“Hell yes, we are! She stole that gun from the clubhouse!”
“And what the hell is she doing with it? Did she do it to get back at Boner? To sit back and have a laugh while the men scrambled to find it? That’s just nuts!”
“Obviously, she is fucking nuts,” replied Nina.
My head sank against the headrest. “Maybe...”
“Maybe I’ll start off small, just for kicks, so you get that I’m serious about this.”
I slid back up in my seat. “Holy shit.”
It was a perfect Catch move, wasn’t it? Audacious, unexpected, an unforgiving sharp cut deep to the bone.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I muttered under my breath.
It had to be some kind of setup. Catch was taunting me with his threat and fucking with the Jacks, all in one go.
Had his club sanctioned this?
Getting Mindy to do his dirty work was certainly a sparkly touch.
Was this a trap he was setting up for Boner? I mentally kicked my ass for not telling Boner about Catch’s threats to take Becca away from me and do him harm.
My jaw clenched. I had to do something.
During my first trimester of pregnancy with Becca, I’d found a club woman giving Catch a blow job in a bathroom at the Flames clubhouse. I’d sputtered and stumbled as I backed away. She was one of the older women they’d had around for many years. I’d seen her get into fights with other women at parties, and it was never pretty. She’d heard me come into the room and glared at me, his dick twisting in her mouth. In that moment, I’d been upset and revolted and utterly petrified.
Krystal, another Flames old lady, had found me in the hallway. Her eyes had flared at me as she grabbed a beer bottle and clocked the woman on my behalf. A bleary-eyed drunk Catch had stood there, his wet cock hanging out of his pants, while all my chained fury and emotion had vibrated in my veins. I had stood there shaking, unable to speak.
“That’s the way to do it, honey. You got it in you, or don’t you?”
Krystal had tossed what was left of the bottle on the floor, shaken her head at me, and stridden back to the party, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Her obvious disappointment had burned through me. I had been unworthy of the Old Lady title.
I’d envied Krystal’s instinct for wild action without a second thought, that instinct to stand up and fight for herself, her sisters, and what she believed was right. Obviously, I’d had the instinct for flight.
Unworthy is right. Not this time.
You got it in you, or don’t you?
I got out my phone and dialed up Penny. “Pen? Hi, I have a couple of more errands I need to run with Nina.” I raised my heels as the lie escaped my lips, Nina glancing over at me. “Could you keep Rae and Becca until tonight? I’m sorry this is last minute.”
“Sure, Jill. Roy and the boys went to a softball game, so it’s just us girls. We were going to call you to have dinner with us.”
“I wish I could. Becca okay? Did she eat enough?” Becca had started going through a picky eater phase. At least, I hoped it was only a temporary phase.
“She did fine. She ate every pea in her bowl, one at a time and by hand, but she ate every last one. I think it’s because she loves the taste of melted butter so much.”
“That’s so exciting! Oh my gosh. Thanks, honey.”
“Sure. I took pictures, I’ll show you later.”
“Okay. Bye.” I clicked off the call.
I turned to Nina. “Let’s do this.”
She whooped loudly, smacking her hands on the wheel of her Toyota.
A few minutes later, we pulled into the club. Alicia’s blue Cherokee was parked in her usual spot.
“Oh shitters!” Nina pulled in alongside it. “Alicia’s back from Texas?”
“Perfect timing,” I said.
“She’s going to blow a gasket.”
“Not just a gasket. This is good. We’ll take care of Mindy and get the men the info they need.”
We hustled from the car and charged into the clubhouse.
Nina stopped Dawes, who was hauling a box of files from Jump’s office into the meeting room. “Have you heard from Butler? He’s not answering his cell.”
“Nope. He and Boner haven’t come back yet. Anything up?”
“Jill and I have a lead on how the Python disappeared. We wanted to let the guys know.”
“They had an idea, too, and headed south to go deal with it.” Dawes cast a pointed glance at me.
Catch, of course.
Alicia strode into the room. “Hey, girls.”
I grinned. “Hey, Alicia. Welcome home. Could we talk to you for a minute?”
Nina raised her chin at Dawes. “Get my old man on the phone, would you? It’s a nine-one-one.”
He stared at us.
Nina waved a hand in his face. “Old Lady powwow.”
He rolled his eyes and ambled off.
Alicia raised an already arched eyebrow at us. “What the hell’s going on?”