“Who is it?”
“Rocky. I have Evonne with me.”
“Bring her in,” Tiny, his president, called out.
“Prez…” Rocky acknowledged his invitation, pushed the door opened and gently nudged Evonne forward.
The faces gathered around the slab of wood that served at the meeting table looked grim.
“Rock, close the door behind you,” Tiny said.
Rocky raised an eyebrow but followed the order without question. Fastest way to get your ass handed to you was to disrespect the Prez.
“Look, sweetheart, you might want to take a seat for this,” Tiny said. Evonne turned to stare at Rocky. “Rock, stick with her,” Tiny said.
Fuck. He could already see where this road headed. Last thing he needed was to be someone’s fucking babysitter. This is why no one wants to help people. Shit always has a blowback. He guided the tense female to an empty chair at the end of the table and sat in the chair beside it, tugging her arm to get her to comply.
“Look, I’ll be straight with you. Levi was into way more shit than we expected. He has powerful people on his payroll. The cops searched the Crazy Eights clubhouse, looking for a person of interest. No one had to say it was Levi. We knew it. They let the fucker escape in the insanity of the raid. If he can pull favors like that, we’re all vulnerable. You especially.”
Her eyes flashed and she opened her mouth.
Rocky squeezed her wrist to gain her attention and shook his head. “Uh uh.” If she mouthed off to Prez like she did with Crazy, shit would get ugly. She didn’t want to piss off the people who were trying to save her life.
She swallowed. “W-what do you mean?”
“We broke into his house. He had pictures of you all over the place, videotapes, live video feed he’d been streaming day and night.”
“What, of—of me?”
Prez nodded. “Yeah, darling. Some of the shit was fucking…” He shook his head. “We can’t let him get ahold of you again.”
Her hands gripped the arms of the chair. “I don’t understand.”
Prez glanced at Shooter and nodded.
“You’re going on lockdown,” Shooter stated.
“Lockdown? I’m not a member of this crew,” Evonne said with a frown.
“No, but you’re like a sister to my old lady and Moose’s.” Shooter nodded to Moose, whose normally jovial face had gone hard.
“I don’t understand. What do you expect me to do—stay here?” Evonne asked.
“Not yet, but at one of the brothers’ homes,” Shooter answered.
“Why? This is ridiculous! It’s been weeks, and he hasn’t even tried to contact me. I’ll be fine. I can’t be locked down. What about my clients? The business I’ve built for myself would collapse.”
“Better your business than your life,” Moose warned.
“Moo—”
“No. you didn’t see the shit we did. Detailed diary entries of what he wanted to do. How he would break you. Fucking jizz on every picture he had in the area where he housed his Evonne shrine. You want to fall into his hands? That shit’d fuck you up more than you already are. The things he did to women are sickening. And I seen a lot of questionable shit, E.”
“What the fuck?” Evonne said.
“Look!” Moose barked. “You need to wake the fuck up. There’s more important shit going on right now than your need for independence. You’re not the only one we’re trying to keep safe.”
“Shit, take it easy, brother.” Shooter placed a hand on Moose’s shoulder and squeezed.