Page 49 of Phantom
“So, you think we should use the rumor mill, but we shouldn’t plan it out? We should have it happen immediately?” Nick asked.
“And here. It wouldn’t make much sense if we weren’t agreeing with one another to not be on our turf.”
“He’s right,” Tess added. “The most believable story is if we’re here.”
Nick nodded. “Okay. I like it. The bar could suffer some damages, but it’d be worth it to keep those Dogs at bay. We’ll get word out to the Rebels and Raging Vipers and have them tailor the rumor mill.”
Nick seemed to be accepting of my suggestions as nothing more than just intelligence on the situation, it seemed, and as I scanned around the bar, staring with Tess and making my way around, the looks in my direction were indifferent, but there wasn’t suspicion in anyone’s eyes.
And then I locked eyes with Taylor, who, slowly but surely, developed a wide, ear-to-ear, evil, and malicious grin.
Chapter Eighteen
Tess
Weighing the options in my head, it almost seemed like it was the best idea to just get Colin out of the bar for the time being. My dad had, not so subtly, exerted a threatening dominance to get the club to vote Colin in as an officer, and that couldn’t have improved his station in their eyes. Colin finally agreed to stay in Hoppa, and now my dad was pulling stunts like that, and it wasn’t helping anyone.
As terrified and angry as it made me, Colin seemed unphased if not completely lost while thinking about something else. Whatever it was, I’d have to ask later. My goal at the moment was to give Colin and the other officers some time apart. Hopefully, once they got to know Colin better, they’d see that my dad was just doing what he thought was best, even if he strong-armed the club into doing it.
“Hey,” I said to Colin once the MiD meeting was over. “Do you wanna take Lockjaw and head home?”
“Tess,” Colin replied. “I’ve told you already—”
“I know.” Though I wanted to put my hand on his face to help drive home my point, I didn’t want to piss anyone off any more than they already were. “It’s less about you and more about them. This is unlike my dad. Give them some time to take it all in and get some booze in ’em, then come back this afternoon. You may have to play a couple of games of pool to make up for it.”
Colin rolled his eyes. “Do you think that would help?”
“I do, but only after they’ve had some time to cool down.” With a foot on Lockjaw’s rear, I scooted him a little forward. “Go do some male bonding or something.”
“Okay,” Colin said. “Text me later?”
“Of course.”
Colin didn’t linger after that. He tapped his leg, and I watched as Lockjaw bounded after him, and they both left the bar. Colin didn’t have a special seat for Lockjaw like my bike did, but his bike was also more equipped to carry another rider, even if that rider was a meaty pit bull. They’d be fine getting home, at least.
Once Colin was gone, I tried to figure out what I needed to do first. The guys already didn’t like me, and even if Bullseye did his best to treat me normally, and even if Bullet had lost himself for a second and asked for a bit of dating advice, I highly doubted that my involvement in the apparent coup my father was pulling was helping tip my needle in the right direction. They wanted me to interfere with my dad long before now, so if I knew them all, and I did, they were probably all blaming me a fair amount.
So that left talking to my dad. At first, I thought he just liked Colin, but I’d never seen that kind of aggression out of the man before in my life, at least not toward people he cared about. He loved the club and the guys in it like a family. I’d been blind to some of the stuff he’d already pulled because I love Colin and wanted him to be safe, but it was as if a shroud had been lifted. Colin would be okay regardless, but what my dad was doing was going to make it pretty goddamn difficult for either of us to get a leg up.
“Hey.”
The way I jumped when Taylor’s voice growled out behind me was borderline embarrassing. For God’s sake, he was my brother, even if he had been losing it a little more as of late.
“Hi,” I replied. “Sorry, I was thinking. You scared me.”
“I’m requesting a formal audience,” he said.
My eyebrows knitted together. “With dad? Just go ask to talk to him.”
“With you.”
If my heart could have fallen out of my chest, it would have. “Why do you want an audience with me?”
“Are you declining?”
The language was specific. Taylor knew the bylaws like some people knew the Bible. There was probably some fine print that required the president and vice president to hear out any requested audiences or something, so even though I would have rather jumped into the Grand Canyon than been alone with Taylor, I shook my head.
“Not at all. In the back?”
