Page 69 of Scar

After a second of silence, all hell broke loose.

* * *

Tally wasn’tsure what bothered her more: the fact that her father’s professional reputation, under the codename ‘Alpha’, was so poor in the eyes of this group of veterans or the fact that her father’s company was known for hiring veterans withdishonorabledischarges.

More than one of theVia Daemoniabrothers had referred to them as “fucking cowboys” while others call them “bloody mercenaries”, like this was a known fact.

Her father kept his personal and professional lives separate, but Tally had always been under the impression that that was to keep her and her mothersafe. Not to hide the gory details of what he did for a living. Worse, what he sent others to do while he sat behind the desk of his high-rise office.

A young man named Keys joined their group downstairs. Tally was introduced to many of them, but honestly, they were a lot to take in all at once. She knew specific voices and titles, like Steel being the President and Keys being the tech guy.

Steel had put Tally and Keys next to each other so Tally could tell Keys everything she knew about Primis as well as her father. It felt less and less like a betrayal the more Keys told her about whatheknew about Primis and her father.

Simone was in the kitchen with Jenna, Steel’s wife. Tally got a very matriarchal vibe from the woman.

Keys seemed younger than the others. She hadn’t asked his age, but his voice and demeanor hinted at early twenties. A snarky comment from one of his brothers made it sound like Keys was trying, and failing, to grow some facial hair. At first, Tally had stiffened, thinking the comment mean, but then she picked up on Keys’ body language. He hadn’t found it offensive and his laugh had been genuine.

Like an older brother picking on a younger sibling.

Tally had always wished she’d had siblings, but her parents had decided not to have any other children after her. They knew how much extra attention she would need. Tally felt a pang of jealousy at this close-knit family.Scar’sclose-knit family.

He had this, brothers. People who loved him. From the sounds of what was happening across the room, people who were willing to go to war for him.

So why had he let them think he was dead? What had happened in the month from when he’d gone into the river—Keys had filled her in on how they believed Scar had died—to when he’d shown up behind her on the sidewalk in Atlanta?

Simone had also gone to get Scar’s backpack and laptop from her car. Somehow Keys was on his laptopandScar’s. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how Keys had gotten his nickname. It was probably short for ‘keyboard’ or hinting at thekeyson a keyboard.

“Absolutely fucking not!” The words rang out through the entire clubhouse.

Keys stopped typing, his body twisting next to Tally’s on the couch to look behind him. She felt him lift his hand to adjust his glasses.

From discussions early on, Tally knew that the women were not supposed to be in the room. Sorry, the ‘ol’ ladies’ were not supposed to be in the room. The one exception was Scissors, one of the two patched women in the VDMC. The other one, Angel, was at work and trying to finish up as soon as possible to get back to the clubhouse.

Steel had tried to order the ol’ ladies present—Harper, Tessa, Jenna, Abby, and Sissy—but they refused to leave. In fact,morehad shown up. As well as other patched members.

It would seem Scar had not only his brothers willing to go to war for him, but his sisters too.

“Who spoke?” Tally asked Keys in a whispered voice.

“Bear,” Keys told her just as quietly. “He’s our Road Captain and married to Tessa.”

Tessa was the doctor who had inquired about her vision earlier. She also knew that Sissy was marrying Scissors. Not only were they the VDMC’s only gay couple, Sissy was also Lucky’s daughter. She must be from a previous relationship, though, because Sissy and Harper sounded too close in age for Sissy to also be Harper’s daughter.

“Bear, stop and think. We don’t know what condition Scar will be in—” That was Tessa’s voice and Tally now recognized Bear’s as the one that interrupted her.

“I am not allowingmy wifeto go traipsing through enemy headquarters!”

Tessa snorted. “I’ll be far less conspicuous than a bunch of you heading inside! Of the two of us, which one looks like a giant ass grizzly bear?”

A growl echoed through the clubhouse that actuallysoundedlike a grizzly bear. “No. Fucking. Way.”

“She has a point.” That was a new voice, coming from the bar area. It sounded like the speaker was walking over towards where Bear and Tessa were loudly having their discussion.

“That’s Scissors,” Keys informed Tally. “She’s marrying Sissy, Lucky’s daughter.”

Tally knew that, but still appreciated his explanation.

Scissors continued, “I ran into my fair share of Primis mercs overseas. Fucking cowboys and it was always a dick-measuring contest between them. Even if you guys show up posing as new recruits or whatever background Keys comes up with for you, they’re never going to let you wander free. There’s too much testosterone in that place as it is.But,” she added pointedly, “ifwego in, it’ll be much less suspicious.”

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