Page 27 of Vengeance

“Goddammit,” Zane says and looks at the table. “Shut the fuck up. I don’t need the image of my sister doing... well... anything sexual with anyone. That’s just sick.”

“She’s not his sister,” Ty says. “Besides, I think a healthy sex life makes for a solid relationship. Especially a marriage. They always say the sex stops once you’re married.”

“Shut up!” Zane shouts and whips his head to look at him. “That’s my sister.”

Ky holds a hand up, but he smirks. “I think we’ve gotten away from the point. Whether or not Lex blows her husband, the head of the Slashers has been watching her. Sent her a fucking love note through their window. Same with Heidi, except hers wasn’t quite as affectionate.”

The way VP nods but doesn’t say anything pissed Colt off. He should push for action. Demand it. Just like TK should be. This woman has done so much for everyone here, and she’s related to them. But he just looks almost content sitting there, waiting, just like Diesel said. Waiting for Jennings to make a fucking decision and act.

“At this point, we should just cut all fucking ties with the RIO,” Diesel says. “This is getting personal, and it’s affecting families. Hell, the VP’s daughter is in the crosshairs. Jennings, your wife was almost abducted when she was attacked. What are we fucking waiting for?”

“Fuck with us all you want,” Beckett Cohen, one of the Army Five says, “but don’t go after our women. Besides, doesn’t Brock have shit on them to keep them from retaliating if we leave them in the dust?”

“We’re also their largest customer,” Shep adds. “They’ll feel that hurt long before we will.”

“It’s not that simple, men,” Jennings says and looks at the table. “Believe me, we’re-”

His son, Tripp, holds up a hand to stop him. The man is the spitting image of his father when he was younger, but he seems to have a different way of thinking than his father at the head of the table. “This is starting to sound a lot like the man we wanted to overthrow when we thought Avery died.”

“Tripp-”

“I’m with them, Dad. I’ll tell you to go fuck yourself before I settle down for more of this sit-and-see approach we have going on now. It could cost me Avery and the kids, and that’s too damn expensive. No matter how often I may say I’m ready to sell Isaac to the highest bidder, I won’t risk my family out of some concern for an income. We can figure that shit out, but I can’t figure life out if I lose the most important things to me. And neither should you.”

Isaac, the only one of their three children who shares DNA with Tripp, is nothing short of a terror. As a product of his affair with a club bunny while mourning the loss of his wife, the kid is more Melody than Tripp, and poor Avery has to try and deal with him. But even at his worst, everyone knows Tripp would never let anything happen to his son.

“I would lose my fucking mind if I lost your mother. Or your family. Or you. You guys aren’t understanding what I’m saying, and it’s clear there’s a lot of mistrust here. We’re not taking a sit-around-and-wait approach like you think. We’re trying to get things in motion. Psycho and I called Ivan, and let’s just say... it didn’t go well.”

VP nods, and Colt looks at his father. They’ve talked about this already. They’re working on something without including the rest of the club. “What’s going on?”

“We can’t get another supplier,” VP says.

TK looks at him. “The Chinese, Americans, and Middle East don’t want to fuck with the Russians.”

“The only other option we have, to have a product to sell and want to take on the RIO, isn’t one we’re sure we want to deal with because it can be dangerous and go south really fucking fast,” Jennings says.

“When did you talk to him?” Shep asks.

“The night Tess and Lacey were attacked. We asked him about getting the Russian mob to help us, and he blew us off. Said he thought he already told us. ‘Negative’ was his exact answer. We bluffed and told him we had other backers willing to work with us, and he called our bluff. Threatened to end us.”

Brock narrows his eyes and looks around the room. “We have shit on them. Shit bigger than whatever they have on us.”

Shaking his head, Jennings sighs. “No, what we have won’t top them. We told them we had shit on them, and we tipped our hand slightly. He told us not only will the mob not help us, they’d actually come to take us out. We’d have to take on the Irish and the Russians and have no guns. We’re not only out of business but at a significant disadvantage. We’d be fucking dead.”

Colt leans back in his chair. What the fuck are they going to do? How do they get out of this situation? No guns, no income, and a secondary enemy with seemingly unlimited resources.

“Psycho told Ivan he has a week to help us, or we would go to a backer who would love to take them on. Someone who will destroy them and laugh while doing it. Ivan called back and told us he needs two weeks to gather the powers that be to decide and then make arrangements, assuming they agree.”

“Drugs,” Diesel says and leans back, anger on his face. “We’re going to get in with fucking drug dealers.”

The President shakes his head again. “That’s what we’re working on. We don’t want to get into the mule game.”

“At the very least, could they help us take on the fucking Slashers and Russians?” Ky asks. “We can figure out an arrangement that has a specific payback plan that doesn’t involve us running drugs?”

“We’re discussing that, too. We’re also trying to figure out if there are other options we haven’t thought about yet to avoid getting too entangled with the wrong business. But we will be making a determination soon, and we’ll bring it to the table. Both tables.”

Colt deflates. Working with a group that may get them tied up in drugs would be the downfall of the club. They’ve had a very specific stance, and with Diesel’s daughter having the problems she had after the Devil’s Advocates, who were prominent drug dealers, killed his wife, Nancy, it would be better to just disband and call it a day.

The door handle jiggles, and they all turn as pounding on the heavy wooden door vibrates the room. Shep jumps up to open it, and Tess falls inside.

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