Reaper took two hamburger patties, his interest piquing. “He any good?”
Lily and Beth turned around, shocked that he had initiated a conversation with them. Then Lily raised the sleeve of her dress, showing him her tattoo.
Whoever Colton was, he was better than good. He was an expert.
“Who is he?” Stabbing a fork into a baked potato, he lifted it onto his plate.
“Once a year, Penni comes for a visit, and her friends from Queen City tag along. Colton is a tattoo artist. He’s married to Vida, a friend of Penni’s. They’ve all become friends with Lily and Shade ever since they met them when they came to Queen City to visit Penni.”
“You think he’d have time to give me one?”
“I’ll have Shade text you his number; you can ask him yourself. Most of the guys keep him busy, but he might be able to do it while he’s here.”
“Thanks.”
Nodding, Lily turned back to Willa. “I bet you’re looking forward to seeing Ginny. Will she be staying with you? Shade and I are putting up Penni and Jackal, Sawyer and Kaden, and Vida and Colton.”
“No, she wants to stay at the hotel in town. I couldn’t talk her into coming here.”
Taking his plate, he left the women to sit at a small table for two in the corner, away from everyone else.
Reaper was taking a drink of his milk when Lily and Beth sat at a table not far away. As he ate, he watched the sisters excitedly talk about their visitors.
Buttering his roll, he saw Shade and Razer walk into the dining room. Razer took a seat next to his wife while Shade bent down to kiss his on the cheek and said something in her ear before going around the table to take a seat at his table.
“I sat here so I could eat alone.” Reaper unapologetically met Shade’s enigmatic gaze. “Go sit with your wife.”
Shade picked up his hamburger. “We need to talk about Raff and Ink.” Taking a bite of his food, he watched for Reaper’s reaction. “The brothers watching them don’t think they’re going to meet up with Slate like we hoped. Viper wants to know what you want—to keep waiting or take them out. Could be a better use of manpower if we don’t have to keep them under surveillance anymore and extend the search for Slate.”
Reaper casually buttered his other roll. “I’ll think it over and get back to Viper.”
“You do that,” Shade said, taking another bite of his burger. “With Rider gone to visit his half-brothers with Jo, we have a situation with a friend of ours that we could use your input on how—”
Reaper picked up his tray. “We done?”
Shade put his elbows on the table and interlocked his fingers. “I guess so.”
He knew that Shade was restraining himself from knocking his block off. All the brothers were handling him with kid gloves. He didn’t even care anymore, not if it meant they kept their distance and let him keep his.
If Viper or Shade needed input on how to deal with a situation, they were better off asking someone else. Someone who wouldn’t let himself be used as a toy for every perverted motherfucker who had a computer.
In his room, he changed into dark jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Taking his jacket, he went back downstairs and out the front door.
Moon was the lookout, guarding the front door. Sitting on the bannister with one leg hooked over the railing, he raised his cigarette to his lips. “Where you headed?”
“Out.”
“No shit.”
Reaper didn’t turn around at the sarcastic reply, going down the stairs to get on his bike. Revving the motor, he took off. Driving through town, he continued, reaching the turn-off for the road that led to Jamestown.
Four hours later, he was coming out of a restaurant, seeing several text messages from Viper.
Reaper put the phone back in his pocket, not even opening it to see what the messages said. He knew Viper wanted to know where he was.
Reaper didn’t stop until the next morning, checking into a hotel room to catch a couple hours of sleep. Exhausted, he locked the door behind him, then barricaded the door before dropping his saddlebags on a chair and himself onto the bed. He had just closed his eyes when his phone rang.
“What?” he snapped into the phone.
“Where are you?” Viper sounded concerned.
“I went for a ride. Do I fucking need your permission to do that?”
“Depends which direction you’re heading. You wouldn’t happen to be where either Raff or Ink is?”
“I’m about ten miles away from Raff.”
“I wanted to be there—”
“Afraid I can’t get the job done myself?”
“No, I just wanted a piece of him, too.”
“You ask Shade anytime he leaves to get a job done?”
“No.”
“Then leave me the fuck alone. I’ll be back in a couple of days. Raff is going to be quick and easy. I’ll let the brothers have a piece of Ink. I’ll be bringing him back with me.” Disconnecting the call, he flung the cell phone onto the mattress by his side.