Page 46 of Bayou Knights
He sits me on a chaise lounge on the patio and then goes to grab me a beer. Lyra sits to my right and Zoe to my left.
“Capone?” Zoe asks.
“Capone what?”
“Don’t give me that. I see the look. And the way him and Diablo look at you. Those guys are the scary bumps in the night along with Rip and yet they look at you like you hung the moon. It’s cute.”
I roll my eyes and let it rest, but Zoe has other plans.
“What about Zion?” she asks.
“I don’t know what you guys are talking about,” I mumble.
“What she’s saying, Zoe, is that she likes all three and because my sister is a saint, she doesn’t want to admit she likes three men. She would call herself a slut if she did.”
“We love who we love,” Zoe sings as Capone hands me a beer and raises his eyes at Zoe who just laughs.
“Girl talk,” Zoe chimes and Capone just huffs and walks away.
“Get used to that,” Lyra snickers.
“I don’t know if I will ever get used to any of this,” I admit.
“You’ll do just fine,” Zoe says.
We sit and watch the guys setting up and then Sawyer wrestles a live alligator, before slicing it across the throat. It’s not dead so Gator takes care of it and then they start descaling it or whatever. It’s gross and fascinating to watch all at the same time. Ziggy and Ranger start the several grills they’ve brought over, while Army turns on a couple smokers.
“I think they’re inviting the whole town over,” Zoe muses as some locals show up. I know a few from the diner and a couple of Gage’s teachers.
Tex and Stetson strut over to Sawyer and sure enough, punch him in the face. Sawyer takes it like a champ as they clap him on the back, and they all do a shot together. Others do the same and Sawyer takes it with ease.
The only person that hasn’t shown up is Zion. Why isn’t he here?
“He will be here,” Zoe pats my leg and gets up with Lyra to go makes some salads. I’m left to my thoughts as I watch everyone interact and have to agree that the club is like a family and somehow, I love that.
* * *
Zion
I should be at the Inn at the BBQ, but can’t seem to bring myself to leave my office. Maybe she is better with someone else or somewhere else. There’s a war coming. Before Sawyer left with Dixon to go talk to her, we decided to start with the club that Ricardo started while using Dixon’s club name. According to Sawyer, there are twelve men. He gave names and road names. He even added in where they would hang out when not doing Ricardo’s bidding. None of them have ever been in an MC, only posing. They relied on Sawyer for a lot of the ins and outs. Once we’ve eliminated them, we work on the guy that’s taking over for Ricardo.
Jace found his name quickly enough and he’s a nobody. Diablo asked around his contacts and not even the other cartels know who the guy is. Since we don’t have a problem with the other cartels, they stay on their turf, we stay on ours, they don’t have a problem with us taking the guy out. The guy doesn’t even have a record, in Mexico or the States. So why is he wanting to take over the Montesorri cartel? I’m proposing a sit down with him to see if it can be handled at a table than in a shootout but first, the poser MC.
After all of that, then it’s Martha. Plum’s mom is a piece of work. She hid from her family her real business of auctioning girls. We think she may have even auctioned one of Plum’s friends, Shiloh. Lyra filled me in about how Shiloh went missing when they were teenagers, her family has been searching for her ever since. I will find Shiloh for Plum and Lyra, Jace is working overtime. I want to find all the girls and get them home.
Our gun-running and drug business might have to take a back seat. We make good money during tourist season and I’m thinking we should go straight. Something else we need to discuss at church tomorrow. I’m thinking maybe guns for hire, take out bad guys for a price. Not sure. I have to work on it.
I heave myself out of my seat with a sigh, can’t put it off any longer, I need to show myself.
“I didn’t know anyone was still here,” I hear a feminine voice.
“Who are you?”
“I’m new. I’m Kennedy,” the pretty girl reaches out for me to shake her hand. She stumbles and falls. I somehow make it into a seat.
“Sorry, I’m really clumsy,” she says, struggling to get off of me. I have to say she’s gorgeous, not Plum gorgeous but she’s pretty. I grab her waist to set her on her feet, right as the door opens.
“Shit,” I hear a male voice rumble.
