Page 7 of Desert Heat

“Cocky kid. He can’t be over twenty. Shit can the kid even drink in a bar?” Linc, snickered causing the other men to join in. I think they were expecting Edge to join the Bastard’s or Tarak’s enforcer, Gunner to take the place at the head of the table, River was a mystery; an odd choice.

To me that made him dangerous. An unknown quantity was always trouble. The men wouldn’t listen to me anyway even if I was to voice an opinion. Women were for sex and making babies. For pouring drinks or mopping them up. At least that’s what my grandpop would always say.

Fuck that.

I might want the sex part, but no one would oblige me. Being the Prez’s one and only was often a curse. Who was I fooling, not one OUTLAW in this Chapter made me want something. The Canada Chapter was another story. But he’s a country full of miles away. The only way to get there is at night in my dreams.

“When do you think they’ll hit?”

“Probably by dawn. The kid will want to make a move. Prove his Prez patch by riding hard. We should lock n’ load. Three of us should set up out by the road and pick them off one by one with the long rifle. They’ll never make it to our front door.”

I kept wiping the counter. It sounded too easy. All of it. I knew they took out one of the Bastards. Linc even bragged about it when he was half a bottle in the other night. Death meant payback. That’s just how it goes. Everyone knew that. The only question is which one of the Outlaws will be taken down.

“It was a stupid move to kill just to prove a point.”

Linc jumped from his seat, his eyes narrowed as he glared at me. “What do you know about anything? Daddy’s princess,” he hissed as he came up to the bar.

My shoulders straightened. Linc was a huge, tatted up piece of muscular man meat but his attitude killed any appeal he might’ve had.

“What do I know?” I cocked a hand on my hip, throwing the dish rag over one shoulder. “I know killing to make a point is stupid as shit. You took all their shit then blew up their building. Killing their man stationed there was fucking dumb! He was somebody’s son or brother...” I broke off feeling my face heat. I had a brother. Once. A long time ago before this life in the MC ripped him from this world. His name was Jason and it hurt too much to think about him sometimes.

Linc leaned in close but whatever he was about to say was interrupted by my father opening the door so hard it smacked against the wall. “Church in twenty.” He strode to his back office without another word.

With a sigh, I took out his favorite bottle of tequila pouring three fingers neat. Drink in hand, I made my way to his shut office door, knocking three times.

“What is it, Savvy?”

“Just this.” I opened the door placing the drink down on his desk. My father is in his prime at fifty. Jacked. In shape. But the lines furrowing his brow seemed deeper today. His eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. He tipped his head, downing the drink in one long swallow.

“The warehouse hit wasn’t my idea. Linc saw an opportunity and took it. He didn’t wait for orders.”

I sucked in a breath. “He went outside the code?”

My father nodded. “And he’s out there, cock strutting his shit like it don’t stink?”

“Yep,” he sighed settling back in his cracked leather seat. “That’s what happens when a man gets too comfortable. Tarak and the Bastards have been easy targets these last few years. At first, we took a nibble like a desert jack rabbit in a garden. A few nibbles turn into a daily meal and then Linc—he cannibalized their whole fucking operation. The cherry on top was taking out their man.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Sit.” He moved the picture hanging behind his desk, opened a safe and took out a manilla envelope. “I had hoped it would never come to this for you. But I’m your old man and planned for everything.”

“What’s this?” An Arizona driver’s license fell out with my face and a name I’d never seen before. Credit cards and cash followed. A thumb drive fell out last. He picked it up, handing it to me.

“This is your new life. Shit’s about to go sideways and I can’t have my baby girl near any of this. If anything happened to you after—” He broke off eyes glistening.

“... Ty.” I finished for him. My brother’s untimely death still stung after all these years as if it was fresh.

“I’m sending you north.”

“How far north?”

“As far as I can while staying in this country. You’ll be Savannah Graystone. No one will suspect an alias with your real first name or look for you in the bumfuck town I found. I’ve enrolled you in a small private university in Maine twenty minutes south of Canada in case you need a quick extraction by the Bastards.” Still too stunned by this, I processed everything he was saying while he booted up his laptop and printed an email before handing it to me. It was an acceptance letter to Bradbury College in Fort Kent, Maine. “No one can know about this. Not even my most trusted men. After what Linc pulled... some will take his side. Others mine. The Club’s loyalty is about to be tested at the worst time. River will strike and strike hard. Tarak’s no fool. He’d never hand over his patch to a man not worth it. Too much shit is blowing up at once. I need you to take all this. Don’t pack shit, it’d cause suspicion. Take your bike and the pledge. I’ll let it be known you are going to the safe house to get out of the line of fire. From there you give him the slip.” He handed me a burner phone next. “In there is a text from my new burner with instructions on where I stashed a car for you. It’s one we ripped from the Bastards before Linc torched the place. All the paperwork is legal and registered to you. Insured and all.”

“This is just happening all so fast. What’s my major?”

“Undeclared. This is the biggest gift I could give you girl. A blank slate. Freedom from all this...”

A hot tear slipped out before I even knew it. “I’m not sure I even want all that. My life’s here. My friends... all I know is this life. I’ll probably be shit at a new one.”

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