Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
“Tell me about your new dance routine, Dad.”
“Oh. The Old Gents broke up.”
“What?”
“Yeah. That’s what happens when you don’t call your old man for a whole day. The world can turn upside down.”
11
SHANE
“Was that…?” Roadie’s eye was half swollen shut, but evidently he’d gotten a good look.
“Shit,” I replied.
Stripes looked between us. “What am I missing?”
Roadie spat out a mouthful of blood and wiped his face with the back of his hand. “That was Gloves’ other sister.”
Stripes’ eyebrows shot up as he turned to look at me.
Oh yeah. He knew the implications of this new arrival. Roadie was too stupid to get the other part, but not Stripes.
“Why do you think she’s here?” he asked.
Fucking hell. “My guess is to take the other one back.”
And I doubted it had been Kali’s idea to come. That meant either Gloves had asked her, which I doubted, or her mom had. Connor had said there wasn’t a lot of connection between Kali and her sister or mother, but that wasn’t what I’d seen at Ruby’s. I saw a mom and a sister who’d missed Kali.
Roadie moaned, touching the side of his mouth tenderly. “Shit, Ghost. You didn’t have to hit me twice. I mouthed off and earned the first. Didn’t do shit to earn the second one.”
I gave him a look.
Stripes snorted before quickly turning away.
“You were always going to get the one hit,” I explained. “You got the second because you mouthed off.”
Roadie shrugged, ducking his head and moving out of my reach. “I wasn’t going to bug her again, anyway. I wouldn’t do that to Machete.”
Stripes snorted again, this time hurrying away. He moved ahead of us, and I was out of patience for Roadie.
“This was serious with one of his sisters around. Now we got two, and you know it all could blow up in our faces. You get that?”
His head bobbed up and down. “I do. Yeah.”
“You’re not just fucking with your own life stringing Claudia along. This one is smart—or smarter than your girl. She figures it out, some of our guys could die. You fuck this up…” I let the threat hang. I needed to. Roadie was a lot, but he wasn’t careless when it came to other brothers’ lives. His, yes—especially if pussy was involved. But the whole scenario had just been flipped upside down.
Why the hell is Kali here?
“She’s not mine anymore,” Roadie muttered. He risked a look my way. “You talked to Machete. I saw him heading for her room before we left. You know she’ll go for him.”
That was the problem now.
I assumed there’d be no way Gloves’ sister would leave. She’d sunk her claws in on Roadie. She wanted him. Me sending a different guy her way just stalled the inevitable: her realizing Roadie wasn’t going to make her his old lady.
“You think Claudia will go back with Kali? That’s why she’s here. Right?”
“You think Claudia will go with her?”
He clamped his mouth shut, finally making a smart move.
Stripes was on his phone when we got back to the bikes, sitting with his feet stretched out. “Got it.” He hung up, standing, and lifted his chin toward me. “That was one of the prospects. That car rolled right past the bar and kept heading out.”
That was smart.
Roadie started laughing. “No hotel in Frisco for them.”
Stripes didn’t laugh. He was watching me.
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
There was only one town in the direction they’d been heading where they might stop, and knowing Kali, she’d stop. She was traveling with her best buds from high school. She cared about them, so they’d set up somewhere. She’d make sure her friends were distracted, or happy enough not to put up a fight, and she’d come back for her sister then.
That meant I had some time.
“I don’t want her at The Bonfire.”
Both guys knew I meant I didn’t want her around the other Red Demons. They weren’t in our group. I didn’t trust them.
I headed for my bike. “Make some calls,” I told Stripes as I got on. “I either want Claudia’s cell phone collected or a cell phone jammer on her. Let’s find a place to stash her for a bit too.” I focused on Roadie as Stripes nodded. “Claudia’s been around you and Corvette most the time. I don’t want to let her talk to her sister until I know there’s nothing she could’ve overheard.”
In an ideal situation, Kali would talk Claudia into going back, but I knew that probably wouldn’t happen. Instead, if Claudia knew anything at all, she would try to talk Kali into staying. Kali was already suspicious about us and Gloves. Claudia only needed to give her a hint that something more was going on, and Kali would dig in.
Stripes got off the phone, putting it in his pocket. “Claudia’s phone has been collected, and Machete is apprised of the situation. He said not to worry. He’ll take her on a trip, hole up somewhere for the weekend or until we call to have him bring her back.”