Dark Temptation (Dark Saints MC Book 2)(33)

“All but Bo I see, and we know why. I had E.Z. get him up to speed. He has Bo’s proxy. Here’s where we are. A woman by the name of Jen Guffy fucked up our plans two nights ago. We were allowing a shipment of New Jack Swing to be delivered into Port Az. We were hoping this was a pipeline to whoever’s trying to pollute Port Az. You want to tell ‘em what your jobs were?” He looked at me.

“Kade and I were lookouts. Just to be sure we had Bo’s back with whoever was making the buy.”

“Kade. Why don’t you describe what happened after that?” Bear said and Kade recounted the mess that followed.

“And who had tipped off the cops?”

Kade hesitated. He didn’t want to burn me any more than I would want to burn him, but what happened wasn’t in dispute.

“It was Benz’s new old lady. She had called the Port Az Police, teamed up with a rookie there. She’s some kind of librarian doing history and then all of a sudden she’s snitched to the cops. The wrong cops.”

Bear nodded. “I have ordered Benz to get rid of this singing little librarian, and as you all know, instead, he punched Kade and took off with her. That was my order and he fucking did what he wanted. That shit hurts us all.”

“I called for a vote and so did Kade. An order like that needs a vote.” E.Z. chimed in. It was a strange position to be in, aligned with E.Z.

“I disagree. But here we are in Church. What do you have to say that is going to make anyone in this club think we shouldn’t handle this my way?” Bear looked at me. This was the same man who’d given me a place to live for the last ten years. Who’d given me a future when my own old man had shit all over it. I realized that I’d hurt him when I’d chosen Jen over him. But I wouldn’t change it.

This was it. This was my chance to do everything I could to save Jen.

“She’s a cop, she’s not a librarian. She’s a cop. Well almost. She works for the Department of Public Safety. She wants to be a Ranger.” Several of the men at the table had Rangers for Granddads. That I knew. I might be the product of a bunch of shitty criminals, famous ones even, but they had Ranger blood in their veins. I hoped that meant something to them now.

The air had definitely shifted in the room and I had their complete attention.

I spilled what I knew. I told them everything.

“Jen Guffy’s father, Ranger Gary Guffy, killed my Daddy, who you all know was a slimy wannabe Saint. When Kenny Bass robbed the Port Az Bank and got into the gun fire battle with the Texas Rangers, it was Jen’s Daddy. They shot each other. I didn’t know a damn thing about this when I took up with her. But I’ve since learned all she knows of us is from that. And she’d gone to the law because she thought we were all like my Daddy.”

“He was such a piece of shit,” Tuffy said. Tuffy was of Bear’s era and remembered it all.

“No offense,” he added in my direction. I nodded. I knew Kenny Bass was a piece of shit and I knew he was never a Saint.

“Anyway, if you have me or anyone lay a hand on her, it will be hell fire from the law. They’ll crawl so far up our asses, we’ll be spitting Texas Ranger badges out our throats. If you have us kill her, not only will we lose control of Port Az, we’ll lose this club. You don’t go killing the daughter of a Texas hero because you’re pissed how one stupid night went down.”

Bear readjusted in his seat. He let my information settle in. It really was all there was to it. This club would rightly get the blame if anything happened to Jenny Guffy. The newspapers alone would fry us. Her Daddy was a hero. My Daddy was why. If I killed or the club did, we’d have state and fed law down on us. It would be a kind of heat we’d never seen.

“Let’s put it to a vote,” E.Z. said. Bear nodded. I hoped they all saw what I saw. I hoped I’d said it all the right way.

“All in favor of disposing of Jenny Guffy say ‘Eye.’” The room was silent. I wondered how many hands would raise. I wondered if I could forgive The Saint that wanted her dead. I suspected I couldn’t. That would eat me alive. I almost didn’t want to see who voted in favor of killing her.

I looked around. Not one Saint moved a muscle.

They didn’t want to kill her any more than I did now. It was fucking unanimous.

Bear was wrong to order it before he had the facts and The Saints were on my side.

“Oh, and Bo is a no, too,” E.Z. said. He had a shitty smile on his face.

He was enjoying Bear being wrong more than he gave a shit about Jen. I didn’t care why though. I only cared that the vote was my way. Totally my way.

I was ready to stop bullets for her. It looked like now I wouldn’t have to. But maybe I’d ruined my trust with Bear forever. I’d have to gnaw on that for a while.

“Fine. The girl lives. But I do not want you seeing her again. She is clearly a rat. She is clearly your blind spot. Cut her off.”

I didn’t say anything. I wanted to tell him to fuck off. I wanted to ask him if ever, in a million years, he would quit on Mama Bear?

I knew he wouldn’t.

But I swallowed all that. I’d work on him through Mama, maybe.

I wanted out of this meeting. I wanted word spread right now that there wasn’t a mark on Jen’s head.

I wanted Saints and Hawks and cops to know how much trouble they’d be in if they touched her. That meant getting out of here and getting it on the street.