Bingo.

They were ruling their shitty little kingdom from the back corner of a strip club covered in ratty red shag carpeting left over from the seventies. Fucking tools.

I’d been sitting near them, watching the dancers for almost an hour before I heard the word I’d been both hoping and dreading.

Aces.

I spent another hour listening, regulating my breathing and keeping my body relaxed and seemingly focused on the dancers, before I dropped a couple of bills on the stage and left. I had what I needed.

I didn’t even stop at my hole-in-the-wall hotel before heading south on I-5 toward Eugene. I’d never wear any of the clothes again anyway, and I’d kept all of my stuff from Farrah’s in the trunk of the small Honda that Slider had given me for the trip. I was practically vibrating with the need to turn around and kill the motherfuckers sitting in the strip club. If I didn’t get out of there soon, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back.

It only took me a couple of hours to get back home, and when I pulled into town I had to force myself to go to the club first. I wanted to pack up Farrah and Gram and get them the fuck out of there, then make my way to Callie’s, but knew I had to speak with Slider and Poet first. They were going to be livid, and we needed to plan. My family wasn’t the only one that needed protection.

I walked into the club and made my way over to the couch where Slider and Vera were groping each other like a couple of teenagers.

“Boss?”

“Fuck,” he hissed into Vera’s mouth, pulling his hand out of the back of her jeans. When he finally looked up and met my eyes, recognition dawned and he jumped up from the couch. “Club business, baby. Be back in a while,” he said to Vera, who only nodded with a small smile at being interrupted.

“Poet! Call Dragon and Grease and have them get their asses here. Doc! Smokey! You’re with me.”

We followed him into the back room and once again sat down at our places at the table. The other brothers had watched me with a mix of hostility and confusion as I’d followed them in, and I almost groaned at the fucking pecking order that assured I’d be cleaning bathrooms for the next month. They didn’t understand why I’d been allowed in, and they weren’t happy about it.

Fuck me.

I started to talk as soon as we sat down, but Slider put one hand up to silence me before I could say much. “We’ll wait for the boys,” he said, “so we’re all hearing it at the same time. Makes shit easier.”

I nodded and sat back to wait, fidgety and uncomfortable with the eyes in the main room I could feel on me through the open door. By the time Dragon showed up, I was clenching my jaw and had moved to popping my knuckles. Grease walked through the door, shutting it firmly behind him.

“You got what you needed in four days? Any problems?” Poet asked.

“No problems. Found the brothers in a titty bar in Southeast playing kings of the fucking castle. Took me a while to find them, working my way through the guys out of work or homeless on the street.” I cleared my throat, feeling a little uncomfortable with all of the eyes on me. “Found out what they’re planning and headed out straight from there.”

“Is it something we can handle?” Slider asked quietly.

“They’re small. Nobodies. No competition if they were doing shit on the up-and-up,” I answered, meeting his eyes. “They won’t be. Their next hit is another family. Not sure which one, they weren’t specific, but it was clear they wouldn’t be hitting us directly.”

“Motherfuckers.”

“Goddamn it.”

“Son of a bitch!”

“Fuck!”

The faces around the table had gone from questioning to livid, and I was glad that I was on their side. They were scary as all hell. As Dragon stood up, looking like he was going to kill someone with his bare hands, Slider started barking orders.

“Poet, you get the men with families in here. We’ll let them know what’s going on. Find anyone that’s sober and supply them with some cars, the drunk fuckers aren’t going to be able to go home to get their women alone. Who the fuck knows if they’d get there in one piece or what they’d be walking into.” Poet stood up from the table, clapping Slider on the shoulder as he walked out of the room.

“Dragon,” Slider continued, “you and Brenna should be good. We’re going to lock down the gates and you’re already inside them. See if your woman has some extra shit she can spare or any room, the clubhouse is gonna be over-fucking-flowing. You take one of the cars if Poet needs a hand.”

Dragon left next, veins popping in his neck as he slammed the door closed behind him.

“Doc, make sure you’ve got enough shit on hand in case things go downhill. Order anything you need and get it out here tonight. Once the gates are closed, we aren’t opening them. Smokey, make sure the bitches are out of my clubhouse before the wives get here. Tell April and Jenny to stay, they’ve both been around a long fucking time and have enough of a reputation that they could be targets. Those picky whores have only been fucking a couple of the boys anyway, no one with wives. Everyone else, out.” With a nod, he dismissed the old-timers.

“Grease, go get your woman and her grandmother. Make sure she’s got everything she needs for your boy. Stop at the store if you need to. Know this is her first time, so make sure you got enough diapers and all that other shit that you could need. Nothin’ goes in or out until we get this shit taken care of.”