the brothers had even looked at me too long.
But I was decked out in glam makeup, tiny denim shorts, and a yellow top that emphasized my curves for my shift at Eugene’s, and one of the Raiders let his appreciation be known by tugging me into his lap before I could get by.
His face was between my breasts, motorboating me loudly, beer-wet lips against my flesh before I could push him away. When I tried, he gathered my hands in his ham fists and pulled down hard to keep me still.
