Page 41 of Mac

Mac

As I walked toward the clubhouse from Kate’s bungalow, a thought occurred to me. Viking barged into Kate’s house, like he knew what he was going to see in there. He hadn’t acted surprised, just angry. That meant someone had given him a heads-up. I couldn’t imagine any of my brothers throwing me under the bus. Besides, the only one who knew anything was Wolf.

Speaking of the devil, I spotted him standing by the fire pit, drinking a beer. I stomped over to him, ready to throw down with my best friend if he’d gone behind my back.

“Did you say something to Viking?” I stood just a few inches away, staring him directly in the eyes.

He looked me up and down and must have noticed my clenched fists. “Dude, you better back the fuck up. I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Mac, Wolf, church now!” Colt yelled from the back door.

We both turned to walk into the clubhouse. I could tell from Wolf's reaction that he hadn’t said anything. Speaking in a quiet voice, I quickly explained what happened back at Kate’s place.

“Someone must have told him. Viking came storming into her house, knowing full well what he was going to find.”

“Who else knows about the two of you?” Wolf asked, keeping his voice low.

“I didn’t think anyone did, other than you.”

“You need to deal with Viking first, and then we’ll figure out who’s been talking about shit they shouldn’t be.”

Wolf walked into the room first. When I entered, I was immediately greeted with a fist to my left cheek. I stumbled a few feet to the right before catching myself. For an older guy, Viking still had a nasty right hook. That hurt like a bitch.

I knew I had it coming, so I didn’t retaliate. Instead, I walked over to my usual seat at the table, rubbing my jaw, and waited for the meeting to get started. While the brothers looked at me with raised eyebrows, they knew better than to ask any questions. Viking wouldn’t punch an officer of the club without a damn good reason.

“Okay, let’s call this meeting to order. We found out the Phantoms are continuing to look for an easy route from Phoenix up into Canada. What we haven’t figured out is why they think Vegas is their best option, especially since that means going to war with us. They have to be getting assistance from somewhere, but we haven’t figured out who’s helping them yet. We need to stay alert, boys.” Viking looked directly at me before continuing. “Can’t have any distractions. We also need to call in some reinforcements.”

“The Reno charter would probably be our best bet,” Colt suggested. “Their president, Ice, is known to be a dick, but since they’re on the route north of here, they probably wouldn’t be too happy about the Phantoms going through their town either.”

“Agreed,” Viking stated. “Let’s set up a meeting with them soon. Next item of business, we have a large delivery to make in Los Angeles next week. Colt, Viper, and Mac—you’ll be riding with me on this one.”

Being chosen for a run to L.A. wasn’t unusual, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Viking was sending me on this one to keep me away from his daughter.

“When do we head out?” I was glad Viper asked the question. I figured it was in my best interest to keep quiet until Viking and I had time to talk privately.

“We’re leaving on Wednesday. Miller’s hosting a big party on Friday, and he wants his party favors before then.”

Miller was a huge Hollywood producer who split his time between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. We’d provided some coke for one of his parties here a few years ago, and he’d been a loyal client ever since. It didn’t hurt that we were known for the purity and high quality of our product. This, along with the security we provided during our drops, resulted in an extremely lucrative business.

“Got it,” Viper responded.

“That’s it for now. Meeting’s adjourned. Mac, stay.” Viking slammed his gavel on the solid oak table.

Wolf slapped my back as he passed by while I watched everyone file out. Viking remained seated. After the last guy closed the door behind himself, the two of us sat in silence. I was going to wait for Viking to start the conversation. If I jumped in first, I would sound defensive and made it appear as though I’d done something wrong.

“Mind telling me what I walked in on back at Kate’s place?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious what that was.” Even though it was incredibly stupid, I couldn’t hold back my chuckle.

“Now’s not the time to be a smartass, Mac.” Viking’s voice was calm, but I could see the anger in his eyes. “Kate’s not another piece of ass for you to use whenever you feel the urge to fuck.”

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Viking may have been my president, but I wasn’t going to let him talk shit about what Kate and I were doing. “I haven’t treated her like a piece of ass. We were planning on telling you, together, as soon as you came back to town. We thought you’d be home tomorrow. We sure as hell didn’t want you seeing us together like that.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“Honestly, I wanted her the night she came here looking for you, but nothing happened until her birthday.”

“So, I tell you to protect my daughter, get her comfortable with the club, and you take that as an open invitation to sleep with her?”