"What do you want, Cash?" she asked in a firm voice, but her eyes were dancing. She had a soft spot for Cash. Who wouldn't?
"Care to scrounge up three cups of that toxic sludge you guys pass off as coffee?"
She shook her head, sighing in a way that made her ample bosom heave under her deep blue button-up blouse. "Fine, but you're getting it black."
"You're an angel among mere women," Cash gushed and I could have sworn I saw the woman blushing as she walked away.
"You're disgusting," I said with an eye roll and a lip twitch. "Does Lo know what a shameless flirt you are?"
"Why do you think she fell for me in the first place?"
I snorted. "If you think she fell for some pet names and flattery, you don't know her at all."
"I know it wasn't that. It was my hot bod."
And to that, I laughed, right there in the middle of a police station, my stomach in knots and almost nauseated with worry, I laughed.
"Yeah," I agreed, shaking my head, "that must be it."
Barbara came back with the coffee that was very much the consistency and taste of toxic sludge and we all took chairs and waited in silence. It was a good hour later, coffee cups disposed of and a stern looking male took over at the front desk, taking away our access to refills, when the door to an interrogation room opened.
All three of us sprang to our feet in unison as Marco walked out, an arm on the forearm of Wolf. My eyes stayed there for a split second before I realized they had cuffed him. They cuffed him.
I sprang forward without thinking. "You're arresting him!" I screamed, making the chatter in the station silence immediately. "You can't be fucking serious, Collings!" I accused, making my way across the room, knocking over chairs in my way to get to the almost repentant-looking Collings. "What could you possibly have..."
"Janie," Wolf's voice clipped, drawing my full attention. "Pull it together," he said with a soft look that I imagined was supposed to be reassuring. But there was no way to calm me down when he was being arrested for freaking murder! Because of me! "Reign," Wolf said, jerking his chin and I felt my waist tagged by a strong arm, almost pulling me off my feet as I collided back into a broad chest.
"Take your fucking hand off me or I swear to Christ you will lose a dangling bit you hold very dear to you," I warned, arching my arm back so I could elbow him hard in the gut. His air whooshed out, but his arm only got tighter.
"Take her home," Wolf said, turning away from me.
"Wolf you..." but he wasn't turning back to me. In a few seconds, he disappeared behind a locked door.
"You listen to me you son of a bitch," I seethed at Collings, "if you don't get this dropped..."
"Careful," Collings broke in, but not in the cocky way most cops would. It was almost soft, understanding. "Don't want to say anything in here you can't take back." He turned his attention to Reign. "Bail hearing will be set in the morning. There's nothing you can do here tonight. Do what the man wanted, take his woman home."
With that, Collings turned and left us standing there.
"Come on, kid," Cash said, reaching for my hand as Reign set me back down. "I'll take you back to Hailstorm. You and Lo can try to..."
"I'm going back to the cabin," I growled, ripping my hand from his and charging out of the building before I could lose my shit. I was seconds from threatening Collings in there, from hauling off and punching him. Thank god Wolf had the presence of mind to react and get Reign to rein me in.
Self control, it was something I needed to learn and fast.No bail was set. I guess when you were being charged with three counts of first degree murder and said murders were horrifically violent, the judge didn't really think it would look good to set him back on the streets, no matter how much Henchmen money lined his pocket from day to day.
I drove Wolf's truck with Harley and Chopper to the docks where my getaway car was parked, switching their spots and forcing the dogs to huddle together in the much smaller space of my little sedan.
I parked out front of The Henchmen compound's gates, letting the dogs out, grabbing a couple bags of my shit, and waiting for the curious Repo to nod at the boy at the gates to open it.
Everything that happened after this point would heretofore be known as "Janie's Reign of Terror" or, the slightly more colloquial, "You Don't Fucking Mess With What's Mine, Mother Fuckers".
I stormed into the compound, looking for Reign and finding him immediately standing beside the bar.
"I was the one who bombed your compound," I declared, sensing every biker in the room tensing. "Get over it," I added with a haughty chin raise.
"And why the fuck would I do that, babe?" Reign asked, unflappable even facing unsettling news. He really was a good prez.
"Because I am going to get you your road captain back," I declared, ripping my laptop out of my messenger bag as I swiped everything off the coffee table, sending it flying to the floor as I propped my laptop up. "Besides, that shed was full of years of evidence of exactly how many murders, Reign? Five? Eight? On top of countless beatings. You should be thanking me for getting rid of that shit. Here," I said to a biker on the couch, tossing him Wolf's keys. "Wolf's truck is parked down at the docks. Get it and bring it here. And you," I said to another guy standing close by, "go get whatever the heck Wolf's hell beasts will need to hold them over for a few days."
Both men paused, but moved to do what they were told.
"Babe, you can't just come into my compound barking out orders, trying to control the place."