Page 29 of Raven
“Something’s off about all this,” Warhol noted as he placed his notebook onto the table. I looked at him with raised eyebrows as he expounded. “Cartel don’t wait for their money. They go in guns blazing, mowing down anyone who dared steal from them. I think there is something else going on.”
“What else could be going on?” Sydney asked as she leaned forward.
“I’m not completely sure, and I’ll need to do some digging, but I think they may have taken advantage of you and your grief,” Warhol mentioned, seemingly causing Sydney to deflate slightly.
“Can I ask something?” Willow inquired and Sydney glanced at her and nodded. “You said you grew up around your uncle’s club, but were you always around, or was it intermittent?”
“Why does that matter?” Claire asked.
“I was only around my father’s club randomly, and when I started spending more time there, after my mother passed away, I was so uncertain of things. It was a foreign life, and I’m thinking maybe this guy, Rooster, saw something similar in you, and preyed on your inexperience.”
Sayer looked at me and I could see pain in her eyes. Everything she’d done was to take care of the last responsibilities her mother pushed onto her, and now she may have been taken advantage of. I worried it might destroy her confidence, or worse. Make her think she needed to go back to Oregon.
And that was something I refused to let happen.
Comet’s gaze caught mine and he gave me a subtle raise of his eyebrows before he spoke. “I think we should hold off on sending any more money to this asshat until we can dig deeper.” He looked at Sydney and reasoned. “If Warhol is right, then you don’t need to give any more of your money away. If he’s wrong, or even slightly wrong, then Rooster should make himself know and we can find out the details. Either way, you don’t need to worry about these guys anymore. Raven has your back, and we’re all here for you.”
She lowered her gaze and admitted, “I feel so stupid.”
I touched her shoulder, and she looked up at me. “You can’t feel that way, darlin’. Your mother put you in a bad situation, and you were only doing what you thought was the right thing for you and your uncle. No one can fault you for that.” I kissed her temple and added, “But if Rooster has been lying about everything, I will get your money back.”
“How?” she asked, and at that moment, I wasn’t exactly sure, but I knew that between me, Warhol, Comet, and Jaggar, we would figure out something.
If worse comes to worse, I’d let Animal take some frustration out on them. Glancing around the table, I was about to admit I wasn’t sure when Jigsaw interjected, “Without all the details, we’re just speculating, but I promise, we’ll figure it out.”
Willow cut her eyes to me before she perked up and said, “A couple of us were thinking about going over to Cheyenne’s and hanging out with Jackie and Luna. Do you want to come?”
Sydney looked up at pushed a smile onto her beautiful face. “That sounds nice. I’ve been curious about this mysterious horse since she mentioned it last night.”
“That crazy horse?” Comet said and stood, shaking his head while his hand inadvertently went to his ass cheek as began to rub the long-healed bite mark. “Watch your ass. That horse tried to take a chunk out of me a few months ago, and I was doing was trying to help Jagger install a new gate.”
I chuckled, remembering Comet bitching about the horse one night when he was tending bar. Laughing out loud, I saw Warhol give the first smile I’d seen on his face in almost a year. “You said she was trying to get the sugar snacks from your pants pocket and you nearly stripped your jeans off when you ran away.”
Everyone was laughing as Comet shook his head harder. “That horse is a menace.”
“Not as much of a menace as Jack,” Jigsaw added, causing the laughter to build again.
“Who’s Jack?” Sydney asked with a confused smile on her face.
“Jack is Animal’s little yappy dog who has the attitude of a polar bear,” I explained. “But he’s mellowed since Paige and her dog, Jill, came into their lives.”
“The dogs’ names are Jack and Jill?” Sydney asked, and Willow nodded.
“They are so cute. Jack protects her like these guys protect the ol’ ladies,” Willow said.
Slipping my hand into Sydney’s, I pulled her closer, letting her know the ol’ ladies’ protection extended to her, now that she was mine. And before you think the ring and cut I was planning on giving her was too much, too soon, my parents met on the third night of the Rally and were married before the week was over. They were celebrating their thirty-ninth anniversary this year and still love each other fiercely.
Fast love. True love. Established love. Forever love.
They were all ways to describe the feeling when you’d met the other person meant to share their life with you. It didn’t take years to know, but we allowed fear and others’ perception dictate constraints like time, proximity, and duration of what was considered reasonable.
I always knew when I found my one, I wouldn’t waste one minute getting to the good stuff, and now, I just had to convince Sydney.
“What time are you going out to the farm?” I asked the group.
“They said we could come over about three-thirty, when Jackie and Jagger get back from Pierre,” Willow answered.
Looking at Sydney, I asked, “What do you say, darlin’? How about a nice ride, then we’ll go see a crazy horse?”
