Page 32 of Blackout-

“Riggs so help me God—”

“It’s in Staten Island but before you blow your top, hear me out—everyone from Brooklyn migrates to the island, anyway. No one is going to care if our rockers read one borough and we congregate in another. Besides, Blackie already lives in Staten Island, Pipe and Layla just closed on a house there too. The rest of us will have to get an EZ Pass.”

“I’m going to kill this fucking kid,” Jack mutters, rubbing his hands over his face.

“You’re going to thank me before you kill me, I promise. Look, I gotta go. You’ll see, this will be good for the club. In the meantime, I’m going to plan a Grand Opening. Every fucking person from Bay Street to Tottenville is going to know the Satan’s Knights are moving in and they’re all going to want to party with us.”

“Because we’re just a barrel of fun,” Stryker deadpans.

“Speak for yourself buddy,” Deuce argues.

“We’re going to need to discuss this further,” Jack warns.

“Sure thing Daddy-O,” Riggs replies.

“Hang up on him.”

I end the call and along with everyone else seated at the table, I turn to Jack.

“Fuck, I’m exhausted,” he grunts. Drawing in a deep breath, he grabs a toothpick from his pocket and slips it between his lips. “Moving on from that fucking clown,” he starts, turning his attention towards Bas “It’s time for you to fill us in on what the fuck is going on with your dead brother and why you’re looking after his woman and kid.”

I swear if I make it through this meeting, it’ll be a miracle.

Those still exist, right?

Bas begins to share his story with us, revealing him and Mac were together back in the day. However, he wasn’t sitting at our table asking for protection because once upon a time he got his dick wet with his brother’s piece. Nah, that woman was in a shit ton of trouble and so was her kid.

Bas comes from a long line of bikers and back in his hometown, his brother was murdered by the cartel. Bas didn’t have time to get the full story while he was in Kentucky. He was too busy packing up Mac and Ryder. All he discovered down there was that his brother had killed the daughter of some drug lord and he retaliated by killing him. According to Bas’ mother, Milly, the cartel isn’t satisfied with Junior’s blood and they’re hunting Mac and the kid too.

“An eye for an eye,” I mutter when he finally finishes speaking. None of this sits right with me and my gut churns with dread.

“Do you know anything about these guys?” Jack questions.

“No, and I haven’t had a chance to do any digging. I wasn’t equipped to take on Mac, much less her son. I don’t know what the fuck to do with them.”

“Well, you knew enough to take them here,” Stryker comments.

“Oh, because this place is like Mr. Roger’s neighborhood,” Deuce mutters sarcastically.

Actually, the land of broken toys seems more fitting. Everyone has a story, one worse than the other. Sighing, I comb my fingers through my hair as Bas continues.

“Considering I’m here and all the intel is probably in Kentucky, I don’t know how long it’s going to take to figure this shit out and nail the cartel. In the meantime, I can’t take them back to my apartment. That’s the last place any kid should call home. Mac is already breathing down my neck, asking me if she needs to enroll the kid in school or get a job and I’m here wondering where the fuck they’re going to sleep tonight.”

“Look, it ain’t much and it needs a good cleaning, but you can stay at my old house,” Pipe suggests. “I haven’t been there since I trashed the joint after Oksana’s death,” he adds. “There might be a family of stray cats living there—”

Leaning back in my chair, I stare across the table at him.

“We cleaned it out after you took off for the woods,” I reveal. “Got rid of everything in the kitchen and packed the rest of Oksana’s things. I wasn’t sure what you wanted to do with her stuff so, I rented a storage unit off Bay Parkway.”

Pausing for a beat, he meets my gaze. The disappointment he’s been harboring since he tossed my ass in the shower fades and is replaced by appreciation. Finally, he jerks his chin in my direction and that’s all it takes to wash away the bad blood between us.

“I appreciate that,” he says before he uncomfortably clears his throat and slices his attention back to Bas. “As I was saying, the place needs a little TLC, but it's yours.”

“I can send Ally in,” Deuce offers. “The girl is bored as fuck since we ran out of walls to hang shit on. I’m afraid she’s going to hang a fucking picture frame from my cock if she doesn’t have something else to decorate.”

“Whoa,” Bas stammers, holding up his hand. “Decorate?”

The poor guy is breaking a sweat.

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