Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32845 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 164(@200wpm)___ 131(@250wpm)___ 109(@300wpm)
“That why you resigned?” Ice had always been more sensitive to our dad’s moods, while I was more in tune with our mother.
Cain shrugged. “Partly, maybe. I am getting too old to try to manage both Bones and ExFil. Since ExFil is what mostly funds everyone here, and most of Salvation’s Bane depends on ExFil for work as well, I decided I could best serve everyone by keeping a hands-on approach to ExFil. Ain’t sellin’ the company, and you boys ain’t quite ready to take that over.”
I snorted. “Ain’t speakin’ for Ice, but I’m not sure I’d ever want to take over ExFil. I love workin’ there, but the bureaucracy involved, especially when we get sent somewhere by the CIA, is more than I like to deal with.”
“Well, that and you suck at bureaucracy.” Ice grinned. “Last job you went on didn’t go so well with the CIA officer in charge.”
Cain actually chuckled. The man rarely showed any kind of affection or preference toward us when dealing with club business, and he’d gotten in my face over that incident. “I love you, son, but you will never be in charge of ExFil.”
I barked out a laugh. “Well, thank God for that. After you pulled the stunt of putting me and Ice in charge of Bones, I was worried. I’d never willingly go against you, but I’d have fought you on that one.”
Ice looked at me, his lips twitching as he fought a grin. “Ditto.”
“Asshole.”
“Need to talk to you, Cyclone.” Cain jerked his head in the direction of the stairs. “My office.” His mood was still somewhat light, but I could sense a shift. Whatever he needed to talk to me about was serious.
“You mean, my office.” Ice smirked.
Cain scowled. “You’re the president of Bones, you little shit. But the office is still mine.”
Ice chuckled and raised his hands in surrender. “Must be why I’m still waiting to move all my shit in.”
“Why don’t you go see to your woman. Give me another grandbaby to spoil.”
“Already on that one, Cain. I’ll have her knocked up before you know it.”
Cain gave a curt nod. “See that you do.” He looked at me and his gaze hardened. “Come with me.”
OK, this was different. I glanced at Ice and his expression was as puzzled as I felt. As I followed Cain down the hall, my gut tightened. Whatever this was about, it was fucking serious.
Once inside, Cain sat at his desk. “Close and lock the door, Cyclone.” He never called us Cliff and Daniel now. Once we’d been given our road names, that’s who we were to him. When I turned back, he nodded at the chair across from his desk. “Sit.”
I did, crossing my ankle over the opposite knee. “What’s going on?”
“You tell me.” The order was barked like a drill sergeant. It was difficult not to flinch.
“Gonna have to give me a point of reference, Cain.”
“Mama said there’s something going on with Trucker’s daughter, Willa. Said you’d know what and could fix it.”
Several feelings shot through me. First and foremost was dread. But if I were honest, there was also an odd sense of anticipation that I had no business feeling.
“Mama said that.” It wasn’t a question. Cain didn’t answer, just stared me down. Hard. I’d seen that look a few times in my life since coming to live at Bones. He didn’t use it often but when he did, no one defied him. Not even me. “I’ll take care of it.”
“You’ll tell me what the fuck went down so I can see if I can contain the damage.”
I watched my father carefully, trying to gauge what I needed to do or say. “With all due respect, Cain, you made me vice president. This is something I need to fix on my own.”
He slammed his hand down on the desk, standing to pace the length of the room. “If you’ve done something to Willa, Truck’ll kill you and I won’t be able to stop him. You know that, right?”
“Fully aware. I wouldn’t lift a finger to defend myself, either. He has a right to defend his daughter as he sees fit.”
“Then fuckin’ tell me what the fuck happened!”
“That’s between me and Willa, Cain.” I had to stand my ground. Knowing Cain was trying to protect me, that he had my back as much as he could, was good to know, but I was the vice president of Bones. He needed to give me the respect of treating me as such. “I’ll talk to her. See what the problem is.”
Cain turned to face me then, his face thunderous. “The problem is, she’s gone.”
My gaze narrowed. Thinking back, I realized Trucker hadn’t been at Church, which was unusual. Especially since everyone knew we were voting to not only patch in Millie and Cheetah, but to consider women to be patched in in the future.