Page 27

Now, though. Now all the good feelings are gone.

I file into our meeting room at the clubhouse with a bunch of the other guys, most who were at Ruby’s house today, some who weren’t. Steel called church so all the patched-in brothers are gathered here. On the wall are two large maps that show Steel Rider territory, the Helena and Jacksonville areas. Used to be just one the last time I was there for a meeting. Times have changed. Got that second chapter now. But Helena is still the original.

Steel grabs a chair and sits down at the huge, scarred table. The rest of us follow suit. The talk dies down until there’s only the sounds of breathing and the buzzing of the fluorescent tubes overhead.

Everyone’s waiting, tense with anticipation. Church is only called for the most important decisions or updates, ones that require a lot of people to be updated at once or that need voted on, otherwise the grapevine does a good enough job of passing news around. That means what’s going on with Julia is fucking important, and I’m glad, because I couldn’t agree more. I’ll fight anyone who says a single goddamn word otherwise.

Steel thumps a fist on the heavy table. “We all know times have been different lately,” he rumbles. “Times have changed. We’ve beaten down our opponents and rival gangs. We’ve formed a second chapter. The Riders have been busier than ever before. But this is still a quiet town. We keep out the drugs and gangsters. We make sure the streets are safe for our women and kids.”

The room stirs with murmurs and words of agreement, punctuated with thuds on the table in an echo of Steel’s initial thump. Unless it has something to do with us, Helena’s quiet and calm. We don’t have the things the city does, the pointless violence and aimless aggression. There’s no nightly robberies, no street muggings, none of that shit.

“But it happened today,” Steel says. I grip the edge of the table, my blunt nails digging into the wood grain. “It happened at some point most likely in the small hours of the mornin’. Someone came and trespassed on the property of an old woman, to vandalize the car belongin’ to her daughter. It was personal, not a random hit. We can’t let that shit happen in our goddamn town.”

Fists bang with more force, and men snap and snarl their agreement. Anger and ferocious protectiveness swirl in the air like a firestorm, flames lashing on heated winds. Most of them don’t even know Julia. Most had only glimpsed her at the beginning, or when they went inside to grab a drink or use the bathroom. That it was her didn’t matter to them. Most likely, it was Ruby that got them so worked up, a poor old woman. But really, they’d have been just as pissed off if it had happened to anyone, man or woman, young or old.

Steel’s right. This is our town. This can’t happen in our town.

Steel speaks over the din of anger. “Wolf knows that family. He knows that woman whose car was hit. He’s got a history with her. Because of that, that does make it personal. We need to hear from him what the fuck he knows so we can figure out what the fuck we’re gonna do about it.”

Heads swing in my direction. There are definitely those with recognition on their faces, who remember what went down with me and Julia. I can tell some are hazier on it, though no one is any less angry. Brick looks like he wants to throw his chair.

Steel growls at me to get talking. I push back from my chair and stand, bracing my hands flat on the table. Briefly, I describe my relationship with Julia and how her father disagreed with it. I tell them what Edge and Tracker dug up on my arrest, the circumstantial evidence that proves I was framed by Richard, the dick himself.

“What does this have to do with now?” Snake demands. His shaved head glows yellow like a lightbulb under the harsh tubes. His snake tattoo uncoils from his scalp and down the side of his neck.

“If you’d shut up, I’m gettin’ to that.”

He scoffs and sits back. “Get to it already, huh?”

I decide to ignore him. “Julia got married when she left town, when I broke up with her because I knew I was going to jail. Bastard’s name is Malcolm Quinn. He’s some fancy lawyer and thinks he’s above the law. He abused her until she left him and came back to town while she files for divorce. He won’t sign though. He’s already made one visit to her. No way in hell someone decides to randomly bash up her car. It’s related. Has to be, especially because of the letter the other day.”

I fill them in on that, too. That someone decided she needed to know about my past.

“I saw she had a kid. Cute little tyke.” That’s Rock, one of the ugliest, most scarred-up men you’ll ever see, courtesy of a long stint in the military. One blind eye, a nose broken too many times. Yet, he’s nice. I don’t call people nice and mean it very often. While most of us have huge chips on our shoulders and awful tempers, Rock’s the poster child for therapy. Don’t mean he’s weak, though. I’ve seen him shoot his gun when it’s been called for and let me tell you, he doesn’t hesitate and he doesn’t miss.

“Kid’s not Malcolm’s,” I say quickly. “Dunno who the kid belongs to. Not important. Enough to say, he’s got no rights as far as her son goes.” I sit down.

“Of course, it’s important.” Rock frowns in a patient, kind sort of way. “There’s an old woman, a desperate mother, and an innocent kid in that house. That’s three times the reason to do something about this.”

“I didn’t mean Julia wasn’t important, just who her baby daddy is,” I add.

Rock gives me a look. “It might be though. What if she’s got some other man sniffin’ around?”

I shake my head. “No. It’s Malcolm. I know it. Fucking slimy lawyer piece of shit. We gotta do somethin’.”

“Trust me, not doin’ something was never an option.” Steel’s voice brings everyone’s attention back to him. “We’re doin’ this orderly. Methodical. No one acts out of turn. Not all the cops here hate us, and we want to keep it that way.”

“Like who?” I know asking is getting off topic. I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut.

“Detective Reyes.” Edge rolls his eyes. “Steel’s got a boner for her.”

“Every day, I ask myself why I haven’t killed you yet.” Steel stares at his brother, his best friend, with the type of murderous intent that can only come from true friendship. He throws a fist, intentionally slow, or it would have got Edge right on the kisser. Edge throws up his arm to block the blow.

Steel swivels around to face me. “Detective Reyes came to the area a few years ago. She works missing persons and related incidents for the area. Hates rich, corrupt men. Tolerates us so far. I want it to stay that way, so no one does anythin’ without runnin’ it by me or Edge first.”

“So what are we going to do?” Gun asks.

“Brick, you pick someone to go with you and start going around the neighborhood. Chances are, someone saw or heard somethin’ even if this did take place in the middle of the night.” Steel’s sharp silver eyes narrow. “Don’t ask about cameras, don’t want to be too suspicious, but look for ‘em. Any you see, talk to Tracker. Tracker, get what you can from any cameras. Otherwise, start lookin’ into Malcolm Quinn. His past, what he’s doin’ now, everythin’. Send it all my way. Wolf?”