Page 59 of Callow
“Sull. Fun’s over,” I said, watching as his head turned to me, his eyes boring into me, then giving me a nod as he put his cards down.
“Ladies,” he said, tone apologetic. “I’m afraid we have to continue this some other time. We have some… business to handle,” he added. The last part made the girls stop grumbling as they moved around, gathering their things and talking about who was driving who home as they headed out.
“What’s going on?” Rune asked as he rose from the poker table.
“Daphne saw Croft’s sketch,” I told them. “And she said that’s the fucker who attacked her in her apartment.”
“What?” Sully asked, getting to his feet. “She’s sure?”
“Yeah, sounds pretty fucking sure. She said, this mark on his neck isn’t a scar or cut. It’s part of a tattoo,” I told Croft as he looked at the sketch. “The tip of a dragon’s tongue,” I clarified.
“Shit,” Nave said, reaching for his phone to, I imagine, text Fallon and Brooks.
“We’ll rally the troops,” Sully said. “Go comfort some freaked-out-looking girls,” he added, nodding toward the kitchen where Sabrina had an arm protectively around Daph.
“Right,” I agreed, turning toward them, but leaving the picture on the poker table.
“What’s going on, Callow?” Sabrina asked, back stiff. I’d give just about anything to have her all soft and melting into me again. But I had a feeling things were about to get tense as fuck again when I told her what I had to tell her now.
“I think we need to talk,” I said. “All of us,” I added, glancing at Daph.
“Okay,” Sabrina said, giving me a nod.
“The place is about to get swarmed with bikers. Let’s go somewhere more private for the time being,” I said, leading the girls back down the hallway toward my room, since with Daph’s bum arm, I couldn’t bring them to the glass room which felt a little more appropriate than my bedroom. But we had limited common spaces in the clubhouse, so it would have to do.
I’d given some decent thought to my room thanks to living in the prospect room that I shared with a bunch of other dudes and, of course, all the years in the service where I also almost never had any privacy. I’d had years to plan the shit. And I was pretty proud of how it’d turned out.
The dark blue walls. The wooden slat accent wall above the headboard that kind of distracted everyone from the fact that the bedrooms in the clubhouse were windowless.
The bed frame was wooden, the bedding blue linen, and there were Edison lights hanging above both nightstands.
Suddenly, I was glad that I’d also managed to squeeze a chair into the space as the girls both sat off the edge of the bed, looking at me expectantly.
I lowered into the chair and let out a long breath.
“I think Daph was targeted because she was seen with us during that shootout,” I said, cutting right to the chase.
“What? Why?” Sabrina asked.
“I wish I had the answer to that,” I said. “We’ll be working on that from now on. But there’s no way it was a coincidence that the guy that Rune and Croft saw after they chased the fucks down is the same one that broke into your place.”
“Jesus,” Sabrina said, her gaze a million miles away.
I turned my attention to Daphne, finding her a little more pulled together than her mother right then. “You said there weretwo men,” I said, hating having to dredge that shit up for her, but knowing that the more facts we had, the more successful we would be finding these assholes.
“Yeah,” she agreed. “I think the one with the dragon tattoo was, like, the one in charge. The other one seemed to be hanging back more.”
“That’s good to know. Did you get a good look at the second guy?”
“Not as much as the other one,” Daph admitted.
“Good enough to maybe tell Croft some details about him?” I asked.
“I think so,” she agreed.
“Hey, wait, no,” Sabrina said. “You don’t have to do that,” she said, reaching for Daphne’s good hand. “If you don’t want to bring it all back up, you don’t have to.”
“She’s right,” I agreed. On the one hand, as a biker, I wanted to nail this fucker. On the other hand, as someone who really cared about her mom and her, I didn’t want to retraumatize her. “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”