Page 45 of Ignite

“I told you to leave it alone!” Scrap’s roar stopped the conversation, but Wolf wasn’t done.

This was it. Showtime. If there was going to be a future for the Iron City Knights MC, someone needed to step up and lead it. In the next twenty minutes, the club would change or he would no longer be a part of it. “We cannot sit on the sidelines while our people are in danger. Scrap, if you can’t see that, you need to step down.”

Wolf was ready for a fight, but Scrap’s next statement caught him off guard. “You’re right. I’m old, and I’m tired. I don’t have the same energy I used to, but this ain’t no walk in the park. Decisions either keep us breathing or could get us dead. Anyone got the balls for this shit, have at it. Who’s it gonna be?”

Baghouse and Melter both shook their heads and grumbled, “Not me,” under their collective breaths. This was good, as they were Scrap’s contemporaries and didn’t have leadership qualities. The rest of the club stayed silent, waiting to see who spoke up first.

Scrap continued. “I thought so. When someone has the guts to take a bullet for a brother, then we’ll talk. Until then, we’ll keep a low profile.”

Some muttering undertones came from the members as they turned away from the tables and went about any business they could find.

Wolf’s temper relaxed as he reasoned out his response. Yeah, he could explode and make this meeting into a bigger shit show, or he could strategize and come up with a better solution.

He turned to Quillon with a raised brow. “Want a shot at it, brother?”

Quillon blew out a breath. “I’ve wondered about it, but I’m not the leader we need. I think you’re the guy for it, Wolf. We need a restructuring with a solid core statement of who we are, where we came from, and what we’re becoming. That’s what you do best. That said, I agree with you about the Slaggers. We need to do something before someone else gets hurt or dead. I also agree with Scrap. We don’t have the arms or the funds to go for a long war. My first suggestion is we find out how to get the tools we need to take on this fight, then plan our strategy.”

Wolf nodded. “We need to get on that now, with or without Scrap. Do me a favor and put some of your gray matter to work. I don’t want to wait until someone bleeds for us to get off our asses.”

* * *

The house wasquiet when Wolf got home. Camshaft was on duty, which was a good thing because there was no way he’d leave Jazz by herself tonight. He found her at her computer desk, talking to some internet dude over a microphone that modified her voice into something else.

“So, do I press Enter now?” Her tone was singsongy and high like a goofy college girl. “When do I press it?”

A heavily accented man’s voice came back frustrated as hell. “No, no, no, no! Do not press Enter!”

“Whoops, I did it. Sah-ree! My bad. Goodness gracious, I never thought payin’ my cousin’s bail over the phone was this complicated. What jail is he in?”

“He was caught in the city of New Jersey.”

Jazz pursed her lips as her hands moved. “The city of New Jersey? I thought New Jersey was a state.”

“Don’t you know your own country, ma’am?”

Wolf smiled as she cast her eyes to the ceiling, her mouth puckered in a thinking manner, and tapped the side of her face. She was so totally in character, and it was fun to watch. “I never was very good at geography. Which cousin is this again? I have a lot of them, and you know, some of them I don’t care enough about to post a bond. What’s his name?”

“How should I know his name? He’s your cousin. What kind of idiot are you?”

“Uh, rude!” She swiped her hand and snapped her fingers in the air.

Wolf had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing at her. She spotted him and grinned. “My boyfriend is here. I think I’m just gonna leave my cousin in jail. He needs to atone for all his sins and everything.” Her fingers rapid-fired over the keyboard, and Wolf watched in fascination at the running screens.

“But, ma’am, your relative needs you to post this bond or else he will stay in jail for many nights.”

“Not my problem, dude.” She pressed Enter again and clapped her hands in delight. “Check your screen, Sparky.”

“How? Where?”

“You’re a fucking thief, and you’re done. I reversed your money transactions, dude. Everything you took from people in the last few days has been returned. Find another way to make a living. If I catch you again, I’ll break you into pieces so small, you’ll never be able to touch a computer again.”

The foreign curses cut off abruptly as she hung up. “I fried his computer. He won’t be taking anyone’s money again for a while.” She sighed as she leaned back in her computer chair and rubbed her eyes with her fists. Her character disappeared, and all that was left was a tired woman. “It seems the more we shut down, the more pop up to take their place. Email scams, phone scams, text scams, phishing, and every day a new one. It makes me feel useless, like I’m trying to bail out the ocean with a teaspoon.”

Wolf reached for her hands and drew her out of the chair. “You’re not useless, babe. It might not seem that way to you, but think for a minute how many people you’ve helped and how many people you’ve saved. Delia would be in a world of hurt if you hadn’t interfered. She’s just one of many.” He folded her in his arms. “You can’t save them all, but you take care of the ones you can. Did you talk to Hugo today?”

She wrapped herself around him, hugging him close. “I called him earlier. He’s still pretty shook up, but he worked his shift. Madge and Bill had the insurance adjuster come over today. Madge is thinking about giving the bakery up if they get a good settlement, so there’s that.”

He tucked her head into the spot between his shoulder and chest and gave a long sigh. It hadn’t gotten old yet, the sensation of her body fitting against his so perfectly. He marveled for the four-hundred-thousandth time how well they meshed on multiple levels. “We’ll see that they come out on top.”

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