I finally did what I’d wanted to do from the beginning, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her in tight.
“The club does some sketchy shit,” I admitted. “We find people that hurt others—and a lot of the time, they’re sex traffickers, or the middleman that thinks they’re just going to transport them from point A to point B. Anyway, we find them, then we persuade them in archaic ways that they don’t want to be doing that anymore. And if they are deemed as ‘unredeemable?’ Well, then we’ll do what the police can’t and won’t do.”
Meaning, we offed them, and enjoyed it.
We—my brothers and I—weren’t originally like this. We were straitlaced men who joined the military, worked when we got out and made a living like every other American.
Then Cannel went missing, and we spent a year looking for her.
In that year, we’d seen some horrible stuff.
Just the thought of what Cannel was going through was enough of a kick in the ass to shift our focus, as you would say.
We changed.
We adapted.
And we rid the world of people that didn’t need to be in it any longer.
“Understandably,” she whispered into my shirt.
“Do you honestly believe that I should be bringing kids into this world anyway?” I asked her. “Because, from where I’m standing, I’m seeing some bad shit. I wouldn’t want a kid to be brought into it when it’s going to hell. I mean, just the other night there were four little girls that went missing from a day care. Their teacher is the one suspected of doing the kidnapping.” I hesitated. “They were found two days later starved, beaten, and hurt.”
“What?” she asked. “I never heard about this.”
“Because when it comes to club business, you won’t ever,” I admitted. “You and me? We do this? You’re not ever involved. Not a single foot will be stepped into our business. Because the best way to protect our females is to keep them securely at home, where they’re safe, and the bad shit doesn’t touch them.”
I could tell she didn’t know what to say to that.
Which suited me just fine, because there wasn’t anything to say.
“Will you be able to talk about it?” she asked curiously.
I caught her helmeted head in my hands and tipped it back using both of my hands on either side of her visor.
When I had her gaze, I said, “Probably not.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re a pain in the ass, Crow.”
My eyes twinkled as I said, “But I’m your pain in the ass. So what now?”
She sighed, then leaned up and pursed her lips.
I dropped a kiss down onto them. One that was a little bit wet, and a whole lot slow.
When I pulled back it was to see her eyes hooded.
“Now, we go see what the hell my parents want,” she grumbled.
CHAPTER 23
What do you call it when two short people do 69? ea.
-Text from Iris to Shine
IRIS
“You want to come in?” I teased.
Callum snorted. “No, not really. But I’m going to anyway.”
Just before he could pull off his helmet, his phone rang in his pocket.
I had a joyous laugh as I watched him try to slip the phone out of skintight pockets.
Eventually, he stood up and pulled it out, only to hit ‘answer’ for him to realize he still had his helmet on and couldn’t hear.
Rolling my eyes, I hit speakerphone and said, “Your brother has issues.”
“I’m having them, too,” Haggard grumbled. “Got a flat. I don’t have a jack for some fuckin’ reason, so I’m gonna need a ride to my truck. Could you give me a lift, bro?”
I could tell immediately that Callum was torn.
He wanted to go, but he also didn’t want to leave me here to deal with my parents on my own.
“He’s coming,” I said to Haggard. “He hasn’t even taken his helmet off.”
Callum’s lips quirked. “I’m coming.”
After a quick peck on the cheek, and a promise to ‘hold on to my helmet,’ I headed to the side door of the main house where Teller used to live.
I’d gotten a message from the cops just yesterday saying that the scene had been released, and I was allowed to go inside now that I ‘owned’ it.
They’d then followed that up with an update on Teller’s case, saying there hadn’t been any new leads, and that even his cases at work had been studied, and they couldn’t find a reason as to why he’d been murdered.
My sister was still the prime suspect.
Really dreading having to talk to my parents, I started to trudge up the length of the walkway to the front porch when movement from my periphery caught my eye.
I frowned, turned, and was hit so hard in the face with what felt like a brick that I went down hard.
My elbow hit the concrete with an audible thunk, and I immediately lost sensation from my elbow down.