“It’s not like that,” I try to defend myself. Although, he’s not far from the fucking truth.
“You might be thousands of miles away, JB, but I can still smell the bullshit from here,” he sniggers. “Look, just promise me that, whatever the reason, when you go in there, you makesure you think with your head and not with your dick because I don’t want to lose you, brother.”
“It makes perfect sense. I need to do this. Prove my worth as a brother of the YOMC,” I say with confidence. “I’m the one for the job.”
“Well, you sure as hell have gone all out to change your appearance.” He chuckles. He runs his hand over his own head, which is covered with a short crop of stubble. “You stealing my look, brother?” The cocky smile on his face has me laughing along with him.
“With all due respect, Prez.” I smirk back at him. “I was going for the crappy, skin-headed, deadbeat look, but if you wanna own it, then sure.”
“Fuck you,” he jokes. “Go piss off, I need to get back to my old lady who, at this very minute, is naked in my bed, and waiting for a good hard fucking.”
“Best not keep her waiting, then.” I go to cut the call, but stop when Cannon put’s his face closer to the screen.
“Keep safe, JB, and once this is over, I expect you to tell me who the real JB is.”
With that bombshell, he cuts the call.
Even though the Young Outlaws are my family now, they don’t know everything about my past. They can’t possibly. Those records are well and truly sealed. To go by my real name, when I infiltrate the DVI, could be one huge clusterfuck. But, if they try to delve into my past, it should only bring up information of my youth and nothing that would link me to the club or the part of my life, that if made public knowledge, could lead to my early demise.
I respect and trust Cannon like a real brother, but still I’m not sure I can, or want to, dig up a part of me that’s been buried deep within my soul.
I findSmoke and Stone sat a table at the far side of the bar, deep in conversation. As soon as Smoke catches sight of me he beckons me over. Their discussion comes to an abrupt end as soon as I get within hearing distance. Stone rises up from his seat and as he goes to walk past me, his hand comes to my shoulder, giving it a firm pat, before he moves to where the others are standing further down the bar. Smoke gestures for me to take the now vacant chair opposite him.
“It’s no secret that I don’t fucking like you,” Smoke says before my ass has even had a chance to mould to the solid wood seat. “Personally, if you end up in an unmarked grave, out in the middle of the Nevada desert, I would give absolutely no fucks. But I have a lot of respect for Cannon, and for some reason he seems to want to keep you alive. So, with that in mind, I’m going to give you one final chance to walk away, take your cocky ass back to Florida. Guilt free, no repercussions. Away from Nevada.”
The short of it… Smoke wants me gone, and away from what he holds most dear. I’ve got to give Smoke some credit. He’d rather give up this chance of getting his revenge on the DVI if it means me staying away from his daughter.
Even though it’s not on the cards… yet. Staying away from Scarlett is not going to happen.
“Then what will you do?” I ask him. He bestows me with one of his expressionless stares. “Wait it out? Monitor their movements, in the hope that a chance will come along for you to go at them, all guns blazing with no real idea at what you’ll be facing?” I don’t give him a chance to reply before I hit him harder. “That will leave the club vulnerable. They’ve taken youby surprise once, the last thing you want is to take another hit like that.” I rest my arms on the table and tilt my upper body nearer to him, dropping the level of my voice. “What if next time it’s your girl, Tenley? Think about Stone. He’s already lost people close to him. If anything happened to Oriana, or God forbid, that cute little girl of his, would you really want that on your conscious?”
“Guilt tripping me won’t work, JB. I’d never let that happen. I’ll protect them until the death.” Smoke growls back at me, at last showing that under his stoic exterior is a heart that loves hard, and can shatter just like the rest of us.
“Then this is the perfect opportunity.” I sit back in the chair, arms laying palm down, flat on the tabletop. “Inside information is paramount when it comes to bringing these fuckers down, so let me be your eyes and ears so we can get this shit done.”
“You understand that doing this is not going to change my opinion of you?”
“Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. One thing it will prove to you is that I’m true to my word. If I say I’m serious about something, then I will give it my all. I’ll go to the very edge of hell, if needed.”
“Well, I can tell you now, you and my daughter are never going to happen. I’ll kill you myself, and I won’t give a fuck if Cannon wants my fucking head for it, because it will be worth the sacrifice.”
“I’m always up for a challenge,” I wink at him. “So, I guess it’s up to me to prove you wrong, change your perception of the kind of man I really am.”
“You’re deluded, because that ain’t ever going to happen.”
“Time will tell, Smoke. Time will tell.”
Chapter
Sixteen
Johny B
There are at least four in the bar that I recognize from the intel we have, that are known to run with the DVI, but as yet, there’s no sight of Dunne.
It’s been three weeks since I left my Nevada brothers clubhouse and moved into the shitty motel. I left my Harley behind, switching it out for an old Dodge Aeries, which seemingly belongs to Oriana, and holds some kinda sentimental value to her. Stone agreed she could keep the beater, as long as it got fixed up. Visually, it looks like it belongs in the junk yard. but Diesel has been working on it and, under the hood, the car is sweet. The paint job has yet to receive the attention it needs, but that’s a good thing because it works perfectly for my cover.
So, every night I drive the few miles from my motel to the bar, string out a couple of beers and watch the cocksuckers drink and play pool. In the hope that these dudes will lead me to Dunne.