Page 29 of Hell & Back

“Psh.” She waved her hand in the air. “I’m good. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

No, Kylie supposed it wasn’t. Not long ago someone else had broken into Bling with the intent to take Bellamy and use her as leverage against Race. In the process, Martha had been shot and spent several nights in the hospital. As far as she was concerned, Martha was one tough woman.

The front door opened and three men dressed like FBI agents minus the suit jackets walked in. They scanned the room and nodded in their direction, then went to the bar to meet with Race.

“Oh, boy,” Bellamy cringed while Martha shook her head and added, “That can’t be good.”

“Who are those guys?” Calliope asked. “Do you know them?”

“Um, those men work for my brother, Isaac. I knew he had people around close to keep an eye on me and Grandma, but wasn’t sure how close. Uh, oh. Race doesn’t look happy.”

Since working for the Sons, Kylie had discovered Bellamy’s brother Isaac was actually a crime boss in Lost Junction who went by Preacher.

“Why would your brother have men looking out for you and Martha?” Calliope set her recliner to rocking.

“He knows the Phantom Furies are giving the Sons a lot of trouble. He’s been contacting Race to get updates, which annoys Race to no end. Preacher thinks the Sons are spread too thin and won’t completely relax until he has his own men in town to watch over us. He’s very overprotective.” Marsha nodded her head in agreement.

“He sure is. He sends a man with me every time I take a vacation. Kinda cramps my style having a bodyguard hovering close. How’s a woman supposed to find a man with a bodyguard hovering behind me everyone where I go?”

Race, Tuck and Dagger came over to say they were leaving. “We have to take care of club business and I’m not sure how long it will take. Those three guys,” Race hitched a thumb over his shoulder, “will be staying to help provide protection while we’re gone. Bellamy and Martha already know them, but for the rest of you, they’re Marco, Daniel and West.”

“I’m going with them,” Tuck leaned down to kiss Kylie.

“Should you be driving?” she asked quietly, not wanting to embarrass him.

“It’s all good. Race is driving my truck.”

“Well, okay. Be safe.”

Tuck leaned down and kissed her again. “Stay here until I get back. If it starts getting late or you get tired, go lie down in our room. I’ll wake you when I get back.”

Race, Tuck, Dagger and Chris left through the front door, leaving Preacher’s men talking to Cutter at the bar. That left Miles at the gate.

“Ginny. Jane. I’ve been wondering something. Have either of you ever had any close calls or scary moments when you worried Dagger or Maverick might not make it home?” Bellamy rubbed her hand on her belly.

They both looked at each other, communicating silently, a whole conversation going on, then Ginny said, “There was this time about ten years ago, that we thought all of the brothers in the Sons of Redemption would end up dead. Monk, the president at the time, and Tinker, his vice president, had it in their heads that the club was going to become big time drug and gun dealers and run whores on the side.”

“How do you know about this? Isn’t it club business? I thought old ladies weren’t supposed to know anything.” Calliope adjusted Harper in her arms.

One night when Calliope was explaining how she and Jackson got together, she’d explained that she’d grown up across the street from Maverick, Jane and Jackson. Because of who they were, she’d been exposed to club life a lot more than Kylie, Lindsey and Bellamy. She’d even told the old ladies she’d been to some parties at the club before she and Jackson got together.

Ginny grinned at Jane. “We have two eyes and two ears. Being quiet in the background as we serve up beer while our husbands hang out and talk shop, we tended to hear and see things we probably shouldn’t. They were having a bonfire one night and I volunteered to go inside and get a round of beers for a few of the brothers. As I was walking down the hall, I could hear Monk and Tinker arguing in Monk’s office. Tinker thought because he and Monk brokered the deals, they should get a bigger cut and the suppliers should pay out more since the club was taking all the risk.

“I don’t know all the details, but not long after that, there was a meeting between the Sons and their supplier. From what I put together, an argument broke out, shots were fired and Monk was dead. Tinker went down and the cops were coming. My brother works for the RPD and he helped fill in a few things for me. I’ve never asked Dagger about it because it’s club business, but putting two and two together with things I wasn’tsupposed to overhear, I discovered a couple of the other brothers were hit, too. Everyone was able to get out on their own except Dagger and Tinker. Jed was left with a choice; help Dagger and still have plenty of time to get out of there before the cops showed up, or help Tinker and risk both of them getting caught. He chose to help Dagger, thank God, because he was closer and more seriously injured. But because he chose Dagger over Tinker, Tinker was arrested and taken to the hospital until he was released to jail. He was convicted and given ten years. After the first couple of times Dagger, Mav and Race went to see him, he told them not to come back. The Sons were no club of his for letting him get caught.”

“Wow,” Calliope whispered. “I had no idea.”

“One time Maverick was sent on a run with Tinker and Boner,” Jane spoke up. “Tinker shot his mouth off and got Maverick shot.”

“I didn’t know that,” Calliope’s eyes were round.

“Luckily, it was a graze. On his hip. You wouldn’t have ever seen it,” she explained.

Over at the bar, Cutter took his cell out of his pocket and put it to his ear. He listened, frowned at the three men sitting in front of him, then replied. Two minutes later, Lindsey was entering carrying Declan, the baby she and Trick had had recently, followed by Keegan and Reagan, Trick’s kids with his first wife. Bringing up the rear was a man dressed sharply in a slate gray suit with a shirt and tie the color of orange sherbet. He was a very attractive man, if you liked the CEO white-collared sort. He had a diaper bag slung over his shoulder and was carrying a car seat. He followed Lindsey toward the area the women had claimed as their own.

“Ladies,” he smiled and nodded his head. He placed the car seat and diaper bag on the table closest to the sitting area, thenleaned down to kiss Martha on the cheek. “Don’t get up,” he told Bellamy. He leaned down and kissed her cheek as well.

“Isaac, what are you doing here?” Bellamy asked.

---