Chapter One

Fade

"You gonna come in anytime soon or just hang out with the dogs?"

I shrugged and flicked the ashes off the end of my cigarette. "Can't help it. Harley and Davidson are good company."

Harley sniffed the tall grass by the edge of the fence while Davidson chewed on a stick at my feet. I never had a pet before, but Harley and Davidson proved to be loyal companions. And they were also pretty chill. No talking or whining. I liked that.

Yarder sat in the lawn chair opposite of me and crossed his feet at his ankles. "What's going on in your head, Fade?" he asked.

I shrugged and took a long drag off my cigarette. "Probably the same thing we are all thinking: how the fuck do we take out Gibbs and Boone." That was all I seemed to be able to think about.

"We'll figure it out. As much as I hate to do it, we're going to have to use Dove's dad."

I side-eyed Yarder. "You really think she's going to be cool with that?"

Yarder shrugged. "I think at this point, it doesn't matter if she is cool with it. Two people just died in the parking lot of the clubhouse. The cops are going to be watching us pretty fucking closely now."

I shook my head. "The police are fucking clueless, Yarder. Anthony shot Faye, and I shot him in self-defense."

"Yeah, we told them that, but that doesn't mean we aren't going to be on their radar more now. Fuck, the garage blowing up put us on their radar. Faye and Anthony might have just fucked us completely."

I scoffed. "Deputy dipshit from Mt. Pleasant doesn't have enough brain cells to even remotely begin to wrap their mind around what the hell is going on." Hell, sometimes I didn't think any of us could comprehend what the hell was going on.

"You doing okay with Faye?" he asked.

I took a drag off my cigarette. "What am I supposed to be doing okay with?" I drawled. "She's dead, Yarder."

"I know you two had something going on for a minute."

I shook my head. "We never had anything going on. She put me up on some fucking pedestal because I showed her decency. Any of you guys would have done the same thing I did with that piece of shit Anthony. If you would have been the one there to punch him, she would have become infatuated with you. If I hadn't shut it down when I had, she would have gone crazy over me. If I wanted to be a dick, I could have had her, but I could see that would have been the wrong fucking move."

"You were her knight in shining armor," Yarder smirked.

I shook my head. "Yeah, no, dude. I am not any knight in shining armor. If I were that, she wouldn't be dead right now." On my side, there wasn't anything between Faye and me. Sure, she was pretty, but I knew absolutely nothing about her. That night on the side of the road, I knew her for five minutes before I punched Anthony, and then she was infatuated with me. The feelings were not reciprocated. At least she didn't give me time to get those feelings.

"You know it wasn't your fault, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, most of the time, I know that," I sighed. I knew I wasn't wrong for telling Faye she and I weren't going to be a thing, but a part of me wondered if I had taken her up on her offer of being together, she might still be alive.

"Now that I asked you that, Poppy can get off my ass, but I've still got Adalee on it. She wants an interview about the whole Faye and Anthony thing with you."

I scowled and shook my head. "I don't have anything to say. She was there, and she knew what had happened. I don't need to relive it with a camera in my face."

Yarder stood. "As much as I agree with you, Fade, we did sign up for this shit. If I would have known we were going to have all this shit blowing around us, I wouldn't have signed the contract, but I did, so we gotta do what we gotta do."

"So you want me to tell the camera that Gibbs and Boone are trying to take the club out for some political bullshit to make them look like they are cleaning up Texas?" I asked.

"I want you to tell her anything but that," Yarder chuckled.

I shook my head and tossed my cigarette on the ground. "Yeah, well, she's gonna have to catch me if she wants me that bad."

"Pirate is doing his best to distract the crew, but something tells me they aren't going to want it to be the Pirate show."

"Doesn't he have the hots for that chick?" I asked. "He just needs to get her into bed to distract her."

Yarder shrugged. "I don't know, man. Either way, you need to talk to the camera crew. The sooner, the better. The last thing we need is the fucking TV show getting their panties in a bunch on top of all of the shit we are dealing with behind the scenes."

I waved my hand. "Yeah, yeah," I grunted. I would talk to the camera crew when I was good and ready.

"You think I can have my dogs back now?" Yarder asked. "Poppy is getting pretty attached to them and doesn't appreciate you using them to avoid everyone."

"I'm not using them. I can't help it if they like to be outside, and I'm willing to be out here with them."

Yarder chuckled. "Harley, Davidson," he called. "Get your butts in the clubhouse before your mother throws a fit."

Harley and Davidson happily trotted over to Yarder and followed him back into the clubhouse.

I tapped my fingers on the armrest and sighed. I was dealing with enough shit right now and didn't need to have a camera shoved in my face so I could spew all my thoughts and emotions.

Stopping Boone and Gibbs was my top priority. Adalee and the TV show could kick rocks.