Page 28 of Ruthless

“We thought he was just a loudmouth, but now we wonder if we didn’t take him seriously enough.”

Rafe chuckled at Ronan’s comment. “Kayla came in for a soda and was talking about what happened. She said you were sweet on this Tessa Lee lady.”

“Oh, she did, did she?” Ronan shifted.

Jett grinned until Rafe looked at him. “She seemed to think you also like the teacher. That isn’t going to cause conflict between y’all, is it?”

He squirmed at the question but quickly shook his head as Ronan did the same. “Never.”

“All right then. I don’t judge. I haven’t seen Choirboy happier ever since he and Slash got involved with Vanessa. I don’t much care who sleeps where, but I don’t want strife in the club.”

“We’ll be sure to keep your preferences in mind,” said Ronan with a grin.

Rafe flipped him off before returning his attention to his keyboard. Without looking up, he said, “She also said she was disappointed when you didn’t kick Jimmy’s father’s ass right on the playground.”

“Her words?”

Rafe shrugged. “I paraphrased. Can’t remember her exact words.”

“I bet.”

“It shouldn’t take long to find out the basics.”

“Basics, that’s what we need.” Jett frowned. “But anything else you turn up is gravy.”

“Give me a few minutes of peace and quiet.”

Ronan and Jett left Rafe to his work. Ronan went to check on Kayla, while Jett went to work on the current project. It was another rebuild for Don Wilson, who apparently had no clue Stella had offered him a romp in the hay, since he’d been just as friendly as ever and had booked this job as soon as he’d picked up the last bike.

Jett worked until he saw Ronan return to where Rafe was waiting, having flagged him over. He put down his tools and walked over to join them. “Done?”

“Well, there is quite a lot on your man. It would take time to sort through it all, but he’s a real vocal hater. His comments on blogs are almost uniformly critical of everything the government does. If the government blinks, he’s got an opinion, and not just on what they did but why they did it. He seems to fall into the group that thinks there’s a conspiracy to create a one-world government, but there’s stuff about aliens and them putting implants in our brains. Thing is, I can’t tell whether he’s for that or against it.”

“Anything besides crackpot politics?” asked Ronan.

“His wife died of cancer. Somehow, he got it in his head that her cancer was a side effect of a government program. She was involved in some kind of experimental treatment that didn’t pan out. Right after her death, he went a little nuts and was in an institution for a short time. They took note of his paranoid ideas but decided he was harmless and functional enough to have custody of his kid. Since then, he’s been in a few bar fights, was arrested at some protest and then released—nothing to write home about.”

Kayla’s thin voice floated into the office. “Uncle Ronan, how much torque do I give the head bolts on this engine?”

“She’s taking point on Tiny’s bike,” Ronan said by way of explanation. “Doing a fine job, too.” He turned to the door. “I’ll be right there, Princess. I don’t remember offhand either.”

“Never mind.” She sounded disgusted. “I thought you’d know. I can find it in the shop manual all by myself.”

Rafe smiled. “When she takes over, things will be different around here. Real bad-ass.”

“Don’t I know it?” Ronan got up and stretched. “Keep digging a bit for us, will you? I better go fix something, or she’ll be telling people she does all the work.”

“I thought she did,” said Jett in a smartass way.

Not even a second later, Rafe said, “She does already. The only advantage you’ve got over her at the moment is that she’s not old enough to hang around the clubhouse drinking with the boys. I figure that gives you about six years before forced retirement. At the outside.”

“If she wants it that bad, maybe I’ll give her the place and move to Mexico.”

Jett snorted. “Yeah, right. You’ll die with a wrench in your hand, brother.”

Ronan shrugged in a careless fashion. “Maybe.”

“You two going to shack up in Mexico with your teacher?” Rafe chuckled.

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