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Keely leans over, her mouth touching mine in a chaste kiss before she slides off my lap and stands. “Don’t hang out here too long. I liked what we did earlier on the kitchen counter, and I’d love a repeat in bed.”

My brows rise, and I reach up, curling my fingers around the back of her thigh, squeezing gently. She turns her head, tipping her chin slightly as she looks down at me.

“We can do that before I call him to come over,” I murmur with a smile on my lips.

She laughs softly, shaking her head from side to side. I watch her blond hair move around her shoulders, a pretty-as-fuck smile playing on her lips. My own mouth curves up into a grin. I can’t stop it from happening. She’s fucking perfect.

“Get your meeting done. Whatever you have working through your head needs to come out. I want all of you when we’re together. Nobody and nothing else.”

Fucking fuck me. This woman. “Okay, baby,” I rasp, releasing her thigh. I watch her walk toward our bedroom, and I wonder if I’ll ever get used to watching her go anywhere. The view is goddamn heaven, and then to go to our room, my bed, fucking spectacular.

When she’s out of view, I reach into my pocket, take out my phone, take another drag of my beer, and call Hippie.

Without question, he agrees to come right over. I’m sure he saw and maybe even heard my argument with Cake, and he’s probably eager to talk about it as well. But he doesn’t know what I’ve got working inside my head.

I can hear a party in the background, no doubt because Cake and his sons are there, but this can’t wait for Hippie to get his dick wet. This needs to be worked on and discussed tonight, away from the clubhouse.

CHAPTER

SIXTY-FIVE

HOUND

I walk to the fridge to take out two more beers, another for me and one for him. He doesn’t say anything immediately, but I jerk my chin toward the back door, and he follows me.

Once we’re outside, I sink down in a chair that faces the backyard and place the beers down on the small table between us. Hippie sits down with a grunt, and we each take a pull from our beer before either of us speaks.

“Had a heated conversation with Cake today at the hospital,” I say, stating the fucking obvious.

Everyone who was there saw that heated conversation, heard it, too, even if they didn’t follow along to the actual words that were said. But Hippie needs to know what I’m thinking and what Cake said.

“Yeah, that was a bit fucking rough. What happened?” he asks.

“I brought up a bit of what we’re doing, looking for clubs that have under-the-table deals with the Russians. He didn’t give a shit. He said things were running smoothly, that everything was good right now, and that he didn’t want to rock the boat. He doesn’t want to start a war with them. We’ve been on the brink for so long that with this peace, he wants to keep everything status quo.”

Hippie lifts the bottle of beer to his lips and takes a long drink. I flick my gaze to the side to watch him for a moment, then shift it to the backyard. I need to put some kind of grass back here, maybe a playset, too, with some shading so that in a few years, Thea will be able to come back here and enjoy herself.

“So he doesn’t want to rock a boat that’s being pirated?” he asks.

“Basically, plus he’d like us to stop digging.”

Hippie doesn’t respond immediately. Instead, he clears his throat and stands. I watch as he takes a few steps forward into the sandy rock yard before he stops. Slowly, he turns around to face me, his eyes finding mine in the darkness.

“Well, that sounds like some bullshit,” he snaps. “I’m not stopping.”

“That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I think it’s bullshit, too, and it makes me wonder if he’s got something he doesn’t want us to uncover as well.”

Hippie hums, then walks back to his chair and sits down again. For a moment, we sit in silence and just let everything sink in. It is clear as fuck something is happening. We just don’t know exactly what.

“I can’t imagine Cake doing anything that would jeopardize the club, but at the same time, something is definitely rotten,” Hippie says.

I hum, bringing the beer to my lips and emptying the bottle. “I agree. There’s something shady going on. Secrets do not bind us or bring us closer as a club. They also do not make us stronger. If we’re going to be doing dealings with the Russians past what has been discussed with transporting and collecting their money, then we should all know.”

“So what the fuck do we do now?” Hippie asks.

I have no goddamn clue. Except I do know one thing… we need to find out exactly what is happening. We will never have the upper hand if we don’t have all of the information.

Knowledge is goddamn power.