Maverick
Three days later...
I WALKED INTO the club and back to the conference room. Ryder and his ex-biker buddy, Reese, were eting with the Dogs to figure out a ga plan. I had been invited into the eting due to the fact that the Spiders had singled Lily out. Normally, recruits weren’t included.
I arrived to find all of the officers in attendance, along with Ryder, whom I’d already t, and a dark-haired man who I hadn’t seen before.
"Hey, Mav," Hawk said and nodded at Reese. "This is Reese."
I gave him a chin lift. "Hey."
Reese returned the chin lift, and I greeted the rest of the brothers. Crow banged the gavel, and everyone took their seats.
"Right," Crow said. "Ryder, Reese, give the rest of the brothers so background, and then we’ll get down to business."
"Reese and I have an unfortunate lineage," Ryder started. "My pops is Char; his is Brick."
"Fuck," Hawk said.
Ryder nodded. "A few of us have ford our own loose group... Spiders’ kids who didn’t want to patch in. We recently fucked up the Spiders’ little trafficking sche, so they’re gunnin’ for us, but we’ve been able to keep them at bay for the mont."
"How does Jenny fit into this?" I asked.
Ryder glanced at Reese who nodded. "Jenny’s currently passing herself between Brick and Char. Both n were incarcerated, but recently released on a technicality. Jenny’s promised them things she can’t deliver, but my guess is they’re gonna see what she can give them before they get rid of her."
"anin’ they’ll kill her," Reese said. "Slowly."
"Shit," I hissed. "Outside of Lily, who or what else has she promised?"
"Poppy," Hatch growled.
"What the fuck?" I snapped.
"And Tillie," Dad said.
I felt my blood freeze. "She’s fuckin’ fourteen."
"There’s a market for that," Reese said.
"Goddammit!" I stood, my chair hitting the wall behind .
"They’re covered, bud," Dad assured. "We’ve got recruits on ’em."
"Older recruits," Hatch clarified. "And Flea, Buzz, and Train."
"Flea’s on Lily when I’m not," I ground out. "I don’t want him distracted."
"Not the ti, Mav," Dad warned.
"Lily’s protection is my priority, Ace." I scowled, using Dad’s club na. "So I don’t give a fuck if this isn’t ’the ti.’"
"She’s covered," Hatch said. "Flea’s on Lily. The others are on the rest."
"Sit down," Dad ordered.
I took a beat and then sat down again.
"You interrupt again, Mav, you’re out," Crow warned.
I nodded. I knew I was pushing my limits. I shouldn’t even be at the eting—they’d made an exception—so I forced down my rage and did my best to stow my opinions.
"Go ahead, Ryder," Crow directed.
"We technically ’stole’ their stash when we liberated several young won from their forced confinent, so they’re lookin’ to recoup those losses," Ryder explained. "I own the Brass Frog downtown, and I found out we had a mole. He was aiding the Spiders in their procurent of won from the bar. We stopped him."
"Where are the girls now?" Hawk asked.
"Safe," Reese said with a grunt.
I watched him. I got the impression Reese had a personal stake in this outside of doing the right thing. Probably a woman but he could also just be intense. He didn’t say much, but I could still feel anger pouring off the man.
"It’s taking a little longer than we expected to get them fully liberated," Ryder said. "But for the mont, they’re hidden and safe."
"So what’s the plan to deal with these assholes once and for all?" Dad asked.
"We’re gonna need bodies," Ryder said. "I’ve got my team, but there are only ten of us. Not enough to take down a club of over a hundred."
"We can get bodies," Crow said. "We’ll call in other Chapters."
I stayed silent through the rest of the eting, but my mind was spinning with concern for Lily. I didn’t know how much longer we could go on with this hanging over our heads. Maybe we should just move to Canada. But, then again, the Spiders had a presence in Canada, so it probably was just as unsafe.
By the ti I got ho, I only had an hour before I had to pick Lily up from work. I chose to drink a pot of coffee rather than trying to sleep. I was afraid I’d sleep through the alarm.
Lily
On one of my days off, I decided to join one of Cassidy’s dance classes, since it had been a couple of weeks since I’d done any kind of "work." Maverick was at the clinic, so Flea followed to Cass’s downtown studio, and I headed inside.
"No way!"
I turned to find Poppy rushing toward , and I grinned. "Well, hey there, stranger. What are you doing here?"
"Grace is on her way... but I also thought I’d take a class a couple of tis a month to stay limber for riding." Poppy hugged and then linked her arm with mine and led into the dance room.
"Perfect," I said. "Is Grace still heading to San Francisco?"
Grace had been accepted into the San Francisco Ballet Company as a principal dancer after she finished school. She hadn’t accepted right away, but Poppy had told her she’d be crazy not to.
"She still hasn’t decided," Poppy complained.
"How long will they wait for her?"
"They gave her a month to decide. She has three days left."
I let out a quiet whistle. "That’s certainly cutting it close."
"Right?" Poppy sighed. "She doesn’t want to leave ."
"Really?"
"No, dammit, but that should be the reason."
I laughed. "This is true. I take it you don’t want to live in California?"
She scoffed. "Like Sid or Devon would ever let that happen."
I squeezed her arm. "I bet if it was sothing you really wanted to do, Hatch wouldn’t stand in your way."
Poppy blushed. "I could never move away and certainly not to California. I like the rain too much."
"Mmm-hmm, the rain," I deadpanned. "The rain nad Devon."
"Whatever," she retorted. "That man will never pull his head out of his butt; ergo, we will never work."
"He might surprise you one day."
"I doubt it."
I dropped my bag on the floor just as Cassidy wrapped her arms around from behind and squeezed. "Hey, honey."
I turned and hugged her back. "Hey, Cass."
"I’m so glad you decided to show up to one of these," she said.
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