Page 11 of Toxic Biker

I flash a glance at my woman impatiently waiting at the bar and her expression tells me this is no week-long bender her brother’s on and I know it in my gut she’s right. This guy is a complete fool if he doesn’t see the writing on the wall with the obvious. “Guys already came looking for his sister. They promised to return for her. Seth’s not partying, and if he is, he’ll have to deal with me after what she’s already been put through because of all this.”

“Shit,” Preppy-fuck retorts, his face paling at the truth in my words. I will teach Seth a lesson myself if I have to, if he’s put Lacey through this shitshow for nothing. Previous best friend or not, she doesn’t deserve this amount of disrespect or carelessness where her safety is concerned. She’s a goddamn treasure and anyone who doesn’t realize as much is an idiot. “Then it means Seth’s appointment wasn’t with Draco but his partner,” the guy admits, eyes wide and Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows.

“And how’s that help me?”

He kicks at the floor, suddenly finding it interesting and I have to give it to him, he’s good at holding his shit together. I’ve seen plenty other men break with this much pressure on them coming from me and my brothers. “It doesn’t help, I’m afraid. It’s the opposite, means he’s in more trouble than he should be and none of us can help him.”

In other words, he just said aloud he believes my childhood best friend isdead. On top of it, those men who possibly killed Seth are also after Lacey and nearly had her earlier. I will kill every single one of them if they think I’ll let them take her from me. She’s not just some chick who showed up on my doorstep looking for a handout; this woman is family to me and has been for nearly her entire life. These people after her have no clue the hell I’ll unleash if they don’t back off.

“Over my dead fucking body,” I growl, garnering everyone’s attention. I go on to embellish, “They came after Lacey; I won’t let them have her,” I adamantly state and my brothers nod. They know what I’m saying.She’smine. I’m claiming her in the eyes of the club so I can protect her. Am I going to tell her what that means exactly?

No.

She owes me nothing and for me to claim her like this would take away any choice she’d ever have because in club law she’d be mine. Anybody sniffing around her would be fair game for me to slaughter, and my club would be right behind me to help me make it happen. Lacey doesn’t deserve knowing what my choices have done to her life. She needs to believe she’s still free and not a woman with a property patch on her back. Someday maybe I’ll admit to her how deep the commitment runs for us. How I’d do anything in my power for her, including giving my life if it means she keeps hers.When you claim a bitch, it’s forever. There is no other woman who can have ol’ lady status with me, unless Lacey met her death first and I absolutely won’t allow it.

“You know how to get in touch with this partner of Draco’s?” Angel asks.

Preppy-fuck nods. “Not directly, but I have a number to an assistant of theirs. They can get ahold of the guy for you.”

Angel nods. “Good. Contact them and have them get ahold of me or Plague.”

“What should I say this in reference to?”

Angel leans in, growling dominantly in the man’s face, so I reply, “Let them know we’re looking for Seth and we want to discuss terms. You won’t need to mention anything else. If they have him, they’ll know exactly what that means.”

He nods and reaches for his back pocket. As his hand moves, three of my brothers already have their pieces drawn and pointed at him, ready to blow his brains out. He lifts his hands in front of him. “J-just getting m-my cell phone to make that call happen,” he explains and the brothers nod, keeping their Glocks trained on him, still not taking any chances.

We all wait on bated breath, attempting to listen to both sides of the conversation when the person on the other side of the line answers their phone. It’s a female, I’m able to make out that much at least. I keep waiting for something to be revealed, but there’s nothing, just a standard conversation practically word for word with what we wanted and nothing more. It’s disappointing, to say the least; it would’ve made things a helluva lot easier if some sort of details were leaked or just something.

My stare bounces over each of my brothers, wondering what they’re thinking, but their expressions seem to mirror mine. The situation is pretty fucking hopeless until we find out if Seth is still breathing. “Can you tell us anything about this client’s partner? Do you know where he lives or any other useful information at all?”

“No. They introduced him as Mr. X, but nothing more. When I tried to dig into him to find out his portfolio information, my boss shut it down.”

Mr. X, hmm. That could literally mean anything and only further pushes to piss me off. This guy has shown up here and caused a stir to so far give us basically nothing. Sure, I should be thinking we’re a step closer, but it’s hard to feel that way when it still seems like we know nothing relevant.

“My father?” Lacey asks.

He nods but doesn’t elaborate. I’m sure they have laws and shit they have to follow about privacy, but I’d say it’s all a little null and void at this point. Hell, this guy could be completely wrong, and Seth could be with someone else entirely.

The shit just seems to get deeper and deeper. I turn to her, “Call your father. He and I need to have a chat.”

Her expression falls, but who can blame her, she’s just discovered her father may have the information we’ve needed all along. Toss in the notion he split town, going as far as to leave the country and not take his kids with him is a new level of deceit I’m not accustomed to. This is rich people betrayal, though I will say I’m stunned. I never would’ve put as much credit on her father for pulling a stunt like this. If they were going after his son, he’d have to have known they’d hunt Lacey down eventually as well, and that’s the other part not sitting well with me.

The thought only makes me want to kill him. Lacey would hate me for it, but it’s no less than the man deserves if he truly is behind this catastrophe.

“Go,” Angel orders with a nod toward Lacey. She’s back from my room, phone to her ear as she stares at me expectantly. At least she did as she was told and didn’t try busting my balls in front of the guys for telling her to get her father on the phone.

“We’ll talk to him some more,” Whiskey promises me, his hand coming down on Seth’s co-worker’s shoulder. He gives it a rough squeeze, telling him, “Let’s get a drink, kid. Have a feelin’ it’s going to be a long night for you, because we aren’t nearly done as far as I’m concerned.”

Blow mutters, “More like a long fuckingweek, if Angel has his way.”

It almost makes me snicker, but my anger is still too close to the surface for my stony façade to break. I’m just glad the two brothers are in the same room and not killing each other. With a bit of drama, it’ll get their minds off hating each other for a little while anyway. They try to pretend shit’s kosher between them for the rest of us, but we see the tension constantly brewing from one to the other. If it’s not Angel poking Blow, it’s Blow ready to lose his shit because Angel glanced in his ol’ lady’s direction. I’m on both their sides. It’s fucked up she’s a damn cop trying to infiltrate our club and put us in the slammer, but at the same time, he’d die for that chick, so it is what it is.

Thought Prez was gonna stroke out when our VP went rogue. Locked himself up in his cabin with his woman, then damn near died in a wreck on the way home. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Blow took off from the hospital, torn up to shit from the wreck, and aimed a gun at Angel for taking his woman and locking her up in a hotel. Pretty sure Angel would’ve buried her ass six feet under had Blow not shown up and declared war on our enforcer over his bitch. Eventually an agreement was reached, but it’s been tense, to say the least, trying to get the club to move on in one direction, together.

In the end, the club is like any other family out there. We’re closer than what’s healthy at times, while having our share of fights and drama as well. What matters the most is that when shit gets real, we have each other’s backs, and we always will.

I grab the phone out of her hands, bringing it to my ear and earning her glare in the process. I’m expressionless in return as her father attempts to placate from the other end. Don’t know what she’s said to him in the span since she left my eyesight, but she’s no doubt begun questioning him about Seth already and what he may know. “Now pumpkin, I don’t want you worrying yourself about Daddy’s work, okay?”

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