Chapter 15

Static

Isat down at church and scrubbed my face with my hands. Despite taking care of Gwen and the kids last night, I was still more than a little hungover this morning. A good deed should be rewarded with a hangover free morning, but it didn”t seem as though the gods of liquor agreed. And that good deed wasn”t even taking care of my woman. It was not groping her while she was naked in front of me and vulnerable.

Huffing out a breath, I watched as everyone else trailed in. ”Why are you looking so fucking happy?” I muttered at Hush as he sat next to me. His grin grated my nerves.

”I have a hot wife. A happy kid, who I left with Sylvia, so I don”t even have to babysit because of church. And even better,” he eyed me, ”I”m not hungover as fuck. It”s a damn good day.”

The only response I gave was a grunt. It was good to see him thriving. I was glad to see all my brothers happy. Just not this morning. I should still be asleep with Gwen in my arms and this fucking headache nothing but a dream as I slept through the pain of having drank too much last night. Instead, I was here. My eyes narrowed as Butcher and Toxic walked in. ”How do they never look hungover?”

”They get hungover. They aren”t right now because they”re still drunk. Guaranteed,” Hell said, groaning as he sat next to me. His eyes were bloodshot. He must have gone back down and partied after he helped me to my room.

”You two started that shit last night,” I told them. ”You should have the fucking courtesy to look half as bad as the rest of us.”

Smoke had his head down on the table, resting on one arm, and he raised the other in solidarity with my statement. Ricochet nudged him with a flask. Smoke picked his head up and grabbed it. He tilted it to his lips, sucking down whatever Ricochet had in there in record time.

”Whoa! Not all of it, you cunt!” Ricochet barked, making us all groan.

”We don”t look as bad as you because we”re not little bitches,” Butcher told me. There was the faintest slur to his words.

I flipped him off.

Toxic stopped in his tracks, a slow, evil grin spreading over his face. ”Hey, Prospect.”

My eyes narrowed on him. I didn”t like the look in his eyes. It didn”t bode well for me.

”I was really surprised to see you coming out of Gwen”s apartment last night,” he said. He tilted his head. ”Wait, no. That wasn”t last night. It was around four in the morning, wasn”t it?”

Ricochet”s head turned as his gaze snapped to me. I started to shake my head, but fucking Toxic just continued on, fully aware of the chaos he was creating.

”And in your fucking boxers and nothing else.” He let out a low whistle. ”You were right about one thing.” He grinned. ”You don”t have a small dick.”

”You fucking piece of-”

”Sit down!” Lock bellowed as he walked through the door. That one made even Butcher and Toxic flinch along with the rest of us. Hush was the only one, besides Lock, who wasn”t affected. Smart fucker must not have drank much last night.

Ricochet glared at me. ”We”re talking after this,” he growled at me.

I let my head drop back, eyes closing. Fucking Toxic. I knew he was sitting over there at the end of the table with a shit-eating grin on his face. Asshole. Now I was going to have to deal with Ricochet.

”I know most of you feel like shit right now,” Lock said.

Opening my eyes, I focused in on my president as he went over the plan for tonight. My head was thrumming in an unpleasant way. The beats were in time with my heartbeat and I began to count them.

”Maybe we shouldn”t have Static go in with us,” Hush suggested.

That was enough to pull my attention back to the conversation.

”Yeah,” Ricochet said. ”Wouldn”t he be more useful here if something goes wrong? He”s our get out of jail free card.” He cut me a dark look, even as he said it.

I rubbed my temples. ”Isn”t the point of this that the cops shouldn”t be expecting it? I”d rather go. It was my idea to begin with. Jerry”s less likely to run if I”m with you. No Jerry, no plan.”

Lock listened to us all, then nodded at me. ”You”re going. The cops shouldn”t be an issue. They won”t catch wind of this. And if they do? Well, we”re completely fucked anyway. Rip?”

”Yeah?” Our VP was staring, glassy eyed at the wall. He”d been ignoring us the entire time before church began, but now I realized he still looked drunk as hell.

”Any word on whether they”ve realized that the cop Static took out is missing?”

”Matthew Hughes,” he answered. ”No. It”s only been a week. I don”t think his buddies have even reported him missing yet, but we probably only have another day or two at the moss.” He frowned. ”Most,” he said, making sure to enunciate.

”Which is why we”re moving on this tonight,” Lockout said, giving Riptide a break. Rip slumped down in his chair, still staring at the wall. ”I want this part of the plan executed and finished before they start looking our way for Hughes going missing.”

”You think they will?” Idaho asked. His eyes were bleary, but otherwise he didn”t seem to be in as much pain as the rest of us.

”Yeah. Not only did we have run-ins with him before, but Fremont is going to be looking for any excuse to come at us.” Lockout looked around and sighed. He was losing us and he knew it. Most of us were either still drunk, or too hungover for this. ”Those of you going tonight, meet with me before you leave. Until then, go back to bed and fucking sober up.”

Everyone shoved out of their chairs, most of us as slowly as we could so we didn”t fuck our heads. Rip stumbled as he headed for the door, but Hush wrapped an arm over his shoulders to help him out. A hand shot out and gripped my shoulder. I groaned as I turned to face Ricochet.

”It”s not what you think-”

”My sister”s an adult.”

My brows shot up. That wasn”t what I expected from him. He seemed to have calmed down a little from initially hearing about me being in her apartment. That was a good thing. ”She is,” I said, tone cautious. He was being reasonable. That alone was cause for suspicion.

”She can do whatever she wants.” His top lip lifted in disgust. ”Whoever she wants.”

”Okay.” I narrowed my eyes trying to figure out his play here.

”I think you”d be good for her. For those kids.”

”I agree.”

Something dangerous flashed in his eyes. ”But if you fucking hurt her, I”ll cut your balls off and shove them so far up your ass you”ll never shit right again.”

Swallowing back bile at the visual his words created, I nodded. ”Fair enough. Can”t say I wouldn”t say the same if I had a sister.”

”Just needed to be said,” he muttered. He slammed his hand down on my shoulder in a way that could have been a friendly goodbye, or a threat.

I had a feeling it was up to me to interpret it. Standing next to my chair, I watched him walk out, then realized Lock and Idaho were still in the room. They were standing, side by side, arms crossed over their chests.

”You”re doing that thing,” I told them.

They both dropped their arms and shifted. The fuckers had a habit of even standing the same way, and had been doing that shit since they were kids. They were so much alike, they”d even gotten tattoos in the same areas, but opposite sides. It had started as a joke that they”d do it, but one day they decided to follow through and over the years they”d just kept adding to their growing collection. They didn”t have the same tattoos, they had just started out in the same areas. Idaho had his right ribs and hip done, while Lock”s was his left. Of course now Lockout had a full sleeve on his right arm, as well as in other spots. He had a lot more tattoos than his twin did.

”That went better than I thought it would,” Idaho stated, again pulling me from my thoughts.

”Fucking true. He didn”t even let me tell him that I didn”t fuck his sister.”

Lock groaned. ”Good thing. Otherwise it wouldn”t have gone as well.”

”Why?” I asked.

”You don”t tell a man you didn”t fuck his sister,” Lock replied in exasperation.

”I”m pretty sure that is what you”re supposed to tell them,” I pointed out.

”You don”t use fuck and sister in the same damn sentence when talking to her brother,” Lock amended.

”Or father,” Idaho added.

I thought about that then nodded. ”You”re right. I feel like I would have known that if my brain wasn”t currently melting in a pile of acid.”

Lockout chuckled. ”That”s what you get for going round for round with those two. I swear they metabolize alcohol faster than they can drink it.”

”It”s a talent,” Idaho said. ”You know what?” He looked over at us. ”Fuck this. I don”t need to be here right now. Even if that asshole was getting his ass kicked for touching the pretty single mom, I didn”t need to be here,” he said, pointing at me. ”I”m going to bed.”

Lockout shook his head.

”Appreciate the support, dickhead,” I called after my best friend as he walked away. ”But I”m going, too,” I told Lock.

”See you later tonight.”

I left the room and rolled my eyes when I saw Toxic waiting by the stairs. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was swaying a little until he leaned on the wall.

”Need something?” I asked as I walked up.

He glanced up at me with a toothy grin. ”Just waiting for you to say thank you.”

My brows shot up. ”For what? Selling me out to Ricochet?”

Toxic shook his head and chuckled. ”How are you a lawyer when you”re such a dense motherfucker?”

”I”m really not in the mood for your shit, Toxic,” I sighed. This was our thing. We went back and forth with one another. Normally, I didn”t mind. Hell, I even enjoyed it. But not today. Not right now. And not when it had to do with Gwen.

”If you don”t think that Ricochet knows you”re fucking fucked over his sister… Well, I don”t know what to tell you. We all know it,” he added when I opened my mouth to deny it. I shut my mouth with an audible click because the denial had been automatic and I wasn”t doing that anymore.

”Okay, so you telling Ricochet was supposed to help me somehow?”

”Got it out in the open. Now you don”t have to pussyfoot around the subject anymore.” He shrugged. ”You”re welcome.”

I watched as he walked away. Damn. He may be right. Now Ricochet and I understood one another and he knew I was going to be pursuing his sister. Fuck if I was going to thank Toxic, though. That wasn”t happening.

I made my way upstairs. Pausing by my door, I looked down the hallway. Everything was still quiet since it was early. As much as I wanted to go back into Gwen”s place and crawl back into bed with her, I forced myself to go into my room and shut the door.

”You sure wehave the right place?” Toxic asked, giving me a doubtful look.

I glared over at him. ”Pretty sure, Toxic.”

”Pretty sure isn”t sure-sure,” he replied.

”Would you shut the fuck up?” Hush muttered. ”The lawyer knows where his clients go to sell drugs.”

”Allegedly sell drugs,” I added. It was an automatic reply at this point. I said it so many damn times a day I wasn”t sure I couldn”t not say it.

We were sitting in a dark alley, waiting for Jerry Kline to show up. I hoped like hell this wasn”t the one night he decided to clean up his act. We really needed him to be out dealing tonight.

”Movement, two o”clock,” Butcher said in a low voice.

We all looked over and a slow grin spread over my face as I watched the little shithead I”d defended in court three years ago saunter through the streetlights toward his corner. ”Let”s go.”

The four of us climbed off our bikes and walked toward Jerry. He was whistling a jaunty tune as he leaned back against the wall. He stopped long enough to light up a cigarette. Jerry was small fish. He wasn”t going to have enough shit on him for what we needed. No. We wanted Jerry to tell us where his bosses kept the good shit.

”Jerry.”

He froze, the cigarette halfway to his lips. His eyes narrowed as he tried to make us out in the darkness. ”Mr. Henderson?” he asked. ”Is that you?”

”Yeah, Jerry, it”s me.” I looked around as we approached. No one was out on the street. A few cars were passing by, but it was late enough that the decent people of this city were at home in bed. ”I need to talk to you about something.”

”Does it have to do with my case?” he asked, sounding perplexed.

”Yeah,” I smiled at him. ”It does. Come with me.”

Jerry eyed Butcher and shook his head. Even his pot addled brain knew when he saw a fucking killer. ”Don”t think that”s such a good idea, Mr. Henderson. I-” He broke off with a strangled yelp as I grabbed him by the throat and forcibly shoved him toward Butcher. It didn”t take long to walk him back to our alley. The darkness swallowed us up so no one would see what was about to happen.