Page 24 of Scotch: Unraveled

“You’re upset,” she says, and fuck, I want to hold her so bad right now that I think I might actually hate Duke for sending me on this business. I’ve never hated Duke, but then again, I’ve never had a family before that club business kept me from protecting.

“Of course I’m upset. I’m twelve hundred miles away and there’s an idiot harassing my woman.”

“Where’re you at?” she asks, changing the subject, butnotdenying she’s my woman. Point scored. I’m not happy about the goings-on back in Thornbriar, but I’ll let it go for now and call Duke and Tommy Doyle when I’m off the line with her.

“Texas—it’s hot as blazes. Good thing ya prefer to vacation at the beach because we’re never coming back here.”

“Texas has beaches,” she teases.

“Not in our world. Virginia has a beach. Myrtle has a beach. Hell, even Long has a beach.”

“I see where you’re going with this. Remember that first trip we took to Bald Head Island?” We both start to laugh. “You leaned so far over the rail of the boat to see that sea turtle, you fell in.”

“When do ya get vacation next?” I ask with visions of Frankie in a bikini floating around in my head.

“I’ve got time off coming in about three weeks. My director was sending me to Pennsylvania for a conference about autism, but she told me today that plans fell through because the keynote speaker broke her leg and has to have surgery or something. So I guess they’re rescheduling the whole shebang. But since I’ve been putting in so much extra time at work, she told me that I still have to take the days. They’ve already scheduled the part-time girls to cover me. Why?”

“Because we’re heading to Bald Head. The four of us.”

She doesn’t say anything for a few long moments and I prepare for her to fight me when she says, “I’d love that. I’ll hop on the computer and see what I can get booked.”

From there, I relax to the point that both of us start dozing off while still on the phone. She reluctantly hangs up when I insist she head to bed and I roll over and fall asleep.

The next morning I’m up and ready to get down to business well before any of the other men in the clubhouse, including Blaze and Hero. I don’t give Mad Man the choice to put me off, however, banging on his door and shouting the place down until he and his lieutenants are seated around their conference table with me and my brothers at the visitor’s end.

“You couldn’t have waited an hour?” Mad Man grumbles.

“We both know it’d have been longer than an hour,” I say, “and I’ve got my own shite to deal with back home.” Both Hero and Blaze look over to me, but I give my head one quick shake to let them knownot now. I’ll tell them when we’re through here.

An Outlaw brother name Dark speaks up. “The Continuars are now henchmen for the Anguino Cartel.” He sits directly to Mad Man’s right and appears far more awake than the rest.

“The Anguino Cartel?” Hero asks. “Sorry, but what does that have to do with us?”

“Ya asked for me specifically,” I remind them of something they already know. “Why? I don’t speak Spanish.”

“They brought in a man, last name Balfour,” he says. When I hear that I get a good idea of why they asked for me. “The bastard’s got a couple of men with him at all times and they refuse to speak English around us.

Balfour, he’s a Scotsman like me. They need me to listen when he’s conversing with his men in Gaelic so the Outlaws know how much they’re being lied to and about what. Mad Man and his brothers are attempting to buy their way out of the contract the president before him signed with the cartel.

Can’t blame them. Nasty business dealing with cartels.

Once Mad Man calls the meeting, a group of ten of us mount our rides, heading for a warehouse about twenty-five miles away where the meet will take place with members of the Anguino cartel, including Balfour and his men. They’ve agreed to only ten men of their own, but as I’m not stupid and neither is Mad Man nor any of the Lords or Outlaws. We position our men strategically to have our backs in case of trouble.

Before we left the Outlaw compound, I had a meeting with Hero and Blaze. Our official job at this meet will be as third-party arbitrators. Because I clearly have an accent, Balfour and his men will know my real purpose the minute I open my mouth. Therefore, I made the decision for Hero to act as lead, for him to do all the talking for us. Blaze and I will sit at his side and take it all in.

We’re met by the ten expected men. Five from the cartel, with the obvious leader dressed like he shopped at Tommy Bahamas for his outfit. The rest of his men sport military-style garb and carry automatic weapons. Fucking great. Then there’s clearly Balfour and his three men, none of whom look like the cartel.

“Hola, Sen?or Perez,” Mad Man greets the Tommy Bahama wannabe. They shake hands and Mad Man turns to introduce us. “These are the members of the Lords sent for arbitration.”

Our patches are prominent on our cuts. This guy knows we’re legit. “Ah, Brimstone Lords,” he says in broken English. “Your reputation precedes you.”

“Then you know not to fuck with us,” Hero says and damn, I would’ve thought he was Duke’s progeny with the authority he exudes. “Either of you.” He looks between Mad Man and Perez.

“You are young to be in charge,” Perez says to Hero.

“I get the job done,” he replies. “Now, are we gonna keep standing out here frying in this goddamn heat or are we goin’ in to work?”

The men turn around to walk inside the warehouse, Perez’s men at our backs. They lead us to a room off the main storage area, empty for now. These men definitely ain’t stupid. There’s a large conference table set up with those uncomfortable metal folding chairs situated around. We each take a seat.

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