Jagged Edge

Rafe’s wife is radiant in a pale blue dress, her lips a ruby red. Too radiant. Makes me wonder if there’s a bun in the oven we haven’t been told about yet.

Smiling, she leans over the counter once I’m done and whispers, “I’m taking over.”

I grin back at her. “No need, I can hold the fort. Why don’t you go and see what that husband of yours is up to? He may want a break.”

Her brows go up, dark eyes twinkling. “A break, huh? You know Rafe too well. Also, you’re in a good mood today.”

I am. No use denying it, and why would I want to? Jason is at home, warm, fed and safe. He let down his walls for me, talked to me. And now we’re gonna fix this mess and free him from Simon Gomez’s clutches.

“Well, Rafe’s gonna have to wait for his break.” She winks and I laugh. “The guys said you need to talk.”

Oh. That stops me mid-chuckle. “All right.” I roll back the chair and get up. “Ignore the gay porn sites I browsed, okay?”

She leans over the desk again to look at the computer screen and sticks out her tongue. “Don’t take away my fun.”

Shaking my head, I sigh and come around the desk to give her a nudge with my elbow. “Be good, Meg, and leave my browser history alone.”

Even if it only features the Soul Stain website and a takeout place near Collateral.

“Now where’s the fun in that?”

I’m still grinning as I head over to Rafe’s table, though the sober faces that greet me wipe the grin right off my face.

“What’s going on?” I demand. I zero in on Ocean. “Shun. Something happen?”

“Let’s go talk,” Kade, Soul Stain’s owner says. “Somewhere private.”

“Come on.” Rafe leads the way to the back of the shop, to the office. Inside we find Zane Madden, Dylan Hayes, Asher and Tyler Devlin who are good friends with the Damage Control people, and Riot together with two more guys I’ve never seen before. “Here we can talk.”

As the door closes behind us, I realize they’re all fighters. And I don’t just mean metaphorically.

I know Asher and Tyler were trained by their father, a known boxer, and Riot and his friends all bulge with muscles and are standing around as if about to enter a ring. Dylan is a professional athlete. Zane and Rafe train in kickboxing, as do all the Brotherhood and Damage Control members, and Rafe also fought in an underground fight club for a while.

As for Kade… he looks like he could take someone down, tall and muscular like the rest of them, but I don’t know anything about him.

I resist the urge to step back and put some safety distance between us.

“I’ll take it you heard back from your Russian buddies?” I ask Riot.

He nods. “They’ll do it. Shut the MC down.”

“But…?”

“No buts. They will. They’ll move in in a few days.”

I frown. “Then what’s this meeting about? Comparing your muscles? Or your dicks?”

Kade chokes and starts to cough.

Was it something I said?

“Our father,” Ocean says, and I somehow don’t think he’s praying, “asked for a meeting.”

Of course he did. “Okay. What does he want?”

“Money. More money. The usual.”

Right. “Where and when?”