Page 15 of Prospect
"You can take your tip and shove it up your ass. My men and I got nothin' to say."
"Have it your way," the agent glares at Jake then addresses his fellow agents. "Take them in. Make the call to local. Tell them we'll be needing use of their station."
Not wasting time, cuffs are slapped on our wrists before we are ushered out of the clubhouse and into the back of a van marked ATF. Once loaded and the door slammed shut, Jake speaks. "Nobody says shit once we get down to the station. Not a goddamn word. I saw they didn't bring Ember and Raine, so I know the girls will get in touch with Bennett," he orders.
"What the hell. Who the fuck do you think sent in a bogus fuckin' tip, Prez?" this coming from Quinn.
Closing my eyes, I shake my head then chance a glance at Jake. No surprise I see his stare already aimed at me. He knows. This whole shit show is because of me. "You get those thoughts out of your head, son. This isn't on you."
"Do one of you want to explain to the rest of us what the hell is going on?" Logan asks. "Do you two know who the fuck came after the club?"
I go to open my mouth only to have Jake cut me off. "No. We're not doin' this shit here. This is club business and it will be handled in church. Right now, we focus on the problem at hand."
The remainder of the ride to the police station is done in silence. The energy in the van is so thick it can be cut with a knife and the vibes coming off Gabriel are damn near suffocating. He's got that wild look in his eyes. "Rein that shit in, Gabriel," Jake warns just before the van comes to a stop and the back doors are pulled open. "Let's go. Get your asses out," the asshole agent who has a hard-on for the club orders. When we're led into the station, we are taken to a holding cell. Sherriff Harrison gives Jake a subtle nod as he picks up the phone on the reception desk. The club has a solid relationship with our local PD. Our red-faced sheriff looks like he's not too keen on ATF coming into his town and his station doling out orders.
"Tell me what you know about The Kings?" a man who has identified himself as Agent Stuckey when he brought me into an interrogation room asks. He's also the same man who appears to be leading the operation. At this point the brothers have been separated and placed into separate rooms for questioning. "I know you haven't been around the club long. Now is the time to get out from under them, leave before they ruin your life. These men are not good people. Each one of them has a rap sheet a mile long," Agent Stuckey informs. I stay silent with my arms crossed over my chest as he looks at me, waiting for my answer. I have none. "Look, you're young. You have your whole life ahead of you. You tell me what you know about the club, and I'll make sure you get out of this ordeal unscathed. You probably have some family somewhere who wants you to come home; right?" And there it is. That little remark is all the confirmation I need to confirm this is my father's handy work.
Stretching my legs out in front of me, I lean back in the metal chair I'm sitting on. "I got nothin' to say. You can report back to William McGregor his tactics won't work on the club or me." I see the look of recognition pass over Agent Stuckey's face just before the door opens, and a fellow agent sticks his head in. "They've lawyered up." When I step out of the holding room, I make my way to the front of the station with the other guys. Standing with them is River. River is a lawyer who happens to be a friend of Reid's woman Mila. He became a friend to the club not long ago when he helped Reid and Mila with some personal shit. "As you can see you held my clients here under false pretense. You found nothing when you raided their club, and the weapons you found on their person are legally registered," River informs producing paperwork.
"So, in other words," Jake grunts standing in a room full of ATF agents. "Ya ain't got shit on us."
Twenty minutes later we're rolling up to the compound. Myself, along with Jake, Logan, Reid, and Quinn hitch a ride with River, while Gabriel, Blake, Austin, and Grey follow behind in Bennett's truck. We file out of the vehicles making our way up to the clubhouse and stop short when Jake halts us from going inside. "You all know word travels fast around here, so you also know our women are inside worried sick. Tend to your old ladies first then we have church in thirty." Jake looks at me. "Sam, prospects don't normally sit in on church, but today is different. I expect your ass to be in there with the rest of the brothers."
"Yes, sir."
Satisfied with my response, Jake turns and is the first to step inside the clubhouse. Everyone else follows behind. Jake was right. The women are here, and they look visibly shaken. Scanning the room, I have only one person in my sights. Jumping from her place on the sofa next to Lisa is Sofia. Sprinting across the room, she makes a mad dash straight into my arms. Wrapping her arms around me, I pick her up and bury my face in her neck while breathing in her sweet scent. Without a moment's hesitation and with her still in my arms, I carry Sofia to my room. Kicking the door shut with my foot, I sit on the bed with my girl on my lap, her body trembling. "Shh, Firefly." I rub lazy circles on her back.
Finally, she looks at me, her eyes wet. "When I heard what happened, it scared me. I thought something was going to happen to you, to the guys. All we knew was the club had been raided, and you were taken into custody. Then when I got to the clubhouse, it was a mess. The door was busted; there was broken glass everywhere. The rooms were riffled through."
Cupping her face, "I'm fine, the guys are fine. You have nothing to worry about, baby. I promise." Sofia nods and I wipe away her tears with my thumb. Leaning in, I press my lips against hers, once, twice, then kiss each eyelid. Fisting the front of my shirt, she leans in closer seeking more of my touch. I continue to pepper kisses along her cheek and down her jaw until I connect with her mouth once again. This time, I swipe my tongue across the seam of her lips, and she opens for me. Taking the offered invitation, I take Sofia's mouth completely. I growl when her tongue swirls around mine taking what it wants, tasting me and me tasting her. After several moments, I break away—Sofia whimpers at the loss of our connection. I smile and take that as a good sign. I lean my forehead against hers. "I'm going to take everything you're willing to give me and because I'm a selfish man I'm going to take everything you're scared to give me because deep down I know that's what you want."
"Only you," she breathes. "It can only ever be you."
I kiss her forehead. "Looks like we're on the same page."
Running her fingers through my hair, she nods.
"I have to go meet the guys for church. You want to wait in here or go out there with the women?"
"I'll go out there. I want to help clean the place up."
"Alright, baby. Come on." I stand, setting her on her feet. "When I'm done, I'll come to find you."
The sound of the gavel crashing down on the table echoes off the walls in the room where Jake just called church. Lighting a cigarette, he takes a long drag. "First things first. We owe River for comin' down to the station and savin' our asses. We all know good and well not one of us has a registered piece. I don't know how he did it, but he was able to pull some paperwork out of his ass and squash the only thing ATF could hold us on. Though I suspect ATF don't give two shits about what they found on us. They were lookin' for something bigger or nothin' at all."
"What you talkin' about, Prez?" Logan asks.
Cutting his eyes over to me, Jake snubs out his cigarette. His eyeballing me gains everyone's attention. Deciding to man up, I bite the bullet and lay my shit on the table. "I'm pretty sure ATF showin' up is my father sending a warning."
"What the fuck. Your pops a Fed or something?" this coming from Gabriel though it sounds like a question and not an accusation. For which I am relieved. With every eye in the room trained on me, waiting for an answer, I suck in a deep breath and give them one. "My dad is not a Fed. He is a lawyer. A very well-known lawyer. He's also currently running for Governor of Texas. Needless to say, he has connections as well as a long reach."
"So, what? Your old man is pissed you've taken up with an MC and has decided to stir up shit?" Quinn cuts in.
I shake my head. "It's more than that. I didn't fall in line with his plans for me, which was going to law school and being his puppet. Now he wants me to come home because he's decided to add politics to his resume. He needs to put on a show for the citizens of Texas. In order to do that he wants to give them what they want. My dad needs to put on a show, the show of being a well-rounded family man with me at his side during the campaign."
"That's fucked up," Logan voices. "It's also a lot of trouble to go through just to get you to come home."
"It is. But for my father, it's more about power. It's not that he can't run a successful campaign without me; it's because I told him no. William McGregor does not take no for an answer, and he does not back down. He hates that I'm not heeding his demands. I am his only child. Without me, there is no one to pass the family legacy down to. Everything he and my grandfather has built stops with him."
