“Are you sticking around here?”
“I would like to stick around, provided I am able to get rid of certain problems. I’d like to get to know my daughter.”
“I’d have to bring it to the club.” Benicio seemed different than Guillermo, but I wasn’t about to consider another deal without some research first. Without knowing whether we were making another deal with the devil.
“Fair enough,” he said. “Now, let’s talk. I have a plan. Can you call your club, set up a meeting?”
I nodded. “You get my bike back here and it’s done. But get somebody that won’t fuck it up. If that bike has the tiniest scratch, I’ll cut the guy who's responsible for it.” Shit. I couldn't believe I was about to let someone ride ride my bike back here. But I needed to see Dani. I had things I needed to say.
“Are you nervous?” I gripped Dani’s hand as we walked toward the clubhouse, and she squeezed it tightly.
“Not at all,” she said. “I mean, there’s nothing to be worried about, right? It’s only my first time being inside a motorcycle clubhouse and the first time meeting your family, where you’re about to discuss a plan that probably involves killing the only father I’ve ever known. No, I’m not nervous at all.”
“It’s going to be okay,” Blaze said.
“So you say.”
We walked in, flanked by an army of Benicio’s personal security, still dressed in suits. They were way overdressed for this shithole. The clubhouse was nothing more than an old warehouse we had re-converted and it didn’t look all that far removed from its original appearance. I glanced at Dani, watching her expression as she looked around. Thank God it was not a party night. As wild as I thought Dani had the potential to be, there was no way I’d want her first exposure to the club to be one of those nights. I was afraid she’d turn around and walk straight out the door.
The brothers were congregating, waiting for us. It wasn’t scheduled, but Mad Dog had called an emergency meeting of voting members of the club. That meant thirty or so guys sitting around the house. Not a party night, but loud and raucous, like any time everyone was in a room together.
“This is your place,” she said.
“Yep.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, it’s about time!” Tank clapped me on the shoulder. “It’s been weeks. Thought you must have gotten lost in *.”
Goat wolf-whistled as he walked over, his eyes appraising Dani. “I’d get lost in that * anytime.”
I felt heat on my cheeks, even though I knew Goat was harmless. Behind me, Benicio cleared his throat. That was his daughter Goat was talking about, and Benicio was armed. But before I could say anything, Dani’s voice rang loudly above the din of the clubhouse.
“Honey, I imagine you’d get lost in any girl’s *, what with that tiny little prick of yours,” she said as she stepped close to him and cupped his crotch.
Goat bellowed, slapping his knee amid the hoots and hollers of the guys. “She don’t take no shit! You better watch yourself. Protecting this one could be trouble.”
Tank motioned toward the group. “Everyone’s here, Veep.”
“What about Mad Dog?”
“He’s in the back. I’ll get him.”
I turned to Dani. “I wanted you to see the place, but you can’t be here while we meet.” We’d already discussed it in the car, but I didn’t know if she’d take kindly to being told she couldn’t be there, especially since this involved her so much.
She shrugged. “Yeah, I know. Show me where I’m supposed to wait.”
“In the back,” I said, gesturing to one of Benicio’s men to escort her. It was part of the rules, no women at a vote. Even having her wait in the back was unusual, but then having Benicio here was unusual as well. Besides, I wasn’t going to leave Dani behind, even with Benicio’s men on her. It was too dangerous right now. I didn’t want her out of my sight.
“Here’s the situation,” Mad Dog said. “We voted on the job with Guillermo Arias, the protection we’ve been providing at the warehouses the past few weeks. Blaze has been protecting the daughter-”
A few whistles and snickers rippled through the group and I glared in the direction of the noise.
“But he’d asked for a hit on this kid, played it off as an easy hit on a college kid who’d beat up his daughter. College kid’s not any regular college schmuck. He’s a Randolph. Who are these people again?”