Claiming Menace (Ruthless Sinners MC 5)

“No,” he answered assertively. “I just need to finish this salad, and then we will be ready to eat.”

“Oh, okay.”

Parker gave me a side glance as she sat down on one of the stools next to the counter. I took a seat next to her and said, “I hope you didn’t go to a lot of trouble on our account.”

“No trouble.”

He continued chopping away at the onions and carrots like a fucking sous-chef. Parker gave me a little prod with her elbow, then her eyes widened as she motioned her head over to one of the open cabinets. I looked over to see what had her so excited, and just as she’d suspected, all the cans were lined in a perfect row with all the labels facing forward. When I turned back to Parker, her lips were set in a grim line and her eyebrow was cocked high. I gave her a stern look, warning her to knock it off, then turned my attention back to Billy. “So, uh... Viper filled you in on everything that’s going on with Parker, right?”

“He did.”

“Do you think you can help her?”

“I can.” He tossed the vegetables into the bowl with the other ingredients for the salad, then said, “We will discuss it after dinner.”

It was impossible not to feel a little unsettled by Billy’s peculiar behavior, but I didn’t care how strange he behaved—not if he could help us solve Parker’s problem with Rossi and his crew. Parker and I waited until he had everything finished, then we helped him carry it all to the table. The guy had gone all out: homemade rigatoni with garlic bread and a huge garden salad. Once we were seated, Parker looked out at the entire spread and said, “This looks wonderful, Billy.”

“I hope you will enjoy it.”

After laying his napkin across his lap, Billy lowered his head and mumbled a quick prayer, then started placing food on each of our plates. We were all about to start eating when Billy reached over and moved the salt and pepper shakers to the center of the table, slightly turning each one so they were both positioned just the way he liked them. Parker gave me another side glance, but I refused to look at her. Instead, I tried to focus on eating my food and nothing else. But it wasn’t easy, especially when Parker kept nudging me with her foot every time Billy did something odd. Thankfully, she finally stopped pestering me and actually started eating. We all just sat there in silence, and it seemed to suit Billy just fine. Once we were done, Parker and I helped him take the dishes to the counter, and I placed our glasses in the sink. “Dinner was great, Billy.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He motioned his hand towards the door. “We can talk on the porch.”

“Okay.”

Parker and I followed him out front, and we sat down on the swing while Billy got comfortable in one of the rocking chairs next to us. We each sat there for a moment, taking in all the colors of the sunset. I had to give it to Billy. The man had quite the setup. It almost made me want to move out of the city and find me a place out in the country. We hadn’t been sitting there long when Billy looked over to me and asked, “May I speak freely?”

“I’d like to say yes, but you know how the club feels about discussing our personal business.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t dream of crossing any line on that front, but I do feel that it is important for Parker to know that if we proceed with my plan, there’ll be no turning back.”

“What exactly is this plan of yours?”

“Well, if she’s truly concerned about this client of her father’s finding and harming her, then I think we only have one option...and that’s taking the worry off the table.”

“And how the hell do we do that?”

“We kill her,” he answered nonchalantly. “Or more precisely, she kills herself.”

“Excuse me?”

“We set a stage, Menace. Put on a show that will draw the attention of the media and convince these men who are after Parker that she is no longer with us.”

“You can do that?”

“I can, and I will.”

“But I can’t pretend to be dead.” Parker gasped. “I have to testify at Rossi’s appeal hearing. It’s the only way I can make sure he stays behind bars and pays for killing my family.”

“That simply isn’t an option,” Billy replied.

“But it has to be. If I don’t testify, Rossi will get off, and my parents will have died for nothing.”

“Don’t you see, if you even attempt to go to that hearing, these men will kill you. And let’s just say you happen to survive long enough to get on that stand and testify, they’ll still come after you. I’m sorry, but you don’t go against the mafia without paying a price. And in your case, the price will be your life. I can guarantee you that.”