Page 53 of Colt

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Colt

Things between Ember and I were changing, but we hadn’t talked about what any of it meant. I knew I wanted to pursue something with her, but with everything else going on, I wasn’t sure now was the right time. Ember deserved someone who could put her first and give her all the time in the world. Right now, my focus was divided in a million directions. I needed time to clear my head, so today, I was working on the house I bought a couple of months ago.

Only a few of the guys knew about this place. I was trying to renovate it so I would have a house where Jett and Jasmine could spend entire weekends with me. It was halfway between the clubhouse and Jenna’s home, which was perfect. Knowing that a judge might be determining my future with my kids soon, I was putting in long hours to get the place ready.

Just as I was finishing up for the day, I received a text from Viking calling for a meeting. My entire body ached, and I wanted nothing more than to take a shower and crawl into bed. But, if Viking was calling an impromptu meeting, then there was something important to discuss.

For the past few weeks, things had been calm, so calm that it was only inevitable that something bad was on the horizon. The Phantoms came to mind, but surprisingly, they hadn’t done anything to draw our attention. We still had no idea who was helping them and not knowing other players was dangerous to us. Despite that issue, all our operations, illegal and legal, were running smoothly. In terms of our other major issue, the small bits of information we had Ember feeding Torch still seemed to be enough, but it was hard to tell with Torch in Reno and no eyes on him what he was up to.

I’d thought about using my dad’s firm for phone taps, but Viking had nixed that idea. This was personal and it’d be taken care of by Desert Sinners members only. We’d always relied on our own resources and it’d never failed us. If things got real bad, then we’d reconsider but not until our hand was forced.

I climbed onto my bike and made the drive back to the clubhouse. Judging by the bikes parked out front, I was one of the last to arrive.

When I walked in, my eyes found the woman I couldn’t get out of my head, even if I wanted to. She was talking to Kate in the main room. The two of them had established a close friendship, and I was glad she had someone she could confide in.

Ember managed to integrate herself with the members here, as well as with Kate and Meredith, and after I claimed her, any lingering issues from club members and old ladies had disappeared. It was another difference between her and my ex. Once Jenna and I were together, she acted like being married to me made her better than everyone else, something that got worse when I became VP. That was just one source of tension between us. I’d slowly come to realize that she’d never loved me and had been using me. It’d been a tough pill to swallow, but a lesson well learned.

Ember gave a small but genuine smile when she saw me, and I found myself smiling back. The flash of surprise across her face was brief, but I saw it. Was I that much of an asshole that it shocked her when I was nice? I chuckled to myself.Of course, I was.

I glanced in her direction one more time and then headed toward the back room for church. The guys were standing around shooting the shit, but when Viking saw me enter, he called the meeting to order.

“Okay, boys, the chance we’ve been waiting for is finally here. We got a tip that the Phantoms are planning a large drug deal just outside of town in two weeks. The club they are dealing with, the Iron Riders, reached out to me. It seems they aren’t too happy with the way the Phantoms are conducting business. All of the Phantoms’ heavy hitters will be there.”

I knew all about the Iron Riders. They were a club from New Mexico, and I found it odd that they were doing business in Las Vegas. I wondered about their motivation, but this was our first solid lead in weeks. It was time to deal with the Phantoms and rid ourselves of them for good.

Viking continued. “In exchange for their help, I’ve promised to not retaliate against the Riders for doing business on our turf.”

“Is going after the Phantoms right now the best course of action? We still don’t know if they were involved with Fitz’s murder,” Hawk reminded everyone.

Viking nodded. “You’re right. We don’t know if they’re connected, but we’ve been waiting for our opportunity to take out these bastards for far too long and this might be our opportunity to find out if they were involved.” He looked around the whole room. “I want to pull in Reno, they’re the closest club to us and we may need them, plus, they’ve been dealing with the Phantoms in their back yard, too. But we can put it up for a vote.”

We all knew before Ice was locked up, he wanted to take down the Phantoms as much as we did. Since only the officers of our club knew about our issues with Torch, we had to bring in the Reno chapter to avoid raising suspicion. I glanced over the faces of all the men of this club, knowing they only understood part of the truth, and realized how angry they’d be when they were told. Once this was over, we’d have to inform the other chapters as well, and it was going to be a clusterfuck, especially for Viking since it happened under his watch.

Conversations rang out around the room. Most were questions about the logistics and making sure we didn’t bring any heat from law enforcement onto the club. After a great deal of discussion, Viking moved to ambush the drug deal. The second motion was to bring Reno in with us. Both motions passed unanimously.

“I’ll call Torch and fill him in,” Viking said, concluding the meeting. “You guys get out of here, spend the next two weeks enjoying the holidays with your families. We’re going to ring in the New Year by finally getting rid of these fuckers.” Shouts of agreement rang out in the room before emptying. “Colt, can I have a word?”

I stayed while the other guys filed out. “What’s on your mind?” I asked once we were the only two left in the room.

“You know, bringing Torch in on this could cause a lot of problems. We need to be prepared for him to do something that fucks this entire plan to hell.”

Viking wasn’t wrong. We still didn’t know what Torch’s end game was, and we could be setting ourselves up by involving him.

“I need you and Hawk to work on a plan to minimize the shit we could find ourselves in,” he added.

We’d voted Hawk in as our new sergeant-at-arms a few days after Fitz’s funeral. With his military background, I knew he was perfect for the job. We’d also filled him in about Torch and if his reaction was a small hint at the reactions of the rest of the club, it was going to be ugly.

“Will do, boss. Anything else?” I asked.

“I’d ask about you and Ember, but you probably don’t want to talk about that,” he said with a glint in his eye.

He was a perceptive man and I wasn’t surprised he picked up on my changing attitude toward her.

“You’re right. I don’t.”

He nodded his head. “On a serious note, I love that girl like a daughter. Don’t fuck it up and make me regret asking you to help her out.”