I’d been sitting at the bar for over an hour watching Henley and Cassidy carry out an endless line of garbage bags from her room. She’d slowly lost that adorable smile that she was wearing last night, and now she was pouting. Each time she walked past me, her look of irritation grew. I wanted to stop her and pull her close to me so I could feel her lips against mine. I wanted to feel her go limp in my arms, and make her smile like she did last night. Before I could call out to her, Guardrail came and sat down beside me.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Guardrail asked as he watched them walk out the back door.
“Not as much as I thought I would,” I confessed.
“You could’ve had the prospects help her,” he suggested.
“Yeah, but where is the fun in that?” I asked as my eyes involuntarily wandered to the back door, waiting for her to come back in.
“Ahhh, brother… she’s getting to you,” he told me with a knowing smile.
“She’s a pain in the ass.” Even as I said the words, I knew I didn’t mean it. I couldn’t even look at her without thinking of her lips on mine. That one moment of being with her made the hell I had been going through just seem to fade into a distant memory.
“Been awhile since I’ve seen you like this, brother. Pain in the ass or not… she’s been good for you,” he stated. He stood, resting his hand on my shoulder, and said, “Get the prospects to finish cleaning up that mess you made.”
Knowing that I had put it off long enough, I picked up my phone and ordered Cooter to get it done. “Cooter’s on it.”
“Big Mike has been in contact with other clubs in the area. So far, we’re the only target, but that isn’t really a surprise. We all know that we are the only ones capable of trafficking on a large scale. There has to be a connection we’re missing,” he explained.
“I think we’ve been looking at this all wrong. I don’t think this is about some pissed off club trying to get back at us,” I told him. “These motherfuckers don’t give a damn about us or our club. These guys are after our territory.”
“And?” Guardrail questioned.
“It’s time for us to figure out who is looking to take over our claim on Clallam County. It’s a prime location for illegal distribution with all the different ports along the coast. Any idiot could look at a map and see that. We just need to find out who is looking for a new place to move their product.”
“I’ll talk to Cotton. We’ll get Big Mike to do some digging and see what he can come up with,” he said as he stood to leave.
After talking with Guardrail, Cotton called us all into church. It didn’t take long for him to explain everything to the guys. They all agreed that the chances of someone trying to take over our territory was a real possibility, but finding out who wasn’t going to be easy. Cotton planned to get Nitro to look into things on his end, see if he could find any leads.
I was on my way to find Henley when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I was surprised to see that it was Lily calling. I hadn’t heard from her in a few weeks, making me worried that something might be wrong.
“Lily?” I asked.
“Hey, Maverick. How are you?”
“I’m fine. Is everything okay with John Warren?” I asked, unable to hide the panic in my voice.
“Yes, he’s fine. He’s doing great… growing like a weed. He’s practically taken over the place—walking, climbing, running. He never stays put,” she said laughing. I could hear the love in her voice when she spoke of him, reassuring me once again that he was exactly where he needed to be.
“Good.” My chest tightened at the thought of seeing him again. There was so much that I’d missed, and I hated myself for not checking on him more. I should’ve wanted to know everything about him. I should have, but I couldn’t. Instead, I pushed it in the back of my mind, trying to forget, trying to pretend that none of it ever happened. It was just easier that way, easier not to think about what an asshole I really was. “Is there a reason you called, Lily?”
“You know how I told you a few weeks ago that we’re trying to get everything finalized with the adoption? Well, now they’re really pushing for a DNA test. I thought the birth certificate would be enough, but they want to be sure. Would you mind…” she started.
“When?”
“If it’s okay with you, I was thinking you could come here to do it. Then you could spend some time with John Warren. They said we could get the results within twenty-four hours, so you could sign the papers while you were here,” she explained. “I know that’s asking a lot, but…”
“I’ll come as soon as I can. If I can work it out, I’ll leave tonight,” I told her.