Page 23 of Hawk (Road Rebels MC 1)
I took Syd’s hand and weaved her through the crowd. People stopped to hug her and tell her how wonderful she looked. Some of the girls gave her kisses on her cheek while some of the men told her what a beautiful woman she’d grown into. I squeezed her hand before I pulled her close, showing them all who she belonged to as she giggled. Her hand patted my chest, trying to get me to calm down as we finally made our way back towards the back room.
And the rest of the men stood to greet Syd with all smiles before we sat down and got to business.
“Have you told her?” Mac asked.
“I told her we had a plan, but that was it,” I said.
“I believe I’m to blame for the DEA being here,” she said, and everyone’s head turned toward her face.
“How so?” Talon asked. “Whatcha get yourself into, Marshall?”
“Talon,” she said, grinning. “You look good. I haven’t heard you talk this much… well, ever.”
He grinned and pulled her back in for another hug before she started talking.
“I just need you guys to listen, all right? Because a lot of this is going to come as a shock. Just know that my father never meant to lie to you guys. This was just a different club when it came to family when I was born,” she said.
“Your momma’s not dead, is she?” Snake asked.
“That’s who I’ve been with for the past six years,” she said. “Until she passed away a couple weeks ago.”
“Sorry for your loss,” Talon said.
“Sorry for both your losses,” Mac said.
I heard Syd draw in a shaking breath and I held her close to me.
“You’re good here, okay? The hard part’s done,” I said into her ear.
“My mother lived near the Iron Souls,” she began.
“Say no more,” Fox said. “They’re on a witch hunt. If they’ve seen you with them once, they’re tryin’ to round ya up.”
“Do you know anything?” Mac asked.
“No. They think I do, because apparently, their joyriding route was also one of their trade routes? But I didn’t know any of that,” she said.
“An agent approached her in the hotel I found her in,” I said.
“An agent talked to you?” Mac asked. “You sure you were just joyridin’?”
“I hung out with them, yes. But I was never patched as someone’s property. They just reminded me of…”
I gripped Syd’s hand tightly while Talon rubbed her back. If there was one thing this club was sensitive towards, it was people intimidating their women and children. They didn’t put up with it, and they didn’t tolerate it.
“That agent threatened you, didn’t he?” Mac asked.
“‘She,'” Syd said. “And yes, very much so. Threatened me with jail time, with exposing secrets, all sorts of shit.”
“Exposing secrets?” Snake asked. “The fuck’s that mean?”
I searched Syd’s face as war raged behind her eyes. The men sat back and waited for her to make her decision, giving her the space she needed to gather her thoughts.
“We’re a different club now, Syd. Let’s tell ‘em,” I said.
“Hawk and I… the night… that night,” she said.
“That night,” Mac repeated.
“I was just overcome with grief. I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to process it. I just wanted to distract myself from it. And Hawk, he would’ve done anything I asked him to.”
“The two of you have a kid,” Fox said.
Syd closed her eyes as a tear fell into her lap.
“They threatened to take Emery from us,” Syd said, whispering.
“A daughter,” Talon said, grinning.
“They what?” Mac growled.
“Called me a bad mom. Threatened to tell Hawk that I was a terrible mother who left my child home at night with my own mother while I went joyriding with criminals across town,” Syd said.
“They fucking did what?” Snake asked.
“Did all this shit in front of Emery, too,” I said.
“Emery was there?” Mac asked.
“We were swimming,” Syd said, sniffling. “I was-... in the hot tub and-... and Emery was jumping into the pool. She looked so scared and that agent… she didn’t give a shit.”
“All right, I’ve heard enough,” Mac said. “This club won’t stand for that shit. Hawk, congrats on the kid. It’s time to get your family safe.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Ain’t no one mad at you, either,” Snake said. “This shit rolled up onto my doorstep? I would have done the same thing.”
“I’m so sorry, you guys,” Syd said breathlessly.
“You went to the only place you knew you could run,” Fox said. “If anything, it’s good you still feel safe with some of us.”
Fox reached out to grab her hand and Syd clung to it desperately. I looked around the room at the men that now ran this club, and I couldn’t have been more honored to be apart of this kind of family. It took us years to change the way The Road Rebel viewed family, but I really did believe that after all this was said and done, they would respect whatever decision Syd made.
I just hoped the decision included me.
“If it makes you feel any better,” Mac said, “the President of the Iron Souls gave me a ring when they got busted. Warned me that the DEA was now looking for drugs and our supplier and that we should watch out. I’ve had a few plans in the works to protect ours and our own, so it’ll be easy to integrate you into things.”
“Really? It’ll keep Emery safe?” she asked.
“I’m your Uncle Mac. Of course, it will.”
“Should we tell her about the plan?” Talon asked.
“Your plan. You go ahead,” Mac said.
“Sydney, look at me,” Talon said. Syd slowly lifted her gaze to look at him, and he smiled brightly at her. In all my days, I’d never seen Talon smile that big, and it was almost awkward to look at since it was so foreign.
“It’s long and convoluted and required me to go undercover and all this bullshit, but we have someone who’s going to roll over on the Devil Saints,” he said.
/> “Are you serious?” she asked.
“Yep. The gist of the plan is this: we’re taking the personal loss and switching the drug trucks. The DEA is onto us, so we’re using that against the Devil Saints. When we switch the trucks, the person we’ve found that’s rolling over on the Saints will phone in an anonymous tip to the police. It’ll bust up their whole bullshit, and once DEA is focused on them instead, she will come forward and testify about everything that they forced her to do and get rid of them for good.”
“Wait. They’re selling their women?” Syd asked.
“They’re making their women be the mules and the sellers. That way they are staying out of the line of fire from the DEA.,” Talon said. “Trust me, this is a good thing that we stop them.”
“How does this protect Emery and I?” she asked.
“The moment the heat’s off the Iron Souls, they’ll have to close that case in order to pursue this one. One thing we know is that the DEA doesn’t have that much manpower. They can’t conduct two witch hunts at once. I take it Emery’s safe?” Talon asked.
“She is,” I said as Syd squeezed my hand.
“Lay low. Stay with Hawk. Bounce around to houses and shit if you have to. Once this all goes down and shit blows up with the Devil Saints, the Iron Souls witch hunt will be a thing of the past. You and Emery will be safe, and maybe you could come back. If ya wanted,” Talon said.
“We aren’t talking about that right now,” I said. “Right now, this is about getting Syd and my daughter safe.”
The men grinned at my statement as Syd pressed her body into mine.
“That’s the plan. Lay low. Don’t follow any more black sedans. That’s all you gotta do,” Mac said. “Hawk, the shipment’s supposed to come in tomorrow night, but be prepared in case it’s tonight. I got something that’ll shut that agent up, too. The one that harassed Sydney.”
“What do you wanna do?” I asked.
“When the shipment comes in, tell Sydney. Have her call that bullshit agent and tell her where to go. She can get a fun little look first-hand at what’s really going on. We can set something up and distract them from the real delivery. Sydney feeding her that information we’ll be sure to get shit off her back if laying low doesn’t work,” Mac said.
