Roan (The Henchmen MC 17)

He knew I had made enemies, but also figured - as had I - that since I was out, no one would bother tracking me down.

"You take your orders," I told Pagan. "Whether you agree with them or not. The job was to get her trust, get the information."

"Looked young," Reign mumbled.

"She's thirty-four." I'd done the math.

"And you said this was... when?" Reign asked, and there was no mistaking it now. There was judgment there. And, what's more, I deserved it.

"Fifteen years ago."

"For those slow on the math, that means she was nineteen," Pagan oh-so-helpfully supplied. "And you were what? Thirty?"

"We all get it. I was a shit. I did a fucked up thing. Which is why you all can imagine how pissed at me she is. Even after all this time. In my defense," I said, looking over at Reign, "I thought she was dead. The job got washed. Everyone was supposed to be dead. I didn't think there was anything to come and bite me in the ass."

"Or the thigh," Pagan piped in yet again, never knowing when to keep his mouth closed. "The ass would have been funnier though. Or if she shot off a ball or..."

"Okay," Reign cut him off, but his lips were twitching. "Since you thought she was dead, I am figuring you don't know dick about her or her contacts. So we have no idea if this was just a woman getting payback on a guy who fucked her over fifteen years ago, or if she is coming for us, and you are just an added perk."

"I lost her," Sugar growled, coming in through the doors, every muscle tensed. "She threw herself off a fucking bridge," he added, running a hand through his sweaty hair.

There was no mistaking the gut-drop sensation at the image conjured up in my head.

But, I reminded myself, she'd been angry.

Not suicidal.

She wouldn't have jumped if she was going to die. She just took a calculated risk, thinking Sugar wouldn't follow her. She couldn't have known, surely, that Sugar was a shit swimmer. But I did know that Mack was amazing. She'd taken lessons before she'd even started school, went to a local swimming pool every summer. I'd seen her doing endless laps in the swimming pool at her uncle's place. It was her chosen form of exercise because, in her own words, she didn't have to get all sweaty doing it. She had been powerful then, as a much slighter, borderline skinny girl - all that baby fat from early adolescence long gone. Now, though, her body was a testament to working it tirelessly. Her arms were more toned. My money was on her being an even more skilled swimmer now.

She was making a getaway.

It was a little dramatic, sure, but she was fine.

She would be coming back for more if that look in her eyes had been anything to go by.

I was sure there was something personal involved, but Reign was right. We had no idea if it was bigger than that, if she was coming for all of us, for the gun trade.

All I did know was that the woman who had held a gun on me with steady hands was far from the girl I had known so well.

I had no idea what she was capable of now.

"We need to get a call out to Cash and the rest of the guys," Reign declared, gears turning. "They will be finishing the drop in the morning. I want them on the way home right after. And everyone else needs to be called in. We need to shore this place up again. Get on eight-hour guard shifts. While we do that, we'll get Janie and Alex in here to try to figure out what this Mackenzie woman has been up to since Roan last saw her."

With that, everyone sprang into action.

I curled myself up, lifting my leg with my hand to get it off the couch so I could stand.

"Roan..." Reign started, shaking his head.

"I'm fine."

"Take the night."

"I know her better than anyone else," I told him. "If anyone is going to be able to find her, it's me."

"Yeah," he agreed, standing there as I slowly made my way to the door. "But what are you going to do if you find her?" he asked, making me stop in the doorway for a long moment.

"Honestly," I started, half-turning back. "I don't know. Guess we'll see."

I wasn't imagining the eyes on me as I painstakingly made my way through the small crowd gathered out front.

They all had questions.

And me, well, I was low on answers at the moment.

So I made my way to my bike, gritted my teeth through balancing it with my bad leg, then driving out.

I didn't have a plan in mind at first. I just needed space. I needed to think.