Part 15 (1/2)
I was certain at that point I wasn't about to go home. After meeting Viktor, sitting through an evening with Hoss and his crew, seeing Casey, and finally coming in to see what Cilas had done to Hangar, I was too wound-up to settle in for the night. Instead, I did what I used to do when I was a member of a motorcycle club.
I went to find any acquaintance I could and settled in for a drink.
”Why don't you patch into Creed?” Charlie Benaim, the nomad of the group, asks me as he sits at my side, throwing back drink after drink. ”It makes sense. Hoss seems to like you enough.”
Hangar and Dee Dee have yet to come out of whatever hole they're held up in. So it's just me, Charlie, Dog, and Iron sitting around a small table in the common area of the bar.
”I like my position,” I tell him. ”Much like you like yours.” I point to the nomad symbol connected to his name as support to my claim.
”He does like to come and go, but he misses all the good s.h.i.+t,” Dog decrees, sitting across the table.
”Do I, though?” Charlie retorts with an ounce of frustration. ”Hangar alone is enough of a reason to drop my cut and never look back,” he continues with anger. ”The man is f.u.c.kin' whacked.”
Charlie's dark eyes come to mine as I sit quietly, knowing I'm not a member and my opinion doesn't mean s.h.i.+t to these people. There's something suspicious in his stare, but I can't place it.
As soon as silence sucks the energy from the table, I decide it's time to wade in. ”There's a reason he's the VP. Hoss trusts him.”
”Yeah,” Charlie answers, tossing the beer bottle cap on the table and focusing on it with his next statement. ”This place was something once, ya know? It was a real brotherhood. The outsiders Hoss brought in have made him nothin' but greedy.”
”I'd stop talkin',” Iron whispers. ”Like right now,” he finishes, aiming his eyes to Hoss, who's making his way to the rest of us.
My phone buzzes in my back pocket. With all the commotion this evening, I hadn't a chance to call Em. She's who I suspect is trying to get a hold of me. I let the call go without answering and after a few more seconds pa.s.s, and before Hoss finally makes his way to our table, it rings again.
Standing up and non-verbally excusing myself from the table, I walk past Hoss while grabbing my phone. He glances my way with eyebrows drawn up in question, so I point to the phone in my hand and make my way outside.
A voice behind me breaks my concentration as I'm about to call Emma back. I need to check in and let her know I've seen Casey and that's she's okay.
”Somethin' up?” Hoss asks, staring into the dark and focusing on the concrete drive of the club.
”Nothing big. Personal matters.”
”Emma?” he asks with suspicion. I hate that he knows about my connection to her. It gives him a power I can't take away.
”Yeah.”
”She on you about hangin' around here with Dee Dee?”
Without hesitation, I give him the true, honest answer, but it's not meant in the way he's referring. ”Every day. She hates her sister being here.”
”She hates Casey being here,” he corrects, and I glance in his direction. It's dark and I can't make out his features as well as I wish I could, but his eyebrows are furrowed. ”She and Dee Dee don't like each other.”
”Won't make up a story and say she's not p.i.s.sed about not being able to see her niece. So yeah, she's p.i.s.sed about Casey being here with Dee Dee.”
”Hang's f.u.c.ked-up,” he tells me with a hint of anger. ”Dee Dee's got him laid up, but if he's too much worse for wear tomorrow, I gotta call in a favor and have a doc look at him.”
”Cilas didn't do anything any of the others wouldn't,” I tell him, defending Cilas and hoping to lessen Hoss' retaliation, if that's what he's thinking.
He thinks for a brief moment then returns, ”Hang had it comin'. I don't doubt it.”
”He's crazy, Hoss. You know this.”
”He's my VP, Max. Careful with your words,” he hisses. His voice changes quickly, and I a.s.sume he's nervous to give away his true relations.h.i.+p with his son. ”You coming back in for a drink? Charlie's got shots ready to roll.”
”Be in after I call Em.”
”Whipped,” he mumbles, turning around and opening the door. Before he walks through it, he turns his heavy frame to the side. ”I know you're not stupid, but it'd be best if you remember not to discuss club doings with your woman.”
”Got it,” I say to his back before hearing the door click into place.
After I'm confident he won't be coming back, I grab my phone and call Em. Although the hour is late-or early, depending on how you look at it-she answers on the first ring.
”Where are you?” she whispers. I hear the worry in her voice, but more, I hear the disappointment.
”Baby, I'm still at Creed.”
”Did you see her?” she asks in reference to Casey.
”I did, and she's okay,” I confirm. ”I gave her the book.”
A heavy sigh comes through the phone. ”Good. I'm glad she got it. Are you on your way home soon?”
”No, I'm gonna hang around here for a while. s.h.i.+t went down, as it always does. I'll call or be home tomorrow afternoon.”
”I talked to Tommy. He's worried about you.”
”He always is.”
”Always,” she repeats. I'm met with seconds of silence before she speaks. ”I love you, Max. Be careful.”
”I will.”
”Thank you,” she says. ”For calling and for letting me know you're both okay.”
”Love you, Em. Sleep and I'll see you soon.”
The phone disconnects without another word.
Before returning to the band of brothers, I sidestep where they're sitting and grab a pad and pen, which sit on the inside of the bar.
Quickly making my way down Viktor's office hallway, I think carefully about what I'm doing. I'm accepting a position, tying myself to a man who has every intention of either selling Casey or, if that doesn't pan out, taking her with him to Russia.
Neither of these options is viable because neither work for me.
Checking the office door and finding it locked doesn't come as a surprise. Rather than hang around outside his office and wait to be caught by a member of the MC, I fold the note I quickly wrote and shove it under the door.
I accept.