CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Maverick

What the hell does that mean?

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Alpha pushes him.

"We set off a bomb in your cannabis crops laced with ametryn and atrazine. The explosion was an herbicide that will annihilate everything in your greenhouse. Your business is about to go completely under, so your club will have no bankroll. Rico Rojas sends his warmest regards," the soldier states, then bites down hard on something in his mouth. He immediately starts foaming in the mouth. His body convulses, going into poison shock as we stare at him, watching him die right before our eyes.

"Loki, what the fuck?" Alpha asks.

But it is Haven who steps forward. "He just chewed down on a cyanide pill. We had them on missions while working for The Nest. I always had one on me. I had one the entire time I was here on mission in case I needed it."

We all stand back as Alpha grits his teeth. "Fuck!" Turning to Loki, he runs his fingers through his hair. "That bomb, is that legit?"

Loki grimaces. "Yeah. If they used those herbicides, Pres… we're screwed."

"Okay, so how long will the greenhouse be out of action? We pull all the plants and start again?"

Loki shakes his head. "The greenhouse is contaminated. With atrazine we'll have to have at least fifteen weeks for that shit to clear—"

Alpha interrupts with, "Okay, we can manage that long."

"Pres, for ametryn, we'll have to wait eight months."

Alpha groans, spins, and begins pacing. "Fuck!" he yells, then punches the cyanide soldier in the face and continues to repeatedly punch him even though he's already dead. Blood, spittle, foam, and God knows what flies everywhere as Alpha lands punch after frustrated punch into this guy.

Loki and Dutch pull Alpha off the dead guy.

Alpha shoves the brothers away from him, then spins, walking his anger off. "Okay, I've always tried to be aboveboard. Tried to have a business that worked the club's income legitimately. I don't think we can do that now. I'm gonna need ideas. But first, we need everyone patched up. I'm gonna call Livvy. Get her over here. In the meantime, someone go check on Rip and the farm."

Haven walks over with Poppy.

Alpha's eyes widen seeing his seven-year-old out in the middle of a war zone. "The fuck you doing out here, Poppy?"

"I killed two of them, Daddy."

He glances at Haven, and she reaches out, placing her hand on Alpha's shoulders. "She's fine. She did good, but we need to talk."

"This fucking day. Too right, we're gonna talk about this, Poppy. Just not right now," Alpha states before storming off.

While letting out a long exhale, I glance down at the wound on my side. It's not too deep. It was done more to cause pain than to do any real damage. My shoulder, though, is going to need some help.

Clearing my throat, I glance over at my sister and call her over, "Haven!"

She spots me sitting on my own, out for the count, and her eyes open wide as she assesses me. "Holy shit. Are you dying?" she asks, point blank.

I let out a small laugh when she kneels in front of me. "I don't think so, but I could do with some help," I ask, pointing to my clearly dislocated shoulder.

She glances at it and grimaces. "Oh shit. Has it ever been dislocated before?"

"First time."

Haven nods. "Okay." She grabs my arm, moving it into position to relocate it back into place. "I'm going to need you to prepare yourself because this is goi—" Suddenly, she snaps my shoulder back into place before she finishes her sentence, catching me off guard.

I let out a small groan and mumble, "Fucking hell," when it pops back in, but the relief is instant.

She chuckles. "If I warned you, you would have tensed, and that's not good for your tendons and ligaments."

Rolling my shoulder, I dip my head at her. "Thank you."

She glances down at the stab wound on my side. "Talk to me about that. That gonna kill you?"

I pull my shirt up so she can check the wound. She waves her hand through the air and chuckles. "I've had deeper wounds from foreplay. You'll be fine. Just make sure Livvy checks it when she arrives."

Scowling, I curl up my lip. "You really are fucked in the head, you know that?"

"I know, and that's why I have all the fun." She grins. "You good?"

"Yeah. Thanks, sis."

She glances down the hall. "I think Clo and Sadie will be wondering what's going on."

I swallow hard just thinking about them. "Good call. I'll go get them."

Haven gently grips my shoulder, winks, then turns, rushing back to Alpha.

Carefully, I stand. My legs feel weak. Actually, I feel weak all over, but I need to show Clover I'm okay. One foot after the other, I slowly walk down the hall to the lockdown room and tap on the door. "It's okay, guys. It's safe to come out now. We got them all."

Navy slides the small peephole across. "Codeword?" she asks.

"Helo-851," I reply as she simultaneously types it into the keypad on her side of the door.

The code unlocks the door, and she opens it wide with a warm smile until she takes in the state of me. "Shit, Mav. You okay?"

Before I can answer, Clover shoves past Navy, slamming straight into me, not caring about all the blood I'm covered in or the pain when I let out an anguished groan. Right now, though, I don't care as I wrap my good arm around my little sister.

"I was so freaking worried about you. Are you okay?" Clover asks, tears threatening to fall.

"I'm not going down that easy." I hold her tightly.

My eyes shift to Sadie as she stands back and looks me up and down with a concerned look. I smile weakly when she steps up to me, and without saying anything, she simply hugs me. I can't help it, and I let out a groan. My shoulder smarts when she embraces me, then she quickly pulls back.

"Shit, sorry!" She snaps back, but I reach out, even though my shoulder hurts like a motherfucker, and pull her back to me.

"No, I'm fine. I am glad you girls are okay." Sadie is visibly shaking. Her body quivers against mine. My eyes meet hers while her bottom lip trembles. "I'm sorry you had to be here for this."

Sadie runs her fingers along the edge of my wound, and she exhales. "How bad is it?"

"Barely a scratch."

She smiles, ducking her head around me to look at the carnage in the main clubroom. She doesn't flinch at all the dead bodies or even show signs of being scared. She simply nods like she expected to see the chaos. "So, who won?"

Exhaling, I shrug. "Hard to say. We have the body count, but they hit us where it hurts. They've fucked up our plants, and they are the club's main source of income. We're gonna need to come up with a plan to fix the shit the cartel pulled here today."

"You deserve what they did to you?" she asks.

I smirk. "They did shit to Alpha. He hit them back. Now they're hitting us back. It kind of seems to be this cycle that keeps going."

"They say tit-for-tat is for children," Sadie remarks, and Clover chuckles.

"Yeah, only this child's play is with weapons and can end your life."

"Then maybe you should all give being adults a try?" Sadie chides.

Clover coughs out a laugh. "Oh, burrrn, big bro."

Seeing the sly smile on Sadie's face, I know she is teasing, but right now, with my side bleeding out and my head starting to feel woozy, I need to take a load off before I fall. "Glad you're both okay. I gotta go sit," I tell them, then turn to walk off, but my feet stumble a little, and as I begin to fall, Sadie reaches out to grab hold and hoists me back up.

She wraps my good arm around her shoulders, leaning me against her side. "I got you. Lean on me, okay?" Her voice is calm but concerned.

Right now, I can't be bothered fighting her. So with Clover on my other side, I use Sadie as my life raft before she eases me onto a chair in the main clubroom. Sadie kneels before me, drops her hands to the bottom of her dress, and tears off a slither of fabric. My eyes widen when she lifts my shirt, applying pressure with the fabric to my wound. I let out a hiss of pain as she presses firmly, my hand instantly moving on top of hers.

"I'm going to keep the pressure here until help arrives. Okay? I'm not leaving your side," she tells me, and somehow, those few words cause the pain in my body to lessen.

Clover stands back, a small smile crossing her face while I try to control my breathing. My free hand gently slides a strand of hair behind Sadie's ear. "I've never noticed how long your hair is."

Sadie chuckles. "That blood loss making you say weird things, Maverick?"

I smirk, dropping my hand from her hair. "No, just have the time while I'm sitting here to really look at you."

Sadie blushes, dropping her eyes from mine, but keeps holding the pressure on my side. "Can I ask you something?"

"I got all the time in the world, Sadie. Ask away."

Her eyes slowly shift back up to look at me, clearly hesitating. "This life… all of this danger. Is it really what you want for you and your sisters?"

While inhaling deeply, my side hurts. A reminder of the very danger she's talking about, but the answer is simple. "I think people forget that no matter where you live or what kind of life you live, there is always danger. Every day on the news, you hear of home invasions or of women and children being assaulted in shopping centers or attacked in their place of employment. Violence, corruption, and disorderly conduct are prevalent in today's society at every… Single. Fucking. Turn. At least here, when the danger comes, I have my brothers at my back, willing to fight for my family."

I let out a long breath. "If we were out there alone, we wouldn't have that protection. You think calling the heat is gonna get them to you in time when someone's attacking you? Fuck no! You gotta defend yourself, and at least here, I have others who will lay down their life to fight for me and my family just like I would for theirs. So you tell me, should I want all this for me and my sisters?"

"You make a solid argument," she replies while looking into my eyes, perhaps seeing this from a different perspective.

"We're not all bad, Sadie."

Something changes in her expression, and she clears her throat, starting to back away. Sadie glances over at Clover and signals to her. "Clo, can you hold this pressure for a moment? I need some air."

Confusion races through me, and I furrow my brows.

Clover rushes over and holds the pressure while Sadie scurries away.

Sitting back, I huff, not understanding what the fuck just happened as Sadie, yet again, bails on me.

"Smooth, big bro. Real smooth," Clover teases.

"Shut up," I mumble, my eyes still following Sadie as she disappears through the clubhouse door.

I can't figure this woman out for the life of me.

Even when the chips are down, she still doesn't want to be around me.

What the hell did I do?