Twenty-Seven

Saxon

I stood, watching Haisley dancing with Gypsi and Shiloh. She was teaching them some dance moves to “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).” When she threw her head back and laughed, I got fucking flutters in my chest.

Other than the call she’d had with her mother, who had been a bitch, today had been perfect.

My mom was great. Starting with the stockings she’d brought over early. She had always filled me a stocking, but this year, she added one for Haisley and the baby. Watching Haisley go through the baby’s stocking had made me choke up some.

Breakfast at my parents’ was smooth. Mom had just as many gifts for Haisley under the tree as she did for me. Mom had even helped her cover the bite mark I’d left last night at the curve of her neck with some makeup so it didn’t show today.

The wedding had been over the top, and she’d loved every moment of it. I wasn’t sure how long we had to stay at the reception, but from the looks of it, Haisley wasn’t ready to go. I wanted her to have friends. I could wait a little longer before I got her out of that green dress.

“You look like you’re in love,” Gage said, leaning against the pillar beside me.

“I am,” I replied, glancing at him.

His eyes were on Shiloh with that obsessed gleam. “She love you?”

“Yeah, she does.” The leather bracelet on my arm with the words My Fairy Tale was never coming off.

“Good. Then, we don’t have to worry about any more AJ shit.”

I glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He shrugged. “She loves you, then she’s not going to do anything to help AJ out.”

I was so fucking over the AJ thing. Dammit, they had let him live. They’d decided he wasn’t the one at fault—or at least that he didn’t deserve to die. What was their issue?

“AJ has no contact with her. But he’s not done anything to cause a problem since he left.”

Gage took a drink from the whiskey in his glass. “We hope.”

The hair on my neck stood up from the way he cut his eyes at me. “What does that mean?”

I did not need AJ doing something stupid. I couldn’t let them kill Haisley’s brother.

“It means boss has his first official meeting with us this evening. The office at his house. Seems some shit went down in Orlando last night. It affects us.”

My hands fisted at my sides. Motherfucker. I looked back out at Haisley, and she had successfully taught the other two the dance. They were doing it in unison.

I was not going to lose her. I couldn’t. Why couldn’t her fucking brother lie low?

Blaise had become the boss today. When Garrett had woken up, he’d handed over the reins. He was semi-retired though. Not completely. He just wanted more time with his new wife.

Blaise wasn’t going to give AJ a second chance. He would need to make sure his ruthlessness wasn’t questioned. If I was forced to be a part of killing AJ, how could I look Haisley in the eyes?

Goddammit!

“Don’t go breaking shit yet,” Gage said. “We don’t have all the facts.”

“I can’t kill her brother,” I said through clenched teeth.

Gage sighed. “Oh, but you can. That’s part of who you are. Who we are. And something the women we love have to accept.” He slapped me on the back. “Eventually, you’ll get to kill a fucker for her, and it’ll be sweet as fuck. You saw Trev slice that bastard to pieces. He enjoyed the hell out of it.”

Haisley’s eyes met mine, and she paused, studying me. Fuck, I had to get control over my emotions. I shut down so she didn’t see what I was dealing with internally. Gypsi said something to her, and she nodded, then smiled before turning back to walk toward me.

“It’s fucked up, isn’t it? For most people, the person who owns their soul is the one they tell everything to, don’t have to pretend in front of. For us, we have to keep our dark shit in a box deep inside with a lock on it. You’ll get used to it,” Gage said, then left me before Haisley got there.

She touched my arm as she stared up at me. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Yeah. Just work shit,” I told her, sliding a hand around her waist. “How much longer do you want to stay?”

She glanced around, then back at me. “Whenever you want to go is fine.”

I nodded my head toward the dance floor. “You look like you’re having fun. I didn’t know you had moves like that.”

A sexy smile curled her lips. “I’ve got some I can show you when we get home.”

My cock twitched in my pants. “Is that so?”

She nodded. “Ever had a lap dance?” Then, a frown puckered her brow. “No, don’t answer that.”

I squeezed her waist. I’d had a lap dance, but I was not telling her about it. “Baby, are you offering one?”

She blushed prettily. “Yes.”

“I’m ready to go now,” I said, taking her hand to leave.

She laughed and fell into step beside me. “Is it okay if we go?”

I glanced down at her. “Fuck yeah, it’s okay. If any of the guys say something about it, I’ll tell them you offered me a lap dance. They’ll understand. Trust me.”

We only had to stop fifteen goddamn times on our way out. Every fucker I knew had to talk to us. Couldn’t they tell I was trying to leave? When we finally got to the valet and they pulled my truck around, I was ready to put my fist in the face of the next person who delayed us. My mind kept playing images of Haisley naked, moving her body over me as I sat there.

For now, AJ was forgotten.

Gage opened the door to Blaise’s office, and I followed him inside. We hadn’t met in here before—or at least, I hadn’t.

Levi sat in a brown leather chair with his ankle propped on his knee, looking at some papers in his lap with a scowl.

Huck was leaning against the desk with a cigar between his teeth while Kye and Trev were arguing about something over on the deep burgundy leather sofa. Everyone lifted their eyes when we walked in, and Gage saluted them.

“At ease,” he drawled sarcastically, making his way over to the bar, where a bottle of Blaise’s favorite whiskey sat.

Blaise wasn’t here yet, but then I had arrived ten minutes early. It seemed everyone had also wanted to be early for the first meeting with Blaise as the official boss. That wasn’t why I was early though. I was fucking anxious. The fear that AJ was about to become one of our hits scared the fuck out of me. Doing anything that would hurt Haisley seemed impossible.

Would I have a choice? No. I already knew that answer.

“Did you tell him why we’re here?” Huck asked Gage, pointing the cigar between his fingers at me.

“I did,” he replied, taking his drink and sinking down on the other brown leather chair.

Levi looked up from the papers in his lap. “It’s not looking good for her brother. We should have killed him, and that’s on me. Aspen begged me, and the fact that they’d lost the younger sister already got to me. I was weak.” He looked pointedly at me. “Lesson number one: Don’t let anything make you fucking weak. It comes back to bite you in the ass.”

I stuck my hands in the pockets of my jeans to keep from fisting them at my sides. “She’s not just my girlfriend,” I replied tightly. “She’s carrying my baby.” Which fucking trumped all of them when they’d faced shit with their women.

“All the more reason to kill her fucking brother. To keep her safe. He’s mental,” Huck said before sticking the cigar back between his teeth.

“Easy. We haven’t heard from Blaise yet. No need to stress him out,” Trev told him as he stood and walked over to me. He gripped my shoulder and squeezed. “Deep breaths, man. Don’t go there in your head.”

I looked at him and nodded. He was right. I was getting worked up, and that was what they wanted. They liked to fuck with me. I was the only one who hadn’t killed someone. Sure, I’d had my gun pointed at men when we went to handle business, but it was never me who pulled the trigger. Normally, it was Gage or Huck. Sometimes, it was Blaise. Twice, I had witnessed Trev make the kill. But never me.

The door opened, and Blaise walked in the room. His gaze swung from Levi over to me. He gave me a look that made my stomach clench before walking by the bar, pouring whiskey into a glass, then going to take the papers Levi was holding.

“I trust Sax is aware of why we’re here. He’s not about to be blindsided?” Blaise said, lifting his gaze to Gage.

“Did as told, boss,” Gage replied, then grinned. “Damn, I like saying that.”

Blaise smirked, then walked over to his desk and dropped the papers on it. He took a drink as he studied them. Every second he remained silent, my heart slammed against my chest. I wanted to demand he explain what was going on. Tell me what AJ had done. Stop making me slowly lose my shit while standing here.

“To make this clear, the Florida Vipers are what we call a set. They aren’t connected to the LA Vipers. A man named Jag built the Florida-based one. His connections with a group that smuggles in crack, heroine, and PCP to the Tampa port is how he got started. We underestimated Acid’s connections and ability to continue without Jag.

“The LA Vipers don’t like when their name is used, and if Acid’s Vipers grow any bigger than Florida and stretch into the Southeast, they would be wiped out by the others. Right now, I doubt the LA gang knows they exist. They’re small fish.

“If our resources are correct, Acid has rebuilt the Vipers after we took out most of them and Gage killed their leader. It seems Destiny is a part of them too. She’s recovered from the slicing Blaise dealt her, although her scars are unattractive. Apparently, my slicing off the Viper tattoo from Acid’s body as a warning wasn’t enough. I should have put a bullet between his eyes.

“The Vipers are making plans for revenge. Word is out that I’m the boss now, and we believe that’s what he has been waiting on before making a move.”

I needed to sit down. What the fucking hell? I moved over and sat on the end of the sofa. I could feel their eyes on me. All of them. What did they want me to say? AJ was a Viper. He was Haisley’s brother.

Fuck!

“We go wipe them out a second time and make sure Acid and Destiny get a bullet. Stupid bitch won’t go away,” Gage snarled, flipping his knife between his fingers like the psycho he was.

“My informant believes they’re going to wait until the new year,” Levi said, standing up. “Which means we need to move before then.”

“I’m assuming we aren’t just going to go busting into their lair, guns out,” Kye drawled, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “Although that sounds kinda fun.”

Huck took the cigar from his mouth and looked over at Blaise. “There are only forty in Orlando. Acid is in Tampa with the other sixty. So, are we hitting Orlando or Tampa first?”

“Who is over the Orlando members if Acid isn’t there?” Kye asked.

I felt Trev’s eyes on me, and bile rose in my throat. That was what they hadn’t told me yet, and the way my best friend was looking at me, I understood why.

I dropped my head into my hands. “Goddamn,” I swore.

“Oh fuck. It’s AJ, isn’t it?” Kye realized.

“Afraid so,” Blaise replied. “We let him live, and that was a mistake. He fooled us. We thought he was blinded by feelings he had for Gina, but that wasn’t the case at all. He was feeling us out. Testing us. Seeing how we handled things.”

Gage let out a hard laugh. “Stupid fucker.”

Blaise sat down in his chair. “I thought about going at them both at the same time, splitting the men, but that would also mean splitting us. We’re more lethal together. We will start with Orlando. That will be Acid’s warning. He’ll either back down, and we can just go take him and Destiny out. Or he will retaliate, and we’ll have the Tampa members to wipe clean.”

Levi looked from Blaise to Huck. “We take down AJ, and the rest will scramble. We won’t need to kill them all. Same with Acid and Destiny. We could split up to take out the leaders, then come together to start popping off the members.”

Blaise leaned back in his chair. “Gage is going to want to take out Acid and Destiny. You and Huck could take AJ. Then, for some goodwill with the Feds, we’ll lead them straight to their location. The Vipers aren’t the biggest drug threat in this region, but they are funneling enough drugs into the state for the Feds to care.”

Gage lifted his gaze from the knife in his hand. “Or we could let the LA Vipers know about them. They’ve got branches all over the US. Last I heard, they had one as close as Atlanta. I’m surprised they’re not in Florida yet.”

Blaise studied Gage, then nodded. “Maybe goodwill with the LA Vipers is better than with the Feds. That’s the good demented shit you excel at.”

Gage’s chuckle sounded sadistic. “At your service.”

The corner of Blaise’s lips curled as he shook his head, then looked back at the rest of us as he stood up. “Levi, get me the contact I need for the LA Vipers. Gage, sharpen your toys. Huck, I need lookouts sent to Orlando and Tampa to watch things.”

“The Judgment owes us one, boss. Liam could set up men at both locations. We could use the backup. The more men we have on it, the better,” Levi said.

Blaise nodded. “Yeah, okay. You’re right. We should use the MC. I’ll call Liam and have him set that in place.” Then, he looked at me. “And someone get Sax a fucking drink.”

I stood as everyone else did, and Blaise left the office. This was worse than what I’d imagined.

Trev turned to me. “You heard Blaise. AJ isn’t what he pretended to be. He’s dangerous.”

I understood that. I got that AJ was putting his entire family, Haisley’s family, in danger just by association, but would she understand that?

“I don’t know how I can keep this from her.”

And I didn’t know if she’d forgive me.

“You have to,” Gage said, holding out a glass of whiskey for me.

I took it and downed it in one gulp. I was going to need more than that. I handed the glass back to Gage. “She’s going to be devastated.”

“She won’t know. He doesn’t contact her,” Trev pointed out.

But I would know.

“Come to the house. We can sit out at the pool and drink until we pass out. Just like old times,” Trev suggested.

I shook my head. “No. I have to get back to Haisley.”

I needed to hold her. Remind myself why I was doing this. Get my head wrapped around how I was going to handle it.

“All right, fine,” Trev replied.

“Not a word to her, Sax,” Levi said as he opened the office door to leave.

“I won’t,” I replied.

Lying to her about what we did was one thing. Having to lie about her brother was another. At least I wasn’t going to be the one to kill him. I couldn’t live with myself if I had to do that.