Page 115 of No Apologies
Colt raised an eyebrow at that. They had? He wouldn’t have expected that but he supposed it had to be done. Just like Cash’s question had to be asked.
Sure Lincoln ran a crew that included some lowlifes but when push came to shove, the only people with any power in his ring were family. It was Auto’s garage. Royce and Bentley headed up teams that boosted the cars. Ford did the dirty work of pulling the cars apart with his own hands. But working with them, there were plenty of other men that knew enough to get them all in trouble.
Abel kept his family separate from that business but he was no cleaner. He ran the fights and between them his brothers covered any and every kind of sin that could be peddled to those that partook. Drugs, girls, guns, it didn’t matter to the Bible Bomars as long as it made money.
Their two branches crossed because most men that got involved in one side of the dirty life usually ended up dealing in the other too. Lincoln and Abel had an understanding that each business was their own but in the end, it was all Bomar territory. If somebody had information and was attempting to sabotage one of them, the dumb fuck was going after all of them and there was no way he would get out of it alive.
Selling out the fights was one thing. That would have been enough to earn a beating unto which recovery would have been long and difficult. But attacking one of their own like they had Colt, well that was going to get a much heavier response. They all knew it and whoever had done it, if they were really part of Lincoln’s crew, must have been desperate on top of stupid because he had to know it too.
“It’s not one of us. I’ve already made sure of that. I didn’t like checking on the family but everybody has alibis for the night of the attack.” Lincoln shrugged, “Which only leaves a handful of guys from the car crews. I’m narrowing it down. Keeping an eye on them. I’ll figure out who it is and when I find out, they’ll be dealt with. You can bet on that.”
They. Lincoln kept saying they. Did he think it was more than one person?
All of a sudden, something Colt hadn’t mentioned to Lincoln poked at his consciousness. The night of the attack he hadn’t known any of the men’s faces but there had been that one guy. The one in the mask had kept his face covered as if Colt would recognize him if he didn’t.
Was that because he was one of Lincoln’s men? Someone Colt had met before? And what was it the guys had called him? Shit, he couldn’t remember but he had a feeling it was something important, the missing piece that would help lead them to the man that was putting their entire family in danger.
“So what’s this got to do with Cash and Colt?” Remy spoke up.
“Colt was attacked because he’s a Bomar. He can scream from the rooftops that he’s clean now but it won’t keep him safe. Not until we find this fucker.”
“I’m not worried about me.” He pulled Skylar close and kissed the top of her head when she shivered.
“I know.” Lincoln almost looked apologetic when he glanced at Skylar and then at Cash, “I’m sorry you all got dragged into this. I know it’s not what you wanted. You want to be free of this life. I say good for you. But until we catch our rat, you need to be careful and protect the people you love.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” Cash scowled.
“Keep them close.” Noah spoke up, “Same as I… we’ll do with Nessa.”
“I can’t keep Jem locked up for God only knows how long. She has a job. Responsibilities. She’s pregnant for fuck’s sake. We’ve got doctor’s appointments and shit! She’s not gonna…”
“She’ll be protected by all of us.” Lincoln cut him off. “We’ll keep an eye on her. On all of you.”
Colt frowned at that, “You’re gonna put a guard on the girls?”
He didn’t like the sound of that. He could protect Skylar. She was his. His brothers would help him. He didn’t want his cousins following her around. He didn’t want them anywhere near her.
His first, knee-jerk reaction was to say no way. She wasn’t a part of this, of any of this, but he knew that wasn’t true anymore. She’d stepped into his world and that meant she was in just as much danger as he was. Because Lincoln was right, being clean now didn’t absolve him of anything, particularly not in the eyes of whoever had attacked him. They’d still come after him and they could still use Skylar to hurt him.
He couldn’t let that happen. He had to keep her safe. It was the one thing he’d always tried to do, even when he hadn’t let himself even think of being with her. Now that he’d had her in his arms and in his bed, now that he knew his today was better than any someday with her, he couldn’t lose her and that meant he would do whatever it took to keep her safe.
Even let Ford or one of his other cousins keep an eye on her if need be. Okay, probably not Ford. He wasn’t letting Skylar near that particular cousin. She was probably just teasing him about her crush on the quiet, older Bomar boy but either way, he wasn’t risking a situation where he’d have to kill his cousin for looking at her too closely.
“Damn straight. Anytime you can’t be with them, one of us will be. They go nowhere alone until this is over.”
“Now, wait just a second.” Skylar spoke up, shooting daggers at every man in the room, “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Sky…”
“No, Colt. I’m serious. I don’t want one of your cousins following me around like a damn puppy.” She snorted and then pointed at Lincoln, “In case you haven’t noticed, these guys didn’t attack your women. They’ve attacked your businesses and your men. They’re not after us. They’re after you, ya morons.”
“She’s got a mouth on her, don’t she?” Abel sneered.
“Yeah, she does.” Skylar chirped back at him before he could hush her, “She’s also got a brain and she thinks that having a Bomar babysitter 24/7 is just asking for trouble.”
“Yeah, well nobody asked what you think.” Abel growled.
“She has a point.” Noah shrugged when his older brother glared at him, “What? She does. These guys haven’t gone after the girls.”
