“Gonna tell you again, she shouldn’t be there at the house.”
“No shit. She’s stubborn.”
Deacon heard a snort through the phone. “Her sister’s just like her. Fuckin’ stubborn as all fuck. Can tell why Warren did a number on her.”
“Why? What happened?”
“She’s bored. She’s twenty-somethin’ and doesn’t know how to just chill. Wants to keep busy. Can’t bring her here to the office. Ain’t smart to send her to Crazy Pete’s with Stella. Ozzy don’t want her at the motel ‘cause that means he’d have to watch her ass. And Ozzy’s Ozzy. Everybody’s got shit to do and no one wants to be a babysitter to a woman we said was off-limits. ‘Specially a hot blonde.”
“Don’t give a fuck what she wants, she needs to stay safe and out of sight ‘til this is over.”
“No shit, asshole. And her bein’ on club property right now means I’m the fuckin’ one responsible to keep her ass safe. Problem is, everybody’s got a job to do and we got no one to spare. ‘Specially since we’re not sure how long this is gonna take.”
“We’ll keep postin’ online ‘til he bites.”
“What if he don’t bite? What if he went underground and couldn’t give a flyin’ fuck about Reilly Porter? We need a time limit on this job. Once his bond expires and he ain’t caught, then what?”
“Then it’s over. We’re out. We’ll wash our hands of it and let the women deal with their own fuckin’ mess.”
Another snort came through the phone and Deacon could picture his cousin shaking his head. “Right.”
Right. “Bianchi said the court date’s not ‘til the end of the month. We got ‘til then.”
“You ain’t stayin’ there ‘til the end of the month, cuz. We got other shit to do.”
“Will do what I can from here.”
“While that’s somethin’, it ain’t everythin’, Deke,” Judge grumbled. “Hard to leave the office to do shit when you’re gone.” He grunted. “Got an idea. Gonna run it by Dutch and some of the guys and let you know if it works out.”
“Dutch?”
“Yeah. Thinkin’ my idea might make everyone happy and ease the pain of not havin’ enough brothers to watch the girl.” The phone went dead.
No bye, no see ya. Nothing.
Judge just hung up. Deacon grinned.
His cousin was an asshole. But he was a big, lovable asshole.
Chapter Eight
“Gotta tell you somethin’.”
Reese sighed before taking another sip of her large glass of white wine.
She had come home late and found him planted, once again, on the deck in the dark, with his laptop and phone nearby. Also with his four-legged best friend by his side, curled up and taking a snooze, since Justice had a rough day of eating, sleeping and licking his junk.
Deacon kept checking Reilly’s Instagram account about every half hour, just in case Warren left a comment on the picture he posted this morning. So far, nothing.
He didn’t believe Warren was stupid enough to out himself on social media, but fugitives have done some pretty fucking stupid shit before. Which sometimes made his job a little easier.
If Warren didn’t show up in the next couple of days, Deacon would make another post on Reilly’s account. Until then, he just had to have patience.
So did Reese.
But he also didn’t want to lie to her about her sister if he could avoid it. And while he wouldn’t give her Reilly’s exact location, he also wanted to keep Reese somewhat in the loop.
It might help her feel a little more in control of the situation. Which might ease her stress a little.
Might.
The way she was sucking down the wine, he wasn’t so sure.
When she had joined him a half hour ago, she came outside wearing a loose, wide-necked sweatshirt that hung off one slender bare shoulder. Which confirmed the fact she had gotten rid of her bra at the same time as the rest of her dress clothes. She had pulled on some sort of loose cotton pants, maybe pajama bottoms, but he couldn’t tell with the lack of light. She had folded her long legs and tucked her bare feet beneath her when she curled up on the lounge chair next to his.
She hadn’t said a word. Not a damn one. She simply came out and settled in with her big-assed wine glass.
He assumed she hadn’t had a good day, so he had said nothing for a while to let her unwind, but he wanted to give her an update before she went inside and shut him out.
“What is it?” She sounded drained. Like she didn’t have much energy left to deal with anything besides closing her eyes and going to sleep.
He glanced at his phone. It was only eight. “Your sister voiced her opinion about just hidin’ away in my place and havin’ nothin’ to do.”
“Sounds like her.”
“’Cause of that, we found her somethin’ to do.” Or at least Judge had and reported back to Deacon with the details.