Chapter 23

Static

We stared at the storefront and I lifted a brow. This wasn”t what I”d been expecting. Apparently, it wasn”t for some of the others either because Toxic spoke up from the back of the group.

”A flower shop? Seriously?”

Riptide shrugged his shoulders. ”It”s a great cash business. Most bouquets are cheap enough that someone might just hand over a couple twenties rather than use a card.”

”Plus, if you”re buying flowers for a mistress you”re going to use cash so your wife doesn”t find out.”

We all stared over at Butcher in amusement.

He frowned. ”What? Makes sense.”

”Cold, Bro,” Hell said with a shake of his head.

The confusion flickering over his face was worth keeping it going.

”Fucking imagine. You”ve got a pregnant wife at home and you”re out buying damn flowers for some side piece.” I gave him a look of disgust.

”I don”t even have a wife!” he snapped. ”Pregnant or otherwise.”

”Jesus,” Smoke said, horror creeping into his voice. ”Could you imagine the spawn of Butcher?”

Now everyone looked horrified. Including Butcher himself.

”Do you think it would have horns? Or cloven feet?” Hell asked.

Lock just shook his head. ”Give the poor fucker a break. He actually looks like he might puke.”

There was a distinct lack of color in Butcher”s face at the mention of his imaginary pregnant wife.

”There”s no way all of us are fittin” in there,” Hush said, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand.

”Hush, Toxic, Butcher, Smoke, Ricochet, Hell, and Priest, wait out here,” Lock told us. ”The rest of you. With me.”

I watched as the rest of our group walked through the door. The bell jangled happily, announcing our presence. I looked over my shoulder and met Butcher”s wary eyes. ”It”s going to happen for you sooner than you think.” I was fucking with him, of course.

”The fuck are you, asshole? Some kind of psychic? Get the fuck out of here,” he growled.

Chuckling, I walked into the shop and left the others to deal with an extremely pissed off Butcher. The Berserkers were back at the compound, getting ready for the next place—the bigger business—we were planning to hit later today. They were also watching over our families and the clubhouse.

From this point on, we weren”t going to be able to leave anyone alone. Fremont was going to get wind of this, and shit was going to hit the fan. We were finished with his bullshit. Now that we were ready to take action, we were going to get this shit done fast.

Lock leaned on the counter and we waited until the woman came out from the back. She paused as she saw the four of us standing there. ”H-hello,” she stammered.

”Hi,” Lock told her. ”I was wondering if we could speak with the owner?”

She blinked, looking shell shocked. ”Oh...well, that”s my brother. He doesn”t usually come in this early.” Her eyes strayed over to a clock. It was ten in the morning.

”We really need to speak to him,” Lock told her with a reassuring smile. He started tapping his finger on the glass case. It was a habit for him, but you could see her tensing more and more with each tap and the silence that stretched out after Lock”s statement.

”I...can try to call him,” she finally relented. ”Just a moment.” She hurried into the back and after a brief pause, we heard hushed whispers.

Riptide craned his head, trying to see past the curtain that hid her from view. As soon as he was convinced she wasn”t going to see him he reached over the counter and picked up a black box that was sitting, shoved under the shelf.

”What”s that?” Idaho muttered.

”This is the recorder for their CCTV,” he replied with a grin. He plugged a USB in and then started tapping away on his phone.

”Why would they keep it up here?” I asked. I”d used CCTV footage from stores plenty of times in my cases. It always turned the tide of a case whenever a store had it.

Rip pointed over to a bench that had stems and a pair of floral scissors sitting on it. ”She works out here. Probably just keeps stock in the back, so I doubt she”s back there for long.”

”Having the system out here lets her keep an eye on the hard to see corners of the shop,” I added, finishing for him. Glancing around, I realized the clear display cases that held bouquets and plants made it hard to see certain areas from the counter. There were too many petals and leaves in the way.

Idaho leaned his head to the side as he watched Rip work.

Lock”s eyes were glued on the curtain, waiting for the woman to come back. ”Rip,” he muttered as we all heard her shoes clicking back toward us.

Riptide tapped his phone twice more, pulled the thumb drive, and placed the black box back under the counter, near the computer monitor that showed the footage.

The woman brushed the curtain aside and gave us a weak smile. ”He”ll be here in about ten minutes.” Her gaze bounced between us. ”Is there anything I can help you with while you wait?”

”Yeah,” I said before the others could tell her no. Pointing to a bouquet filled with wildflowers, I asked, ”How much for those?”

”Those are seventy-four-ninety-five,” she told me.

Shooting Rip a look, I muttered, ”Cheap my ass.”

”E-excuse me?” the woman said, looking surprised.

”I”ll take them,” I answered, giving her a smile. Pulling out my wallet, I took out a crisp hundred-dollar bill. ”You take hundreds?”

”Oh yes,” she said, taking it from me and dutifully counting back my change. ”That”s a lovely choice,” she said with a beaming smile as she hurried around the counter.

She babbled on about the kind of flowers, but I wasn”t really listening. They were bright and looked like flowers. I had a feeling Gwen would love them. That was all I needed.

”Kiss ass,” Idaho muttered while the woman rushed into the back to get a ribbon to tie on the vase.

”You”re just mad you didn”t think of it,” I told him with a grin.

”Those are going to be a pain in the ass on your bike,” Rip pointed out.

I shrugged. ”I”ll figure it out.”

”Smart,” Lock said with an appreciative look.

”What is?” Idaho asked.

”He”s checking the twenty he got back,” Lock replied in a low voice. ”See if there”s anything distinguishing it.”

Realization dawned in the other men”s gazes.

”Maybe we need more bills to compare it to,” Rip suggested. He and Idaho both ended up buying flowers for their old ladies while we waited.

”Tara?”

We all turned and watched as a man rushed forward, looking pissed.

”What”s with all the fucking bikers outs-” he broke off as he came around a display case and saw us standing there. He swallowed back whatever else he was going to say and pasted on a fake smile. ”Hi, gentleman. What can I do for you?”

Lock gave us an amused look before he focused on the man. ”You”re the owner?”

”Yeah. How can I help you today?”

”Well,” Lock drawled, leaning a hip against the counter. ”For starters, you can stop laundering money for John Fremont.”

I couldn”t help but snort out a laugh. Lock”s blunt request made this guy”s face turn a mottled shade of red, then it leeched straight out to bone white. He was staring at Lock with a dumbfounded look on his face.

”Who the hell is John Fremont?”

Lock gave a slight frown. ”You mean, you don”t know who it is you”re working for?”

”Excuse me?” That came from behind us.

Tara”s eyes flashed as she glared at her brother. ”What are they talking about, Troy?”

”Nothing. They”re fucking mistaken,” he bit out through clenched teeth.

Lock raised a brow and shot Riptide a look.

Rip reached back over the counter, ignoring Tara”s squawk of disapproval and grabbed the monitor showing all four corners of the store. He set to work, doing whatever the hell it was he did with his phone and within minutes a video started to play remotely on the screen.

Even Tara came around the counter, holding her elbows, to watch as Fremont strolled through the door. She looked so lost, I almost felt sorry for her. ”Who is that?” she asked the room.

”That”s Fremont,” I told her. ”A dirty district attorney who”s struck up a bargain with your brother here.”

Her head whipped around, and she searched her brother”s face. ”What have you done?”

”We were struggling,” he admitted, his voice cracking. ”This place isn”t making nearly enough money to keep it afloat. Not with those cheap online flower places.”

”Not with your gambling debts, you mean,” she spat out. She waved a finger at him. ”I told you! I told you, Troy, that you needed to clean up your damn act. I”m not losing Mom and Dad”s place because you”re too selfish and stupid to keep your nose clean.” She heaved an angry breath. ”I don”t know why they left this place to you anyway.” Now she sounded close to tears. ”I”m the one who loves it more than-” She broke off with a shake of her head.

There was a look in Troy”s eyes. A look I”d seen so many times before.

”Well, they did,” he snapped. ”So, it”s my choice what to do with this shithole. Don”t believe me?” he sneered. ”Talk to the lawyer again. He”ll tell you for the tenth time, that there”s nothing you can do.”

I put a hand on Lock”s shoulder as he started to shove off the counter. He gave me a curious look, then nodded, when I silently asked him with a glance if I could handle this. I didn”t want to ruin this woman”s entire world because her brother was a dumbass. ”Which lawyer did your parents use?” I asked.

Tara looked over at me, resignation and the tiniest spark of hope igniting in her soft brown eyes. ”Earl Willford.”

I rolled my eyes. ”Earl Willford would sell out his mother for a piece of fucking cheese.”

Troy”s mouth dropped open. ”I don”t know who the fuck you think-”

The door behind him slammed open and suddenly Troy was twisting in Hush”s grip as our brother held him up by the back of his jacket. Hush had been watching and must have seen Troy take a step toward us.

”Can you give us a minute, Hush?” I asked. He grinned and took a squirming Troy out the door with him. I didn”t want him hearing all this. Raising my brow, I looked over at Lock again.

He gave me a considering look. ”You think you can fix this?”

”Yeah,” I told him. I had a feeling in my gut that Troy had managed to get to Earl and paid him off to change whatever the will said to reflect him as the sole owner. All it took was hearing the pain in Tara”s voice for me to know it deep down. ”It means this will still be operational while I get it worked out though. That fucker isn”t going to stop if Fremont is paying him off.”

Lock looked over at Tara. ”If we help you get the flower shop into your name, will you stop doing business with Fremont?”

”I”m not even sure what sort of business we”re doing with him,” she admitted.

”Your brother is taking cash for him, and for a cut, he”s running that cash through here and returning it back to him, clean,” I explained.

Her eyes widened, then narrowed on her brother again through the glass door. ”How could he? Our parents loved this place,” she whispered. She leveled me with a grim look. ”If you can help me, I swear to you I won”t do business with him.”

”He”s a powerful man in this town,” Lock told her. ”If he harasses you, call us.” He handed her a card with his name and number on it.

She clutched the card to her chest, looking between me and Lock. ”Why are you helping me?”

Lock”s smile was vicious. ”This is our city. We do what we can to keep the trash contained.” His eyes flicked over to Troy, letting her know in no uncertain terms that we considered him garbage.

”Thank you,” Tara said. She was on the verge of tears.

”How long will it take?” Lock asked.

I gave Tara an apologetic glance. ”Few months to a year. We have to gather evidence. Then I”ll file a lawsuit. From there it”s in the court”s hands and whether Troy files an appeal. Without Fremont”s backing, I doubt he will. And if he does, we”ll introduce him to Butcher.”

Lock nodded, then glanced over at Tara. ”He can”t know what you”re planning. Think you can keep up the act for that long?”

”Absolutely.” A determined look settled on her face.

”Do it,” Lock said. ”Let me know if we can help in any way.”

I nodded, then turned to Tara. ”Meet me at Clayton, Rouse, and Henderson, in one week. One p.m.”

”I”ll be there. Thank you again,” she said with a smile. Her eyes slid over to the flowers I bought. ”Are those for someone...special?”

Grinning, I nodded. ”Yeah.”

She shrugged her shoulders with a sheepish smile.

We grabbed our vases of flowers and left her shop. Lock gave her one last look as we were leaving. ”If your brother gets out of control, call.”

She nodded and gave a little wave as we left her shop.

”Put that down. You don”t know where it”s been,” I told Hush as I walked by, giving Troy a disgusted look.

Hush dropped him, ignoring Troy”s swearing.

”We done?” Butcher asked, looking bored. ”Fucker wouldn”t let me play with the bastard.” He glared at Hush.

”That”s because we don”t need that worthless piece of shit dead,” Lock said.

”Though that would take care of Tara”s problem, too,” Idaho pointed out.

Toxic looked up from his bike. ”Who”s Tara?”

”No one,” Rip told him. ”That”s the last thing she needs,” he muttered.

”What?” Toxic asked. ”Who is she?”

”Let”s go,” Lock said, giving him a pointed look. ”We”re meeting the Berserkers in thirty minutes.”