I already liked her shrink. “In answer to your question, this wasn’t just about getting laid last night.”

She stilled. “Okay,” she said softly.

I decided brutal honesty was the best way forward. “I can’t give you a play-by-play, though, Vegas.”

Watching me quietly, she thought about that for a minute. And then she shifted so she was lying on top of me instead of sitting. Her lips lingered on mine for a beat before she smiled. “I can work with that.”

 

* * *

 

“Billy’s raised his price,” King said later that day. He’d called me, Hyde, Kick and Devil into the office to discuss our gun supplies. We still hadn’t worked out what Dragon had planned, but we knew he had stocked his supplies high.

“Jesus, he’s already overpriced,” Kick said. His recovery was going well but I knew he was sick of being cooped up in the clubhouse where King had been keeping him. They’d argued repeatedly over it, but King remained adamant. It didn’t surprise me. Kick was King’s golden boy, always coming through with whatever King needed. I’d seen the fear in King’s eyes when we’d brought Kick in after being shot. He hadn’t slept until he knew Kick would survive. And these days he was taking no chances. I figured Kick would be stuck in the clubhouse for weeks still.

“Well, you know my thoughts on Billy,” I said.

“And you know that there aren’t many other options,” Hyde snapped.

“Maybe we need to look outside Sydney,” I said, glaring at Hyde.

Devil cut in. “Well, whoever we get them from, we need to make sure they’re not going to screw us over down the track and withhold supply like Sutherland has.”

King nodded. “Agreed. And I want our stockpile doubled.”

I whistled low. We already had a huge stockpile. It was a risk to double it. Heat from the cops had been circling us for weeks. They were busting their balls trying to clean up the city and had targeted Silver Hell and Black Deeds. Bronze had managed to keep us out of it but we were kidding ourselves if we thought that could last forever. Carrying a large supply of guns could come back to bite us in the ass if they raided us. “You sure about that, King?”

His jaw clenched. “Yes. Put the feelers out, Nitro. Find us a new supplier or get Billy to lower his price.”

I nodded. King was notorious for not changing his mind once made up.

“How much longer are we going to hold out with this truce?” Hyde asked. He’d been pushing King to rethink the whole thing. Dangerous, I thought. If we broke it, we risked the heat shining our way from the cops and we also risked Dragon being steps ahead of us and coming out guns blazing. It was better to hold off and figure out his plan first.

“As long as it takes,” King snapped. “We rush this, Hyde, and we could lose everything.” King wasn’t known for his patience, and I could tell the strain this waiting had put on him. Reaching for his phone, he said, “I’m heading out for a bit. Call me if you need me.”

“Where the hell does he go every day?” Devil asked after King left the office.

I wondered the same thing. It had been going on for weeks. King kept shit close to his chest, though, so none of us knew.

“Got no idea,” I said. “Who wants to come with me to find us some guns?”

Kick lifted a brow. “You got a lead on someone?”

I smirked at him. “Sit down, fucker. You’re not going anywhere.”

He blew out a long breath. “Fuck, King is fuckin’ killing me here. Hell, even Evie isn’t giving me hell about taking it easy anymore.”

Devil slapped him on the back, grinning like a fool. “Remind me to never take a bullet for the club. Doesn’t seem like you get much for it except King locking you up and your woman locking her pussy up.”

Kick had been vocal in his pain over not getting fucked for weeks after he was shot. He groaned. “This shit with King needs to fuckin’ end. I’ll get you what you need, Nitro.”

“Not a fucking chance in hell am I going against King,” I said.

Hyde took charge. “I’m with Nitro today. Kick stays here and Devil is on Dragon.” He looked at me. “We good to go?”

Hyde was the last person I wanted to spend the day with. Shit hadn’t settled between us since he spoke his mind about me not being committed to the club. But I nodded and followed him out to our bikes. I just had to get through the day. work with Hyde to fix our supplier issue, and then get back to Tatum’s sweet pussy.

 

 

30

 

 

Tatum

 

 

“Unpack Your Heart” by Phillip Phillips

 

“A man that studieth revenge keeps his own wounds green. Why that?” Nitro asked as his finger glided over the tattoo on my thigh. He’d just fucked me for two hours, and I was sleepy, but he hadn’t taken his hands off me since I’d returned from the bathroom ten minutes ago and his touch kept me awake.

I stared at the words from Francis Bacon that I’d chosen and swallowed hard. “It’s a warning.”

“For what?”

“That my desire for revenge isn’t good for my mental health.”

His eyes found mine. “Revenge for your brother’s murder?”

“Yeah, for that…” and for so much more.

He shifted so he was lying on his side with one leg over mine, his body propped up on his arm, his head resting against his hand. Running a finger along my collarbone, he said, “What else is running around in that pretty head of yours, Vegas? What other revenge do you want?”

Sharing personal stuff with each other hadn’t been part of our relationship before. He’d pretty much always shut down on me whenever I asked him something, and I hadn’t volunteered much either. But we’d taken a step forward, and although I had no play-by-play guiding me as to what this relationship could be, I sensed the change in him. He was interested. Wanted to know more. And while I felt more fear over sharing my heart than I did over doing things grown men would shrink from, I decided to take a chance on him. “I’ve spent hours plotting my ex-husband’s death. Almost every bad thing that’s happened to me in the last couple of years is a direct result of the shit he put me through. It would be easy to kill him. And to get away with it.”