Page 6 of The Secret's Out

For them, I would do anything. They had my respect and alliance.

My head straightened from the couch. I opened my eyes, because even over the music, we all heard the front door to the compound slammin’ shut behind someone. My brothers and I turned to the hall and when Talon’s scowling, hard face stepped through, I knew something was wrong.

The whole room tensed.

Griz was the first to stand and then Blue.

My hand around the beer bottle tightened as Talon’s eyes searched the room. Fuck, when they landed on me, my heart pounded once again and I clenched my jaw. “Office, now,” he ordered. I sent a chin lift and stood from the couch.

“Someone’s gettin’ another spanking. What you done this time, Pick?” Dodge asked.

Snorting, I replied with my middle finger and made my way down the hall that led to Talon’s office at the end. Opening the door, I found Griz and Blue already in there.

“Boss, what’s goin’ down?” I asked.

“Fuck,” he hissed. A hand ran down his face as he stood stiff behind his desk. Griz sat on the couch in the corner and Blue leaned against the opposite wall, both were waiting for the shit news to be dealt. “Blue, go get Billy.”

Now it was my body’s turn to stiffen.

Billy the Kid. That was what he was named when he joined the Hawks MC because he was patched in as prospect at the age of fifteen. Now he was twenty-two. His real first name was Eli, last name Walker.

Eli Walker was...fuck, too much.

“Pick,” Talon said to get my attention from the floor. They’d named me Pick because I was able to pick any lock. Nothing could stop me from gettin’ in. My real name was Caden Adams. When my eyes met Talon’s, he asked, “You okay?”

Obviously, I hadn’t hidden my reaction of hearing Billy’s name. Why I reacted was because I thought once Billy could mean something to me. I had been wrong and since then, I hardly saw the guy. We steered clear of each other and that was fine by me. What also didn’t help us was the fact we both loved the same woman.

Just as I sent a chin lift to boss-man, the door opened behind me. My hands fisted at my sides as Billy’s heat appeared beside me.

“What’s up?” Billy asked, his voice gruffer that usual. He didn’t like that I was in the room. Well, tough fuckin’ shit. I was over it all.

The next word from Talon had both Billy and my attention tenfold.

“Josie,” he said, and then stopped as if he wanted it to take affect and Christ, it did, because Josie was the woman we both loved. “Nancy rang me earlier. She wasn’t herself so I knew somethin’ was up. Josie is havin’ some trouble at school.”

“What sort of trouble?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Some dicks won’t leave her alone. We all know what Josie is like. She hates any type of attention, especially from men.”

“What’s the plan?” Billy asked.

“I need the two of you to go to Melbourne, find out what in the fuck is goin’ on and fix it. No one causes shit for a Hawks family member. You hear me? Fix it good,” Talon ordered.

“Done,” I hissed.

Knowing someone was fuckin’ with our woman caused my blood to boil. My ears rang from the sudden rush to the head. I wanted to find the fuckers and hurt them.

“Why the two of us?” Billy asked.

Closing my eyes for a second, I breathed deeply and opened them to the floor. He didn’t want to work with me. Christ, I couldn’t blame him. He knew what I wanted from him. He knew what he did to me and he knew my eyes followed him everywhere.

Only he didn’t want any of it.

Instead of Talon answering the obvious, Griz did, “Josie trusts the two of you.”

“She trusts you lot as well,” I said.

“Maybe,” Blue started. “But not like you two. She’s more herself with the two of you, like she is with her parents and Wildcat. No one else will get the job done.”

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