Page 77 of Rooster

Chad shook his head with disgust. “You’re better than this, Maggie.”

“Just go, Chad.”

He glared at me for a moment longer, then huffed and walked out. And just like that, a good day was shot to hell. It wasn’t the first time Chad had ruined a perfectly decent day, and I feared it wouldn’t be the last.

Rooster

“Did you get the text?”

“No.” We were finishing up at the construction site, and I was busy loading my tools as I asked, “What text?”

“Prez has called us into church.”

“Oh, okay. Any idea why?”

Wrath cocked his brow. “I have my ideas.”

I knew Wrath well enough to know that it wasn’t going to be a good meeting, and my shit day was about to get even shittier. Not that it mattered. Prez had called us in, and I was going. End of story.

By the time Wrath and I got to the clubhouse, the rest of the brothers were there and had already gathered in the conference room—everyone except Bones and Big. They were nowhere in sight, which left me with an uneasy feeling as I took my spot at the table. As soon as Wrath and I were seated, Prez brought the meeting to order.

“As you all know, we ran into some trouble with the California Reapers. I brought you here to let you know that the problem has been handled.”

He cleared his throat as he reached for the remote and turned on the TV. Within seconds, a warehouse appeared, and it was completely engulfed in flames, with thick smoke billowing into the night sky. We all watched in silence as the camera circled the building, making it clear that the entire place was ablaze.

Prez didn’t have to say. We all knew it was the Reapers’ clubhouse, and that was enough to send a chill down our spine. But then, we saw the chains on the doors. The Reapers were inside and had been totally unsuspecting when the fire started. The flames flickered, casting eerie shadows on nearby structures, and as we continued to sit there watching, an eerie unease started to sink in.

The Reapers had gotten what was coming, but the realization that we could have a similar fate ignited a sense of vulnerability among the brothers—a vulnerability I didn’t like.

Not one fucking bit.

When he was certain that we’d seen enough, Prez cut the TV and said, “This might seem a bit extreme, and it is. But they’d gathered there to initiate their plan to come here and take us down.”

“We all knew that was coming.”

“Exactly, and we had to send a message to everyone on Bruton’s list that if you fuck around with us, there will be repercussions. We aren’t here to play fucking games.”

“What about the buyer?” Wrath asked. “Has he been dealt with?”

“We’re still working on him,” Cotton answered, “He’s gone underground. Bones and Big are doing what they can to track him down, so rest assured, we will find him, and he will be dealt with.”

“Any idea what you’ll do?”

Cotton glanced over at Prez and then back to Wrath. “We have a couple of ideas we are playing with, but some deciding factors will come into play when we find him.”

“What kind of deciding factors?”

“It seems that we aren’t the only ones looking for him.” Prez leaned back in his chair as he explained, “Bauco crossed a line with his predecessor, Cardelli.”

“Our first shipment guy?”

“The one and only.” Prez was quick to add, “He’s not a man you want to get on your bad side.”

“So, what does that mean for us?”

“I’m not sure,” Prez confessed. “Cardelli won’t like it, but we really need to be the ones to find Bauco first. We have a point to make, and we can’t do that if Cardelli gets to him before we do.”

“And when we do?”

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