“Violet, don’t look so tense. You got this,” Casper, my sister-in-law says to me. I glance over at her. Like always, she has her long black hair pulled up in a tight ponytail. But unlike her usual tight black tee, today she has on a loose shirt hiding her little baby bump.
She leans back in the chair next to me, scrolling through her phone. “Pres is going to call us in soon.”
I nod and look back out into the bar, watching everyone. Just trying to take it all in and do as Cas taught me. Watch everything and everyone.
“Who’d you hit first?” Cas asks me, leaning forward in her chair and putting her elbows on the table.
“Two o’clock in the blue with the goatee.” Cas smiles. “Then the one in red, three down to blue shirt to the right. Normally I would have said Red, but he’s got a few beers deeper, so he’ll be slower.”
“What about him?” I follow Cas’s line of sight and see a big motherfucker leaning against the far wall and watching two girls play pool. He looks deadly. Probably is with his hands, but takes a lot for a man that size to move, and I’ve got lots of time before he could get to me.
“He’s not carrying. He’d come later.”
She must like what I say, because she just leans back in her chair once again, going back to her phone.
I go back to watching. Pres, Lucias Houston, doesn’t let sweet butts into the club, so this is where everyone hangs when not at the clubhouse. A lot of locals know that, and this place is always crawling with women looking for a bad boy.
It’s a thrill I don’t understand. Or maybe I’ve just been around my father and brother too much. They treat their wives like gold. Like nothing else in the whole world is more important to them, and I don’t think that’s something I’m going to find around here. Even less so with someone like Scribe. Not that I’m looking, I remind myself. I’m not his type either, and he barely gave me the time of day when I first saw him. In fact, he looked like he didn’t like me at all. Worse, I’d overheard him tell Pres I shouldn’t be here. Just my fucking luck. The first interest I show in a man in forever and he doesn’t even want to be in the same room as me.
The reminder has me tightening my grip around my beer bottle. How the fuck does he know if I belong here or not? He doesn’t even know me. Has no idea of what I’m capable of. The things I’ve done. No, not many know. That was sealed up tight. So tight I don’t even think Scribe could find it.
I glance over at him once again and see the blonde bartender throw back her head and laugh at whatever he just said to her. I have to fight an eye roll. I’m not sure if I want to roll my eyes at them or myself for even caring. Fuck him. I’ll show him how much I belong.
The bartender nods towards the door that leads to the back of the bar into the kitchen, and Scribe nods back, following her and making my stomach do a little nervous flip. God, I have to shake this. Whatever it is I’m feeling for him has to go, because it’s not going to work. At least not with him.
“Can’t go hating Scribe already,” I hear Cas say next to me. I turn to see her staring at me, busting me spying on him following the bartender into the back. “He can drive you nuts, but he’ll always be your eyes on the ground when you’re high in the hills.”
I study her for a second. I know her and Scribe are close, which makes sense with what she’s saying. When you’re the sniper, you’re always away from the pack, and someone has to feed you intel. And that someone would of course be Scribe.
For me, it had only ever been Cas when she was helping me train. Trying to teach me everything she knows for me to be as good a shot as her. I’m not, but I’m getting close, and the training is paying off. But there have been sessions where s me sit in the hills alone for hours with only her in my ear and my gun trained on one spot. Until my body started to throb with aches and pains. I never knew being stealth could hurt so much. But having someone with you in your ear helped. Pulled you through the hours. And I’m guessing that’s what they had when they were serving together or when she did jobs for the Ghost Riders. I’m trying to fill that role now, because Cas is going to be MIA for a little while. Can’t lie on your stomach for hours with a baby bump. Not to mention, my brother Vincent would lose his mind if she was on jobs now.