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“The compound where Juan José stays has been having a lot of armored trucks coming in and out for the past week while we’ve been out of town,” Hawk tells us and shows us the pic on his laptop. “The only picture we were able to snag is of men carrying crates into the buildings around the property.”

“Are we thinking guns?” Ledger asks.

“I’m pretty sure yes, but we don’t know for sure,” Hawk answers.

“How many crates we talking?” Brass asks.

“Enough for a small war,” Hawk announces.

“Think he’s about to retaliate against us?” I ask, turning towards Prez.

“I’d be pissed enough if hundreds of millions of dollars of my cocaine was taken,” Stone states.

“What’s the plan?” Riot asks, all playfulness from earlier gone from the room.

“I’m reaching out to our mafia friends to see if they can get us some more heavy machinery to have here on the property. Hawk is monitoring the compound and watching their movement so we stay vigilant and on guard. I’ll check in with Turner at the police station to see if we’ve had any new people coming in from out of town,” Stone informs us.

“Can’t Hawk just put a bomb on one of his drones and drop it over the compound?” Bear asks. As crazy as the brother is, it’s not a bad idea.

“I’m good but where the fuck am I gonna get a bomb to transport down there without getting caught?” Hawk looks over at Bear like he’s insane.

“Just thought between you and Raegan you could make it happen,” Bear shrugs.

“We’ll table that for now but speaking of the wives…” Stone interrupts. “We’ve got a new Ol’ Lady on the property so make sure to make Remi and Ryder feel welcome. If you haven’t met her yet, introduce yourself so that she knows you and your face. Also, Ryder is thirteen and will be in and out of the clubhouse… a lot… so keep the sex to your rooms or all behind locked doors. Got me?” he pauses looking around the table. “That means I don’t want to see dicks, pussy or tits out in the main room,” he clarifies.

Around the table a few grumble, but most nod in agreement.

“All right, get with Ledger about your money and keep an eye out around town.” Prez bangs the gavel down.

Meeting adjourned.

“Did you grab the snacks you wanted?” I ask Ryder as we make our way through the grocery store in Sweetwater.

We’ve been shopping all day with Raegan, Sutton and Melissa. They took me and Ryder to a larger town called Abilene to shop for décor for the house and tons of furniture. Rhett wasn’t able to join us in our venture but sent several of the men from the club with us. I sure hope he likes everything I picked out. It is his money that paid for all the furnishings of the house.

Ryder comes over with a handful of junk and stuffs it in the basket. He’s been such a trooper today with us girls so I let it slide just this once.

“Do you think they have baseball teams here?” Ryder asks as we walk down the pasta aisle.

“I’m sure they do. We can look them up tonight after dinner⁠—”

“I’m sorry to interrupt but I overheard your son asking about baseball,” a woman says next to us. Her basket is just as full as mine.

“Oh, yeah, my son plays select ball but we just moved here this week and haven’t found him a team yet,” I say.

“My son plays ball too and they are having tryouts this weekend for new players,” she offers. “I’m Katie and that boy coming this way is Liam.” She points down and a boy who looks the same age as Ryder comes to a stop at her basket.

“I’m Remi and this is Ryder,” I introduce.

Ryder and Liam start talking and my heart fills with joy. I’ve worried about him making new friends. Katie and I exchange numbers and she sends me all the info for the tryouts.

“Great, then we will see you in a few days. If the boys want to get together so that Liam can introduce him to some of the kids let me know and we can have them come over for a swim,” Katie says as she and Liam depart.

“Did you hear that, Mom? Liam told me that their team won the championship last year,” Ryder tells me excitedly.

“Sounds like you’re already making friends,” I say looking over the pasta sauce jars.

“Yeah, Liam just texted me his gaming name. We’re gonna connect later to play a few games tonight.”