Page 32 of Mace
Grit grumbled, “Yeah, I don’t get that either. She seems way too timid to be involved in backstabbing a Mexican cartel.”
“I think they’re blackmailing her,” Hacker said.
“Who? The feds?” I asked.
Storm spoke up again, asking the most obvious question, the one we were all thinking. “Why don’t we ask her to come down and explain herself.”
I swallowed thickly. Storm was right. We should ask her. I started to stand up, just as Thunder walked in. Storm motioned me back down and jerked his chin at the oldest member of the Dark Slayers MC. “Thunder, would you ask Rosie if she would wake Alicia and ask her to come down and talk to us?”
Thunder stopped dead in his tracks and nodded, “Of course. Gimme a second. She’s setting up the bar right now.”
Storm glanced towards the door. “Tell her this is a priority over prepping the bar. Come back. I want you here for this.”
Thunder’s expression went from confused to blank in an instant. “Okay Prez. I’m on it,” he said before doing and about face and strolling out of the room.”
Hacker spoke up, “I have some other ideas on why Alicia might be working with the feds.”
“Fucking stow it, Hacker,” I spat out. “We don’t know for sure that she is working with the feds, so let’s not speculate about her motives quite yet.”
Hacker slammed the screen down on his laptop and pointed at me accusingly. “I know you’ve got a thing for this woman, Mace. But you can’t let that cloud your judgment. If she’s working for the feds, they probably think they’re getting a twofer. They will be trying to pry information about our club as well as her old man. Think on that while you’re doubting a club brother in favor of some woman you just met a few weeks ago.”
I opened my mouth to tell him to fuck off when Storm stopped me. “We all need to shut the fuck up until we know for sure what’s going on here. One of our bylaws is not lettingoutsiders tear apart the brotherhood. You all agreed to that when you joined. I shouldn’t have to remind you of the fucking vows you took when you joined our club.”
My lips pressed together into a firm line. Shutting up sounded pretty good about now. I still didn’t believe that Alicia was narcing on her old man to the feds, much less dragging our club into the mess going on in her family, no matter what shit Hacker found on her phone.
Each second that ticked by felt like an hour. It wasn’t long before I came to the conclusion that I just didn’t want to admit to myself, that she lied to me by omission. A sick feeling twisted in my gut as I considered the possibility that she really was working for the feds.
“Alright, let me see what you found,” I said to Hacker.
A lopsided grin jumped onto his face as his hand went to pull up the screen of his laptop. “Aren’t you gonna say please,” he teased. I know he didn’t mean to be rude. Dude was just awkward as hell.
“No, but I might beat your ass if you don’t stop aggravating me,” I grumbled.
He held the laptop out to me. When I grabbed it, he didn’t let go. “I wasn’t trying to rile you up, Mace. I honestly think she’s a nice lady, but good people are forced to make tough decisions when their back’s against the wall. I told you, I think they’re blackmailing her into working for them.”
“Thanks, brother. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
He let go of the laptop and when I turned it around, I saw that he was not joking about there being a chain of text messagesbetween Alicia and some US Marshal. I flipped through, scanning each message to find there was no mention of our club from her. The agent she was texting with mentioned our club in passing but didn’t seem to be pumping her for information. They clearly considered the Dark Slayers MC peripheral to their investigation into her father’s business with the cartels.
I had just finished reading the last text message when Alicia walked into the office with Rosie at her side. She was pale and looked anxious as hell.
Storm dismissed Rosie curtly. “You can go, Rosie. Club business isn’t for an old lady’s ears.”
Rosie folded her arms over her chest. “I’m staying.”
“Rosie.” Thunder said her name with a clearly note of warning in his voice, “Sweetheart. Don’t do this.”
The pretty redhead shot her old man a stubborn look. “Alicia’s all alone. She’s got no one in her corner. She has the right to a support person.”
I spoke up, “I’m here for her, so you don’t need to stay.”
Rosie snorted a laugh. “Yeah, you’re here for her alright. That must be why you didn’t go upstairs and bring her down yourself.”
Storm’s steady voice broke into our conversation. “That was my decision, not Mace’s. And you can stay if it means that much to you. You’ve been a good and loyal old lady for a long fucking time. I’d trust you with my life.”
Rosie’s arms fell to her side, and she relaxed a little. Thunder came up behind them with a chair in each hand andsaid, “Have a seat, ladies.” Taking a minute to give Rosie a kiss on the forehead, he squatted down beside her, making it clear that he was still her protector, no matter what.
Storm cleared his throat and opened his mouth to explain but I came to my feet and knelt down in front of Alicia. “I’ve got to ask you something important and I want you to be honest with me, darlin’.”