“Call her a bitch again, and I’ll put another bullet in you.” I shake my fists out. I’m getting over his bullshit. He has no proof on Chad, but it’s in his head, and he’s not letting it go.

“Nix, Warriors just pulled up.” Hunter’s voice travels across the barn.

“What the fuck are they doing here?” Nix pushes off the bench and makes his way outside.

“Listen, fucker, you’re dead either way I see it. Give me the name and I’ll make sure we go easy.” I have no desire to follow my promise through, but he doesn’t need to know.

“You have no idea who you’re messing with.” He dodges my question and continues with his shit.

“No, I know you’ve been dealing with Axle David.” His eyes find mine at the name. “You don’t think we know about your connections, Mayor?”

“I can explain.” I almost laugh. I doubt there is any possible way for him to explain this clusterfuck.

Axle David is known as the leader of a human trafficking organization in Arizona. One of the largest ones, on this side of the country. Connections to the Mayor tell me Axle’s organization runs a lot deeper than anyone knows.

“I don’t think you’re gonna be able to find a way out of this one, Mayor.” I smirk, knowing we have him right where we want him.

“Beau, we have a problem.” I turn back and watch Nix walk back in with T and three of his guys.

“He’s ours, T. Fuck off,” I tell him right out. How the fuck did he know we were here? Someone obviously talked back at Pink House.

“Give him up, Beau. Trust me, you don’t want this marker on your head. You kill him, you’re only bringing more shit to your doorstep.”

“And you expect me to believe you give a fuck?” I fire back. I don’t know what T’s intentions are here, but I’m not willing to give him up, so the Warriors can settle whatever it is they want with him.

“We have a relationship with them. We also have our own agenda.” He offers nothing for me to go off.

“And you want us to trust your agenda is going to sit well with us.”

“You owe us.”

“Last time I heard, you owe us, T. I’m not giving him up.”

“You will if you want your woman to walk away with murder.” My mind blanks for a second, before clearing and realizing what he just said.

“The fuck you say?” I take two steps toward him. Nix moves to my right, Sy to my left. I know I’m fucking losing. I’m walking a steep precipice here. But fuck, I can’t seem to give a fuck.

“Rumors.” He raises both hands in surrender.

“Yeah, rumors, this fucker’s been spewing to anyone and everyone.” I point back to the piece of shit tied to one of the support beams.

“Let us take care of this, Nix. There are larger things at play here.” T ignores my anger and turns to the one person who can put a stop to it.

“Larger things you’re not gonna share with us,” I surmise, knowing before he even answers.

“This goes way up, Beau. Don’t fucking get yourself twisted in it.”

I don’t say anything for a while. The Mayor’s labored breathing is the only sound in the barn.

“He’s right, Beau. The less our hands are dirty, the better.”

I don’t want to agree with Nix so I argue back. “So when he comes back and fucks with us some more?” Men like Morre don’t give a shit about threats. He survives this, there will be hell to deal with.

“He’s not surviving anything. Trust me, Beau. This shit is bigger than all of us. It’s going to be dealt with,” T offers and it only appeases me a small amount.

“You clean this shit up like he wasn’t even here.” Nix makes the decision for me, before I can even question anymore.

“Nix.”

“Don’t push it, Beau. We have an out and we’re taking it. Let it play out in someone else’s territory.” I know he wants to keep us clean, but my anger is holding me here.

“You want me to trust they have our interests?”

“I want you to trust this is what’s best for the club. For our family.”

As much as I’d love to put a bullet through the fucker’s head, Nix is right. We’re better off letting this play out on someone else’s territory. For the sake of the club.

“Fuck,” I concede, not happy about it.

“You’re making the right decision here.” T reaches forward and taps my shoulder.

“Get the fuck off me, T.” I brush it off, and move back to Morre. “Looks like it’s your lucky day. Or maybe your not so lucky day.” I bend my knees and crouch down to his level.

“Please, don’t let them take me, I’ll give you whatever you want.” The Mayor’s eye grow wide realizing I’m going to hand him over. Now the fucker starts to plead.

“You give me the name, I’ll see what I can do.” I’m not short of lying to the fucker to get what I want.

“Brent Harrison. He’s a street thug.” It’s the first truthful thing he’s told us since we’ve been here.

“Where can I find this fucker?”

“He hangs down by the dock in Redwick.”

Knowing this is all I’m going to get from him, I give him one final gift. “I was going to enjoy what I had planned for you next.” He licks his lips, his nervous tell showing. “I wondered if you’d piss your pants as much as your son did when I had him tied,” I lie through my teeth. If this shit with T and the Warriors falls through, I want Chad’s death on me, not Mackenzie.

“You?” His brows shoot up for a second, before lowering into a scowl.

“Yeah,” is all I say before delivering my final punch, and knocking him out.

“You clean this shit up, no trace this fucker was here,” Nix orders T.

“Nothing will touch you. You walk out that door, we don’t talk about it again. He turns up in a few weeks, you don’t bat a lid.”

I don’t know if I believe T or whoever wanted Morre, only time will tell. But I am going to trust my Prez and his decision. Kenzie and the club are safe and we have a name.

Brent Harrison

That’s all that matters to me right now.

We will sort out the fucker who laid his hands on Kelly.

For Brooks.

For the club.

For Kelly.

Twenty-Nine

Mackenzie

“Darlin’.” Beau’s voice brings me out of the fog in my mind and back to the emergency room.

“Where the hell have you been?” I look up as he takes a seat next to me. It’s late. For over four hours, I’ve been sitting here in a ball of anxiety and worry.

“It’s done,” is all he says, and my panic only deepens as Nix walks in next, followed by Sy, Jesse, and Hunter.

“What did you do?” I look at each man and back to Beau. My eyes grow wide when I notice Beau’s bloodied knuckles.

“Not here, Kenzie. We’ll talk later.”

“Oh, God, what happened?” I ignore his warning and find my feet. “Please tell me you didn’t kill him.” I almost laugh, but I don’t. I’m still wired after this mess of a day.

“Calm the fuck down. Not here.” He stands and drags me down the hall of the hospital, out of earshot. “I will fill you in back at the clubhouse. Right now, you need to pull your shit together.” His grip on me tightens, not enough to hurt me, but enough to anchor me to his words. “Tell me what’s happening with Kelly.” I calm my breathing, focus in on what he’s asking.

“We don’t know yet. At first they thought it was just a concussion, but then the CT scan came back and they realized it’s worse. She hit the ground from falling or being pushed, fuck, I don’t even know, but she hit her head bad. She’s bleeding inside, something about a hematoma. They had to take her in for surgery to drain the blood.” The tears I’ve only just managed to bring under control start back up.

“She was hit with a baseball bat.” His nostrils flare and his lips curl.