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“Can you stop tapping your fucking fingers?” I growled.
Compass glared at me. “Oh, I’m sorry. Is that bothering you?” He tapped his fingers harder and added stomping his foot.
Aero snickered and cracked open his beer. “Not only do we roll up to you and Olive making out in the road, but now I get to watch you two bicker like two-year-olds.”
I flipped off Aero and leaned against the kitchen counter. “Neither thing you would have to deal with if you would have given me a heads up that you were headed out here.”
Aero held up his hands. “I am at the mercy of my ol’ lady, Cue. She’s been going crazy wanting to meet Olive, and I decided today was the day.”
“And you brought Compass with you, too,” I growled.
“Don’t fucking act like you’re miserable having an ol’ lady, either,” Compass growled. “You’re happy as fuck to have Sloane.”
Aero shrugged. “Maybe.”
Compass turned to me. “When the hell did you start to have a problem with me?”
“I don’t have a problem with you,” I muttered. “You just have the worst fucking timing to drop in.”
“Because you were making out in the middle of the road for all of the world to see?” Aero asked. “I should probably warn you that Sloane mentally wrote down everything she saw, and she is going to report back to her author chick she talks to.” Aero leaned forward. “All. Of. It.”
“Great,” I mumbled. “The whole world is going to know about Olive and me when I don’t even know what the hell we are.”
“Looked to me like you like each other; what else is there to know?” Aero asked.
I glared at Aero. “Not all of us just easily fall into bed with their ol’ lady and call it good.”
Aero splayed his hands out. “Why the hell not? You’re making this shit too hard. Life is hard in general; no reason to make being in love hard, too.”
“Whoa, whoa,” I laughed. “No one said anything about being in love. Literally, what you guys saw in the road is all that has happened.”
“A whole lot more would have happened if we hadn’t rolled up on you,” Aero laughed.
“You know Yarder is not going to be happy about this with the filming starting soon,” Compass pointed out.
“I’m pretty sure who I am kissing is not a concern of Yarder’s while he’s trying to figure out who blew up the gym. He needs to focus on that and not on what I’m doing with Olive.”
“Don’t worry, the cameras will focus on you two.” Aero held up his beer to me. “We’ll be the soft, romantic side to the reality show. At least that is what Sloane is telling me.”
“Or I’ll just hide from the fucking cameras and leave the filming up to you fucks,” I offered. “You guys work the cameras, and I’ll work on the cars.”
“Or just keep your personal shit off camera. Especially if you don’t know what is going on with you and Olive,” Compass suggested. “I’m not saying we all need to be saints, but if you don’t want the whole world knowing your business, keep that shit behind closed doors.”
I nodded. “Fine, makes sense.”
“So, do whatever the hell you want with Olive, but just know if you bring it to the clubhouse in the next couple of weeks, everyone will know.” Compass sighed heavily. “Now can we talk about what we really came here for?” he asked.
“We didn’t come here to talk about where Cue Ball is putting his dick?” Aero joked.
Compass grunted and shook his head. “No.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Claw got back to me late last night,” Compass started.
“Good news?” I asked.
Compass shrugged. “Not really sure.”
“Just fucking tell him,” Aero called. “You were the one who wanted to come out here to tell him, and it’s like pulling teeth to get it out of you.”
Compass glared at Aero but continued. “About a month ago, Claw heard some rumblings about someone looking for an explosives guy.”
I quirked my eyebrow. “That doesn’t seem like a coincidence, seeing as the gym just blew up.”
“Right?” Aero agreed.
“So who was it?” I asked.
Compass threw his hands in the air. “Fuck if Claw can find that out. He’s been asking around the past week, but he’s running up against a wall. No one wants to say anything more than they heard about it, but no clue who it was.”
“Fucking bullshit. We need to find out who was looking and ask what the hell they have against the Iron Fiends.”
“And the Fallen Lords,” Aero added.
I tipped my head to the side. “What? The other MC that is doing the show?”
Compass nodded. “Three days after the gym blew up, up in Wisconsin, the Fallen Lords were having a club picnic, and a car blew up in their parking lot.”
“Was someone in it?” I asked. Holy shit!
Compass shook his head. “No one was in the car. Wrecker, their prez, said as far as they have been able to figure it out, the bomb was on a timer.”
“Holy fuck,” I sighed. “That could have wiped out their whole club.”
Compass nodded. “Yeah, brother.”
“But what the hell does this mean? We have to think these are connected, don’t we?” It was too much of a coincidence that two MCs with a thousand miles between them suddenly had explosions. The only thing that connected the Iron Fiends and the Fallen Lords was Tread.
“You ready for the next bad news?” Aero laughed.
“Stop fucking laughing,” Compass growled. “This shit is not funny.”
Aero shrugged. “If I don’t laugh, I’ll just be pissed.”
“You should be pissed that someone is trying to wipe us out,” I muttered. “I don’t know how this shit can get any worse.”
Compass held up his hand. “Things can always get worse, Cue.”
Fucking hell.
“Wrecker and Yarder were both asked to come to New York for a meeting with the producers of Tread,” Compass announced.
I tipped my head to the side.
“It’s actually undecided if that is good or bad. There are a hundred different scenarios that could come of the meeting.” Compass tipped his head back and forth. “There are a few good ones, but there are a hell of a lot worse ones.”
“Wrecker is flying here tomorrow with his ol’ lady, and then they are all heading to New York,” Aero explained.
“You going with them?” I asked Compass.
He shook his head. “Nah, I’m staying here to make sure nothing else happens.”
“Does the show know about the explosions?” I asked.
“That is something we don’t know,” Compass sighed.
“It would be hard for them not to know, but I mean, they are in New York,” I guessed.
“Well, I guess we’ll find out soon what they do and don’t know.” Compass nodded to the fridge. “Grab me a beer,” he told Aero.
Aero grabbed a beer from the fridge and handed it to Compass.
“Come to the clubhouse tomorrow to meet Wrecker and his ol’ lady,” Aero called. “I think Sloane is cooking and Faye offered to help.”
“I’m sure Olive will want to come. You okay with Rocky coming?” I asked.
Compass shrugged. “Should be fine. Not like we’re having a rager or something.”
“Nice.”
Compass’ phone rang as soon as he popped the top on his beer. “What?” he grunted when he answered. His face hardened, and he pushed the beer away. “I’ll be there.” He ended the call and shoved his phone in his pocket.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“With the club? Yeah.” He stood and pulled his keys out of his pocket.
“Then where are you going?” Aero asked.
“Personal,” he grunted. He nodded to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner at the clubhouse. Bring Olive and the kid.” He breezed out the door, and I heard him quickly say goodbye to Sloane and Olive.
“Any idea what the hell that was about?” I asked Aero.
Aero shook his head and grabbed Compass’ untouched beer. “Not a fucking clue.”
“You gonna drink all of my beer?” I laughed.
Aero shrugged. “If all you’ve got is two beers, then yeah.”
I shook my head and sighed. “You think all of this crazy shit is going to be over soon?” I asked.
Aero laughed and shook his head. “Even if we figure out who is fucking with us, we still have the show to deal with, Cue. There ain’t no way in hell shit is going to be calm for a longtime.”
“Hell,” I grumbled. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and flopped onto the couch.
Aero sat down in the recliner and kicked his feet up. “Might as well enjoy the peace now, right?”
Olive’s laughter floated through the screen door.
Olive, happy and laughing, was my peace. As long as Rocky and she stayed safe, I would always be able to find peace.
I just hoped she didn’t try to take that away from me when the dust settled.
*
