Page 41 of Cassie
Rebels forever
Hoss
Nothing good comes of 2:00 a.m. phone calls.Hoss grabbed the device and silenced it. He slipped into his pants as he accepted the call, tucking his dick away with one hand while already walking down the hall. Once he determined he was far enough from Cassie to keep from waking her, he answered the caller. “Yeah?” Unlike some members, he didn’t add anything about how important the call needed to be. He’d seen the caller ID before the screen changed, and he knew Myron wouldn’t be dialing his number unless it was needed.
“You remember Lalo?” Brusque and cutting, Myron’s voice filled his ear.
Hoss stopped short and stilled about three stairsteps from the bottom. Whatever this was would need his full attention.
“Yeah.” The word was expelled from him as with a blow. “Fuck yeah. Who doesn’t remember that crazy asshole?” A chill swept over him. “Why?” If Lalo was the reason Myron had picked up the phone in the middle of the night, it would be more a ghost story than anything else. “He’s fuckin’ dead, Myron. Took a good man with him.” The death of Lalo had cost them Watcher, an irreplaceable brother to every man he knew. It had also kicked off the bloodiest years of the Rebel Wayfarers history, even counting how the club had been founded in red.
“I got a wake-up call. A real blast from the past.” Myron probably didn’t understand how frustrating his cryptic response was. Then he proved Hoss wrong. It wasn’t cryptic; it was a statement of fact. “Estavez called. Not his second, not his SAA. Estavez.” They hadn’t heard directly from Raul for a long time. Rumors had circulated that he’d been sick, and most of the men who were the same age didn’t want to talk about what it might be. Medicine might have made advancements in the treatment of many things, but the big C was still a killer and something to be feared. “He wants a vidcall, Hoss. With you, and Mason.”
“What about? Did he say?” Hoss finished descending the stairs and walked to stand in Cassie’s kitchen, hips angled to lean against the countertop, back to the window that looked out on her garage. The stairs creaked quietly and he shifted to face the darkness within her house, unsure if it was her following him or just the wood resetting into place following his passage. “When and where do you want me, Myron?” Hoss needed to wrap this call up quickly, just in case. Club business was club only, no matter the trustworthiness of the member’s old lady. His brain quieted for a moment at that, stunned.Huh. Old lady. “You don’t know yet, just shoot me a text when you do.”
“No idea on the topic, but he was one pissed off papa bear, so I’m assuming it’s either Mela or Bella.” There was no humor in Myron’s tone, and Hoss knew why. After Watcher died, Raul Estavez had stepped up and pledged safety and protection to the girl his true daughter loved like a sister. Carmela was his, but she’d grown up splitting her time between her father’s club and Watcher’s, landing in whichever were the safest place of the moment. Both the clubs had fought wars through the years, but never against the other because the leaders had crafted careful connections. Still, all outside pressures warranted caution and respect. Isabella, born to Juanita and Watcher in the Southern Soldiers was Rebels now, and Mela belonged to the Malcontents, but as far as Estavez was concerned, both women would always be Machos. “Ten in the morning, just hit the clubhouse here. I’ll be ready.”
“And you couldn’t have waited until closer to ten to call my ass?” Hoss watched Cassie round the corner and walk through moonbeams to get to him, and his inner artist took a snapshot. Blue and limned in light as ethereal as she was, he was confident this vision of Cassie would make it to canvas. Hoss smiled at her yawn and stretched out his hand to her, settling in his skin when she came to him without argument. She snuggled against his shoulder, her arm wrapping across his belly to hook around his hip. “I’ll be there, Myron. Shiny side, brother.”
“Back atcha. See you in a bit.” The call disconnected and he tossed the phone to the countertop, changing his grip to shift Cassie around to his front. He wrapped both arms around her and hummed softly. “I like this.”
“Me sleepwalking to you?” Her cheek was heated where it rested against his bare chest, and he drew one hand up to trace along the edge of her jaw.
“You curling up to me like this. I could get used to it.” He’d meant the last as a warning and was surprised when she chuckled softly. “What do you think you’re laughing at, woman?”
“You, acting like you aren’t already used to this. All it took was one time of us cuddling and you go for the snuggle every time now.” She laughed softly. “I’m one step ahead of you, mister. I’m so used to it when it disappeared from my bed, I went looking for it.” She pinched his side and he jumped, jerking to the side. “Found you.”
“Jesus, don’t pinch.” Her lips brushed across his chest, and he yelped when her teeth snapped at his nipple. “God, you’re biting now?” He fisted his hand in her hair, pulling gently until her head tipped back and he could see the laughter on her face. “God, you’re so gorgeous.” Her laughter dimmed, the smile growing smaller. “No, don’t do that, beautiful. You’re everything I didn’t know I was looking for.”
“I didn’t know I was looking for you, too.” She kept her gaze locked on his, the pupils of her eyes dilating until they looked dark and haunted. “I didn’t know what I needed.”
“I’ve got a patch brother in Chicago. Bones.” The words burst from him, because he needed her to know he understood. “He’s got a woman in his life. Loves her with every fiber of his being. Her name’s Ester. She has this way about her. Always has. It’s different, she’s different, but she can cut to the heart of things with her words sometimes in a way that wounds bloodlessly, because it’s just so fuckin’ true. She said needings are more important than wishes, because wishes were just wants in another dress. Needings are things that keep your soul afloat.” He brushed the backs of his knuckles across her cheek, dragging his hand to her neck and cradling that fragile column in his palm. “Needings are for important things.” He gave her a squeeze, not once losing her gaze. “I needed you. That’s truth, right there. You didn’t know what you needed, and you got me. Well, I knew what I needed, or thought I did. I thought my role was to play the sorrowful widower all the rest of my days, knowing I’d held the one woman I was meant to love in my hands.” He watched as hurt rolled through her eyes and quickly shook his head. “I thought I was right. I was wrong. I was meant to be here, now, with you. I needed you, and, Cassie, now I’ve got you and I’m never, not ever letting go.”
***
“Tell me what’s going on.” Mason’s voice was hard, and he didn’t mince words. “Right the fuck now.”
“I hope you get better answers than me,” Hoss complained, cutting Myron a sideways glare that was immediately returned. He’d been asking for more information since he’d walked in the room five minutes ago, and Myron wasn’t trying to hide exactly how annoying he’d managed to be.Fuck you. “Our resident geek’s bein’ tight-lipped about anything he might know.”
“I got shit to take care of, Myron. What does Estavez need that has us here right now?” Myron folded his arms on the table, staring at Mason. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” He used words that made a shiver slither up Hoss’ back, because they were what he’d said to pull Cassie’s story from her. “Tell me.”
“Estavez has my app. He’ll initiate the call when I text him we’re ready.” Myron cocked his head to one side. “Are we ready now, boss, or you do want to tantrum a little longer?”
Mason stared at Hoss a moment, then turned back to Myron. “You swept?” Myron nodded. “Phones?” That question earned him a thumb over the shoulder towards the door. The Faraday cage Myron built was outside, behind the bar. “Key?”
Myron dug in his pocket and held it up. “Assuming you put your phone in there and closed it, then this room is clean until I connect with Estavez.” He moved the computer across the table, showing the battery was separated from the rest of the device. “We’re clean, boss. Always.”
“Goes without saying?” Mason looked between them again.
“It doesn’t leave the room.” Hoss supplied with a shake of his head. “Whatever you’re about to say is for ears only, and you’ve picked the two of us to be your audience on whatever the fuck this is.”
“I’m takin’ back the club.”
The words fell between them like a quiet bomb, the air getting heavy as if the very oxygen had weight and heft. Myron pulled in a heavy breath that broke in the middle, sounding almost like a sob when he shoved it out in one huff.
“About fuckin’ time.” Hoss angled his head back and looked Mason up and down. “Graybeards gonna rule the roost, and gonna whip all these scrubs into line, fuckin’ finally.”
“Does Fury know? Opie?” Myron’s fingers were tapping on the table as if he wished he were taking notes, rapping a furious beat. “How are you going to handle the transfer, boss? And you’re talkin’ International, right? Not just the national title? That’d be best. Fury’s got his hands full with the kids.”
