Page 19 of Soulless Saint

Kaleb sat up straight, reaching into the pocket of his jeans for his phone. “We need to talk to Maggie.”

“Maggie doesn’t want to see anyone right now,” our Dad said sharply, glaring at Kaleb.

“Too fucking bad,” Kaleb hissed back, but Dad lifted his torso just to slam his palms back down on the table, shaking the long pane of wood.

“Kaleb,” he warned. “The woman just lost her husband. The least we can do is respect her enough to give her space while she grieves.”

Kaleb’s gunmetal eyes flitted to me, an unspoken agreement passing between us. Dad was wrong here. If the Sons were to blame for Chief Andrews’ death, we needed to know. We needed to know now. Dad was letting his emotions where the Andrews’ were concerned cloud his judgment.

Something that’d been happening a little too often lately if you fucking asked me, but nobody did.

I gave Kaleb a slight nod and he sniffed, pocketing his phone once more.

“Fine,” he said, crossing his arms. “But if it was the Sons and we don’t do jack shit about it then they’re going to think they can get away with worse and you damn well know it.”

Our dad bowed his head, taking a breath deep enough to make his back expand to damn near twice its natural size. “We give her a couple days. Then I’ll get your Ma over there to talk to her. If Maggie knows something, my Sloane will be able to get it out of her.”

Finally. Some fucking sense.

But we didn’t have days if this was an act of war against us. We needed to retaliate, and quickly. With no fucking mercy.

“In the meantime,” Dad continued, addressing the rest of the Saints in attendance around the table. “We have the meet with our Eastern neighbors in a few days.”

“And?” Archer pressed, lifting a brow. “We’re all set for that. Location’s prepped. Time is set. Cash is in hand for the buy. We’re good.”

Dad’s jaw flexed. “Nah. Something’s off. The Warden’s being squirrely as fuck. We spoke to confirm the meet last night, and he was trying to get out of it.”

“Why?” Kaleb asked, like his head was thick. Obviously the ‘why’ of it was why Dad brought it up. The lack of an answer to that question the problem. “We’ve done all our arms deals through The Warden for three years. There’s never been a problem before.”

“Exactly,” Dad confirmed. “I don’t like it. I’m going to need you and your brother there with me.”

“Take Zade and Arch,” Kaleb complained, and I kicked him under the table to shut him up.

He winced, jerking upright to rub the new tender spot on his shin with a sneer in my direction.

I nodded to Dad, confirming we’d be there.

If The Warden was trying to back out of a deal with us, there had to be a good reason, and I wanted to know what it was.

* * *

Twenty minutes after hammering out the details for the meet with the Warden, Kaleb and I were back in the Bronco. He cut me off and slung himself into the driver’s seat before I could protest.

“So should we go to the Chief’s place now or after lunch?”

He pulled out of the lot, lifting a hand to wave at Dad as he exited the shop, on his way to break the news about Chief Andrews to Ma. I didn’t envy him. In the last few years Ma’d taken a passive role among the Saints, but it wasn’t always that way. Once, she was known as the Queen among Saints, even more bloodthirsty than Dad.

Now she was everyone’s Ma. But you still didn’t cross her. Not if you wanted to keep your most vital organs intact.

“Hardin.” Kaleb elbowed me as he pulled out onto main street.

I turned off the radio, jerking my head for him to continue straight instead of turning right, back to Santa Clarita. “We do it now. And it ain’t the chief’s place anymore. It’s Maggie’s now.”

Kaleb’s smirk fell from his lips, replaced by a sorrowful scowl as his fingers tightened on the wheel until his knuckles turned bone white.

“If it was them, they’ll pay,” I promised him, the rushing wind doing little to cool the heat of fury still warming my cheeks. My fingers twitched, aching for destruction.

Beside me, Kaleb sniffed, and I did him a solid, pretending I didn’t hear and keeping my eyes trained ahead.

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