Savage Fire (Savage Angels MC #2) (12 page)

As Dirt stands up and moves to intervene, he shouts, “Jonas, brother, calm down!”

I give Kade a nod, so he, JJ and Zeke move in to help. As Jonas is pried away from Fith, Fith says, “When she died, I found it and destroyed it. It no longer exists! She promised no copies were made and I’ve never been able to find any, so I have to believe it, I have to!”

“Does someone want to tell me what you two are talking about?” I ask in a level tone. The clubhouse goes quiet. Jonas moves back to his chair—still highly agitated—and he stares straight ahead, avoiding all eye contact with me. I continue to stare at him until he slowly moves his head in my direction, but he still avoids my eyes.

“When Ray was killed by the Road Hellions I wanted revenge. Someone had to have tipped them off that he was going to be on his own. I asked Fith to find that person. He did and together we...interrogated him.” His eyes flick to mine and all I can see is a darkness in him that I have never seen before. It explains why he was away so long; he had demons to battle.

I nod and look at Fith. “Ok, so Ms. Saunders found guns, smack and a DVD, so what?” Dirt forcibly helps him back to his seat and then goes back to his.

“You all think Ms. Saunders was this sweet, little, old lady but she wasn’t; you have no idea what she was capable of.”

He stares at me and I shake my head. “Fith, I knew Ms. Saunders. What the fuck are you on about?”

“She used the DVD against me, she blackmailed me into helping her, and she made me keep it from you. From the club. She knew that Jonas didn’t know he was being filmed so I couldn’t tell you!” He looks visibly upset but I can’t believe it. “Dane, she was running guns and using us to keep the shipments safe.  With every Carnival Cigarette shipment, she had a shipment of guns; it was flawless. No one messed with the shipments as we were protecting them and when she died, I expanded her business. It was easy money; there is always demand for illegal guns. I used the contacts she already had and kept it going. It’s easy money, Prez.”

“How much?” I growl.

His eyes bulge out of his head as he replies, “Twenty‐five thousand a week in the beginning but I expanded to the East Coast; she had no dealings there so I’ve nearly doubled the take. I’m up to forty‐eight.”

The room is silent. We do not run anything out of Tourmaline. It is home and off limits. You don’t shit where you eat. We all know this. I cannot comprehend Ms. Saunders running guns but I know that Fith isn’t smart enough to do it alone. At least now I know why Salvatore Agostino and Guido Lamberti are here.

I look around the room and everyone stares at me. “We. Do. Not. Run. Anything. Out of Tourmaline.” I pause between my words, making my point clear. “We all know this. I need time to process this and have a sit down with Salvatore Agostino. Dirt, Jonas, I expect you to sit in on it and if everyone agrees—so that we have some perspective—Kade, JJ and Zeke.” A rumble goes around the room and I look at Bear.

He clears his throat and says, “Agreed!” I smile at him. He knows when to be a good soldier. “Anyone opposed?” he asks and looks around the room. “Good! Prez, how long do you think you’ll need?”

“Give us two hours and then I want you all back here.” They all file out, taking Fith to a backroom. I am left with, Jonas, Keg, Dirt and Rebel.

Keg has always been good with numbers, that’s why he’s the Treasurer as well as Secretary; I look at him and say, “Ms. Saunders has been gone for what, a year and a half? If Fith is telling the truth, how much has he made?”

He looks at me, thinks a moment and says, “One point nine five, minimum.”

“Where the fuck does he have it stashed? That’s a lot of green to have lying around,” I say.

“We could just ask him.” All eyes go to Rebel. “What? The fucker has to know where it is.”

“Rebel is right, we should ask him,” says Jonas.

“We will, but first, you want to share about the...interrogation?”

Suddenly Jonas is agitated, he begins to pace and his gaze is riveted to the floor. I never sanctioned an interrogation. I did sanction retaliation against the Road Hellions; we wiped out thirty of them and they called a truce. They really had no choice; we had greater numbers. I never understood why they took out Ray and only Ray. I look at Jonas and I wonder if he knows. He took Ray’s death harder than the rest of us. He’s my best friend and I know him, but his reaction to Ray’s death and the way he blamed himself, has never sat right with me.

“Someone had to pay for Ray’s death,” Jonas says as he continues to pace, not looking at any of us.

“They did pay, brother, we took out thirty of them, don’t you remember?”

He stops and looks at me. “It was my fault. It should have been me. I was supposed to be there.” He shakes his head. “I had to find out who was behind it. It was a stupid mistake. You asked me to go check on the fucking strip club in Marlow. I didn’t want to do it; I was seeing Addy that night.” I raise my eyebrows at him, I had no idea he’d been seeing Adelynn. “She didn’t want anyone to know and she didn’t want Ben to know unless it was going to be serious. She didn’t want him to become attached and for me to just walk away, which I fucking did after Ray.”

“Brother, are you saying the Road Hellions wanted to take you out, not Ray?” says Dirt.

“Yes, I disrespected their VP on their home turf. I was fucking with him, Prez. I didn’t know who he was and I gave him a beatdown in front of some of their prospects. He wasn’t wearing his cut. The prospects didn’t even try to step in. He was a mouthy motherfucker and he spat on my cut so I fucking taught him a lesson. I didn’t know. I found out after Ray.”

“The order for you to check out Marlow came from me. Who the fuck betrayed us?” I ask. 

“There was hang around, his name was Flick. I used to give him shit about his name. I guess he had enough of me. He was never going to become a prospect; he was a fucking tool. He saw an opportunity to get rid of me and he thought he’d finally become a prospect. He told the Road Hellions where I’d be and that I’d be alone.” He puts his hands on his hips and looks at me. “So, you see, Prez, it was my entire fucking fault. They killed Ray ‘cause they thought it was me. With Fith’s help, I captured a member of their MC and tortured him until he gave up Flick, then I put him and Flick in the fucking ground.” His voice cracks at the end, his eyes are red and I can see his demons.

“Brother, I can see how you’d blame yourself. If you got into a fight with any motherfucker and our prospects were near, what the fuck do you think they’d do? There’s no fucking way that they’d let you get beatdown by a rival MC. The guy, whoever the fuck he was, did not have the respect of his men. You, my brother, do. It’s time to let it go.” He nods and turns around and tries to get himself under control. The room is quiet.

I glance at Dirt, who looks at the ground. He sighs, pulls a chair out and sits down. “Everyone take a fucking seat. That explains the DVD. Now, do we all really believe that Ms. Saunders is capable of what Fith is saying? I, for one, do not.” He slams both hands down on the table and looks around the room.

“She knew people; I always thought that was strange. She knew the leader of the crew in Marlow. I took her shopping over there once, and I couldn’t understand why he was showing her such respect. At the time, she told me he was an old family friend. She told me to leave her and she’d ring me when she was done.

Didn’t make any fucking sense, but it was Ms. Saunders, so I did as she asked. I watched them for a while. They talked for a long time. I should have said something,” says Rebel as he too pulls out a chair and sits down.

“Anyone else have a story to tell?” I ask.

My men all take seats, Jonas back to my left, and Dirt to my right. As they take their seats, Kade wanders in.

“Prez, Agostino is on the lot. Want me to bring him in or make the fucker wait?”

I look at the men seated at the table. “Should we bring him in? Try and sort this fucking mess out?” They all nod and I say to Kade, “Bring him in brother and take a seat with us. Bring your boys too; we could use a different perspective on this.”

He nods and goes to get Agostino.

***

W
e are all seated around the table, and I’ve put Agostino at the other end, facing me. He’s a powerhouse; you can tell by the way he moves that he can handle himself. Dirt pats him down and finds two guns, and then he willingly gives up a third that Dirt has missed; it’s to show he can be trusted. He doesn’t have my sister with him—I have much to talk to her about—and it angers me that he has kept her from me. He holds my gaze as he arranges himself in the chair.

“So, Reynolds, how did the family reunion go?” 

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I growl at him.

“Emily, your sister, is what I’m talking about.” He leans forward.

“I thought you were bringing her with you.”

“She left me over an hour ago and said she was coming here, are you saying you haven’t seen her?” His voice rises as he speaks.

“Emily hasn’t set foot in this Compound; if she had, I would know about it,” I say to him and look at Jonas. “Go find her. Bring her to me no matter what, understood?”

Jonas nods, stands and looks at Agostino. “Where did you last see her?”

“We were in Betties Café. She said she was coming to see Dane. The only other person in town she knows is Adelynn at the motel. Perhaps she went there?”

Jonas nods and taps Rebel on the shoulder as he stands and they both go in search of Emily. I look at Agostino, he looks perplexed, and I raise my eyebrows at him.

“We had a disagreement. I know she wasn’t looking forward to seeing you but why wouldn’t she come here and face you?” Concern was evident in his voice.

“You had a disagreement? What about?” I ask.

“About my businesses, she was...surprised at some of my endeavors.”

I nod at him and look around at my men. “What brings a Captain of the Abruzzi Family all the way out here, by himself?”

“I did not know that you were involved in running guns. I had an agreement with Christina Saunders. She assured me that she would not expand her interests to the East Coast. I should have known that it was the Savage Angels that were in charge, but surely, she told you of our business deal. Surely, after her sit down with Don Dominic, she told you of our bargain. I am here to find out why you would break this deal and potentially declare war with the Abruzzi Family.”

I am shocked, but I keep my face a mask of neutrality. I look at Dirt and thankfully, he has done the same.

The last thing we need is a war with the Abruzzi Family. They do deals with many other rival MCs, not to mention the gangs in rougher neighborhoods across the states. He stares at me and I know I need to answer him but I have no fucking idea what to say. Ms. Saunders ran guns and we stupidly guarded every shipment.  I never once suspected her of anything. She looked like a grandmother and she cooked us muffins for fucks sake. How the hell did she get involved in guns and God knows what else? I need to regroup, I need to talk to Kat to see what she knows and I need some fucking intel on Ms. Saunders.

“Before we start, we need a drink. What will you have?” I do my best to stall.

“Coffee, black, no sugar,” he says as he slouches back into his chair.

I stand up and move further into the clubhouse and Dirt follows. I run my hand through my hair for the umpteenth time today.

“I need you to do a background check on Ms. Saunders. Find me something, fucking anything, and do it quick.”

“You believe him?” asks Dirt.

“I don’t know what the fuck I believe. We have a brother doing deals for over a year and none of us knew. How does that happen? Do the background check, and I’ll go talk to Kat, she has to know something.” I glance at Kade; he stands up and makes his way towards me.

“Kade, I need you to entertain him, make his coffee and keep him busy while I go talk to Kat,” I say.

“Prez, you need to talk to your woman?” He places his hands on his hips, clearly wondering what the fuck I’d need to discuss with my woman. Thankfully, he has the sense not to question me any further.

“It’s a long story Kade, trust me,” I respond with authority and stalk out of the clubhouse.

***

A
s I walk into the office of the garage, Kat sits on the desk watching TV.

She yells out, “Finally! A girl could starve!” She turns and begins to laugh when she sees me. “Sorry, babe, thought you were Howie, I asked him to bring me the house special.” She leaps off the table and into my arms, and in her best seductive voice that threatens to bring me to my knees, says, “Do you have anything I could...eat, babe?” Damn, the way she licks those lips. I know she’s kidding but my dick doesn’t; it’s rock-hard. I move us into the office and  sit her on the table before quickly locking the door and pulling the blinds.

“Dane! What are you doing? Come on, babe, Howie is—”

“Darlin’, you should not tease me unless you are willing to keep up your end of the bargain.”

I spread her legs and position myself between them. I cup her face and kiss her deeply. She responds to me, as she always does. Kat wraps her legs around me and as I move one of my hands to her breast and rub my thumb over her nipple, she moans into my mouth. I trail kisses from her mouth and slowly travel to the hollow of her neck. I drop to my knees and am in front of her jean‐clad core. My hand travels the inside of her thigh until I reach her center, and she responds to my thumb as I caress her.

“Darlin’, from now on, unless you are on the back of a bike, could you please wear dresses or skirts?”

She giggles. “Honey, if you are willing, I could have these off in the blink of an eye!”

“No, you have Howie coming and I need to ask you some questions about your Ma.”

She grabs me by the ears and pulls me up. “What do you want to know about her? And, baby, you owe me after that!” She laughs again and kisses me.

I wrap my arms around her. “Dresses or skirts, or no fun for you,” I tease.

She laughs, slaps my chest and says, “You do not tell me what to wear! And I was nice to you in front of the boys but I do not like being told to stay here!” She smiles but she’s letting me know she doesn’t appreciate my overprotectiveness.