Devil's Game(86)

I’d never had anyone talk to me like that. I knew my eyes must be wide and I had no idea what the hell I should say to him.

“Em!” Cookie called, running into the living room. Her face was red, like she’d been crying. She pushed past Deke to catch me in her arms, hugging me tight. “I can’t believe what’s happening. When Picnic called because he couldn’t get hold of you … I was terrified.”

“It’s all right,” I said, watching Deke over her shoulder. His face was still blank. Had I imagined what just happened? “I’m safe now. No word from Kit, though.”

Cookie pulled away.

“Shit,” she muttered. “I hoped she’d be in touch by now. You know anything about the guy she took off with? Your dad is nervous. He’s thinking it might be one of them … whoever they are. The shooters hit a pipe at the clubhouse, flooded the whole place. That’s why the guys are all here tonight.”

“It wasn’t the Devil’s Jacks,” I said firmly, and I believed it. The look of shock on Hunter’s face had been too real.

“We don’t know who it was,” Deke said. “And you don’t need to worry about that right now, anyway. Jumping to conclusions gets people killed. We’ll figure it out and then we’ll take care of business. Em, you keep trying to get hold of your sister, okay? Cookie, you might as well go to bed. Doesn’t matter how much drama we have tonight, Silvie’ll still be up at the crack of dawn and she’ll need her mama.”

“What about work?” Cookie asked him. “I’m supposed to open the shop tomorrow morning. I have a sitter coming over.”

Deke shook his head slowly.

“Either call someone in to cover for you or I’ll have one of the boys put a note on the door.”

Cookie got a funny look on her face.

“I’m a business owner, Deke,” she said. “I can’t just close up for the day.”

“You can tomorrow,” he said. “Until I know what’s goin’ on, you’re staying where it’s safe and I can have my guys watching you.”

Cookie crossed her arms, her face growing wary.

“I’m not an old lady anymore,” she said slowly. “In fact, I’m not attached to the club at all. Just because you guys check in on me doesn’t mean I’m a target. Or I wasn’t, until everyone parked their bikes on my lawn and made this your new headquarters.”

“Listen to me very carefully,” Deke said softly. “You’re one of ours, and you always will be. But I can’t afford to keep too many men on you. That means I need you and Silvie in one place, where I know you’re safe, so I can focus on what needs to be done. Either find someone to cover for you or the shop stays closed. Your call.”

He turned and walked away, leaving both of us staring at him.

“Fucked-up night,” Cookie muttered.

“No shit,” I answered, my voice subdued. “I think I’ll try calling Kit again. You going to do what he says?”

She nodded slowly, her eyes thoughtful.

“For now. They shot Swinger in Boise. He was a friend of Bagger’s, you know. Best man at our wedding.”

I looked over to find her twisting her wedding ring around her finger absently.

“I’m going to bed,” she said suddenly. “But come and get me if you hear from Kit, okay?”

“Okay.”





HUNTER


The ride down to Salem the next morning was f*cking cold. It’d started raining right on the edge of Portland. Not bad. Just enough to make the trip utterly miserable. Some * in a Hummer nearly took out Skid on the freeway, which almost got ugly, seeing as we were both trigger happy and paranoid as hell.

Dickwad came damned close to getting shot.

When we pulled up to the Salem clubhouse, I saw a good fifty bikes parked outside. I’d known officers would be coming, but this was a bigger turnout than I’d expected.

Guess war will do that.

Skid and I backed our bikes into the line. He glanced over at the prospects standing guard, then gestured at me to wait before going in.

“Kelsey says you were with Em last night?” he asked. I bristled.

“I put Kelsey on a plane at six this morning. Picked her up at her place, and she won’t land for another hour. When the f*ck did you talk to her?”

He just looked at me, and I clenched my teeth.