Page 21 of Puck (The Lost Boys MC)
The young man walked up to his father. “Yes, sir?”
Clancy stared at Brigid for a long time before sighing. “Nothing. Come with me. You, me, and your brothers will handle the negotiations. Brigid’s going to keep an eye and an ear out for any sort of funny business.”
Then that man did the one thing I never expected him to do.
He turned and looked me dead in my eyes. “You make sure nothing happens to my daughter, you hear me?”
I blinked. “Uh, yeah. Of course. I can do that.”
He walked toward me. “You make sure that wherever she goes, you go. Don’t leave her alone for a second.”
“Dad,” Brigid glowered.
He whipped around and pointed at her. “Someone who’s working always needs someone watching their back. Puck will watch yours, won’t he?”
Clancy peered over his shoulder at me and I nodded. “Of course, sir. With my life.”
He nodded. “Good man. You’d do well to find yourself a man like that, Brigid. Boys? Come along.”
Then, another one of the brothers interrupted. “If you really want her to get in on the business, though, she’s going to want to be in these negotiations.”
Clancy threw his hands in the air. “All right, Kieran. What’s your solution then? You want to go up against your sister and her wishes?”
The way they talked about Brigid painted her as a badass, and that only made me long for her more. There was nothing sexier than a woman who wasn’t intimidated by the men whose company she kept. Especially one that could take care of herself with her own two hands.
I stared her down while the men talked around her, but all she did was grin at me.
As if everything were going according to plan.
“Wherever you guys want to have this meeting, I’m fine with. Just let me know where to lead you,” Stone said.
Clancy and his boys had a private, whispered meeting with all of us surrounding them before the patriarch cleared his throat.
“If the women don’t mind making leave, we can have it right here in the common area. With Brigid present, of course.”
Stone nodded. “You heard him. Ladies?”
Hayley sighed. “Yeah, yeah. We’re going. Come on, girls.”
And after they all made their way back into their rooms, all that were left was the Celtic Riders, the Lost Boys, Clancy, his sons, and Brigid.
The only woman still in the room.
She looks fucking badass.
“So,” Clancy said once we were all ready, “what is this I hear about you and the Banderas Cartel?”
Stone looked shocked and Asher quickly jumped in. “I filled him in on the basics, but not the details.”
Stone nodded. “Yes, well, the Banderas Cartel has been giving us a hell of a time ever since they wanted to encroach on our territory.”
Clancy nodded. “Everything you can tell me, I need to know.”
We all waited silently as Stone filled him in on everything that had happened up until this point: Diego stumbling into our bar, my sister stitching him up, us being chased to this warehouse, the whole nine yards. And after laying it out there for him and his family to judge, Clancy chuckled.
“I’ve dealt with this cartel before, you know. They tried to use us as a weapons supplier, but I didn’t agree with Mr. Banderas’ practices. So, I turned his offer down.”
Diego spoke up. “Which I assumed didn’t make him too happy.”
Clancy faced him. “I’m sure you don’t have to assume anything at this point.”
Stone patted Diego on the back. “He’s one of us. He’s the reason why we have as much information on the cartel as we do. You can trust him.”
Clancy grinned. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
The room fell silent as he studied Diego from top to bottom before he cleared his throat.
“At any rate, anyone that is an enemy of Mr. Banderas and his little organization is a friend of mine.”
Then, Brigid finally spoke. “You know, I know someone that understands the inner workings of their drug operation.”
My eyes widened. “You do?”
She slowly looked over at me. “Does that shock you?”
I shook my head. “Not as much as it probably should.”
She smirked. “If you’d like me to tap into my resource, I can—”
Clancy quirked an eyebrow. “When were you going to tell us this?”
Rowan snickered. “She’s the best we’ve got, Dad. Don’t you understand that?”
Clancy shot his son a look before he turned to face his daughter. “Tell me about this contact of yours.”
And I’d never seen such a big, bright smile cross anyone’s face before.
Twelve
Brigid
I’d been hoping for years now that my father would allow me to be involved with the family business. Hell, it was why I had chosen to study business as well as finance in school. I wanted to be involved in all facets of my family’s operations, from the fronts to the public all the way down to the seedy underbelly of what we did.
