Torched: Afterburn (Iron Serpents Motorcycle Club Book 2) (32 page)

“Burn it down,” Torch ordered. “And make it look like an accident on the off-chance they have insurance.”

: 27 :

| TORCH |

Sucking up his pride and apologizing—to anyone—had never been much of a strong suit. Women? Fucking forget it. If a crawler didn’t like something, she could show herself the door and send the next one in.

But times were changing, especially for Torch. It had been a week since they’d crippled the militia and Buddha would be getting his transplant that day. The doctors had warned a month-long hospital stay could be in the cards, depending on how quickly his immune system rebooted itself. Even if shit went without a hitch, their president wouldn’t physically be up for the daily club grind for at least another three months post-release, maybe six. Hell, maybe a year, it was too soon to know. That was assuming his body didn’t fight Nadia’s marrow, a real possibility nobody wanted to think about.

Simply put, there were just too many variables at play to comfortably predict how long Torch would be filling in, which meant he’d need to adjust on more than a few fronts. He wouldn’t be going back to just giving his vote and following orders anytime soon, he’d be leading and answering for the table’s decisions indefinitely. And with those responsibilities also came politics.

The club as a chapter, and a national organization as a whole, was running like a well-oiled machine at the moment, a credit to Buddha and the other presidents around the country. But it hadn’t come easy. The Serpents knew how quickly one bad call could spiral into a whole series of them, and that it generally took a lot more work to clean up a mess than it had to make it. They also knew it wasn’t usually outside forces like Scully and the militia who started most of their problems, nine times out of ten, internal beefs were what got them in trouble.

Society had labeled them as outcasts, men who valued code and honor over anything else, but despite the public’s perception of outlaw bikers as violent and cold, they
were
human. Even the most brutal and fucked up among them were susceptible to jealousy, insecurity, and anger over their voices not being heard. And as petty as some of the problems got, they had to be dealt with. The concept of brotherhood was nice and all, but shit happened, and it only took one pissed off member making a stupid decision in the heat of the moment to open them all up to the consequences. The law, rival clubs, business associates, they would all exploit a weakness in a heartbeat.

The Serpents were careful with who they patched in—they didn’t have a set prospect period and ran extensive background checks—but it was better to be safe than sorry, and the best way to prevent testosterone-fueled squabbles was to maintain a peaceful democracy. So, while it hadn’t really come up yet, Torch’s diplomacy skills would need some work.

Buddha hadn’t managed to keep his club in check for two decades by flying off the handle, holding useless grudges, or letting shit fester until it boiled over. He was a master of getting to the bottom of any conflict and nipping it in the bud to the satisfaction of both sides. As a result, loyalty within the Linwood chapter was legendary, not once had one of their own turned, patched over to another club, or been ousted. Torch had every intention of maintaining their track record.

But anyway, he wasn’t standing outside Nadia’s pre-op room at ten o’clock in the morning to ponder all the shit he’d have to deal with. He was there to—fuck him—apologize.

Diplomacy
, he kept repeating in his head.
Diplomacy, diplomacy, diplomacy.

She wasn’t a crawler anymore, right? She was technically a club employee, so…

Yeah, employee was an easier pill to swallow. He’d go with that and get it over with.

Unfortunately, it looked like he had another problem. As soon as he knocked on the open door and stepped inside, he realized there would be someone there to see it and give him at least a week’s worth of shit. Sitting in a chair opposite Nadia’s bed was Zed.

Great
.

“Hey, man,” Zed greeted, his goddamn mouth curling up like he knew he was about to witness something he’d never let Torch live down.

“Morning, brother,” Torch grumbled. He just couldn’t work up the same enthusiasm. Glancing over at Nadia, he asked, “Everything on schedule?”

“Yeah, I’m going up in an hour,” she replied. “It’s out-patient so I don’t have to stay the night or anything.”

“You scared?”

She smiled and shook her head. “It’s just a big needle and they give you anesthesia. If it helps Buddha, I don’t mind a bit. How is he?”

Torch smirked. “Already begging the nurses for a sponge bath even though his legs are just fucking fine.”

“I’m sure the crawlers wouldn’t mind doing it once he can have visitors,” she suggested

“Dude, that would be fucking hilarious,” Zed said with a chuckle. “We could bring in buckets and hoses and decorate his room like a car wash.”

“I’m sure that would go over well with the staff,” Torch groaned. Turning his attention back to the reason he was there, he took a few steps towards Nadia. “Listen, I owe you an apology.”

“Torch, you don’t—”

“Yeah, I do,” he cut her off. “I was too hard on you when I kicked you out and I held a grudge that could’ve ended up costing Buddha his one shot. I thought my old lady was crazy to take up your cause and assumed you’d fuck up the first chance you got. Sorry, Nad.”

“You thought I was a threat to the woman you love, I understand,” she assured him. “I just hope you know I’d never fuck Liv over or take her kindness for granted. And I’m not pining away for you either, just so we’re clear.”

“Glad to hear it.” He scratched his beard and tried not to grimace. “You’re also welcome back at the clubhouse.”

“Really?” she asked.

“Yeah. You’re saving our president’s life by giving him your bone marrow, I’m pretty sure that makes you some kind of extended family.”

She beamed up at him. “Thank you.”

He gave her a nod and turned back to Zed. “Have you seen my woman around here? She said she had some errands to run, but she’s not picking up her phone.”

“No, brother, haven’t seen her.”

“Isn’t she doing the stem cell thing today?” Nadia asked.

Torch frowned and looked back at her. “I thought she said that was tomorrow.”

“Maybe it is then. She didn’t say anything, but we started getting our shots the same day so I just assumed.”

Goddamn it, she probably
had
gone to Denver to do it without telling him. Why? To avoid taking attention away from Buddha? To assert her fucking independence like always? Or maybe…

Fuck.

What if she was planning on confronting her old man and didn’t want an audience? What if she did something fucking stupid in public and got thrown back in jail?

Not happening.

Remembering that she’d taken her car that morning, he pulled out his phone and texted Biff to get her GPS location. A few seconds later, his fears were confirmed. She was eighty-five miles away at the kids hospital.

“Shit,” he murmured. “I gotta go.”

“You need me?” Zed asked.

Torch thought about it and nodded. “Yeah, I could use you,” he replied.

“Alright.” Zed looked over at Nadia and asked, “You good?”

“I’m fine, go help Liv.”

: 28 :

| LIVIA |

I sat in my car, jamming away to one of my favorite rock songs and keeping an eye out for Silas, when he pulled up next to me. I tossed my purse into the back seat as the passenger door opened and he plopped inside.

“Interesting place for a meet,” he muttered. “A hospital?”

“I have some business to take care of,” I replied. “We need to make this quick, I’m running a little late. Do you have another job?”

“Yes. Well, more of an extension of the last one.”

I bit down on my lip to keep from smiling. “Did you take care of the blackmailer?”

“Yes, that’s been handled. Unfortunately, they discovered a problem
after
the man in question… disappeared, if you will.”

“Let me guess, the problem is a few of the drones have disappeared too?”

His head whipped around. “How do you know about that?”

“I’m surprised it took them a week and a half to find out,” I smirked.

“Styx, what are you hiding? Did you create backdoor access and see something on the cameras?”

“Come on, Silas,” I groaned. “You don’t think I have better things to do than spy on clients after a job’s done?”

“I don’t know, do you?” he asked.

I reached into the center console, pulled out a small piece of paper, and handed it to him. “GPS coordinates. The five drones are inside a shed.”

He scowled and narrowed his eyes. “You know this how?”

“I put them there. Sorry, you know how it is with tech girls and their toys, I couldn’t help myself and figured there was no harm in borrowing them as long as they got back in one piece. Excellent engineering, by the way. They work great.”

“Styx,” he hissed, “what the hell were you thinking? And why did I have to get in touch with
you
to find this out?”

“Like I said, I wanted to play, there’s not a whole lot to do in a small town. And I tried to call but you have that ridiculous policy of tossing your burner the minute a job’s done. You really should make yourself more readily available.”

He glared at me, not amused. “And how do you suggest I explain finding five stolen drones hidden in a shed in the middle of nowhere?”

“Ninjas?” I quipped. “I don’t know, lie. You’re good at it.”

He turned in his seat so his back rested against the door and he could look directly at me. “Do you honestly think I’ll hire you again after pulling a stunt like this? I don’t appreciate having to clean up other people’s messes.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Oh, come on, you clean up other peoples’ messes for a living.”

“Yes. But the difference is they pay
me
.”

“Okay, your loss,” I conceded with a shrug.

His brow furrowed. “Just like that?”

“You’re the one saying you’ll never hire me again. I apologized, what else do you want?”

“I asked if you thought I would, it was a question,” he clarified.

“Ah, so I was supposed to read your mind and then change it. Gotcha.”

“Styx—”

“Silas,” I sighed, “I’m not worried about my career options. There’s a sea of potential clients looking for good hackers out there. You, on the other hand, have a much smaller pond to choose from. Supply and demand. I don’t think I need to sit here and pander to you.”

“I can have you blacklisted in a minute,” he boasted.

“And I can have a new and untraceable internet handle a minute after that. Face it, you need me more than I need you and we both know you like to keep a monopoly on your employees. I’ll see you in a couple months.”

He shook his head and sneered, but reached for the handle and stepped out without another word.

“One more thing,” I called out.

He leaned back in and scowled in displeasure. “Yes?”

“It’s always the basic shit people overlook. Let me know if FTX is willing to spend another fifty grand to build a better fence. I know some guys.”

“
Goodbye
, my dear… I’ll be in touch.”

“Looking forward to it,” I said with a wink. “Bring me back something from Thailand.”

“How do you—”

“Basic shit, Silas,” I reminded him. “The flight manifest is sticking out of your pocket. Hey, if I get really bored, can I borrow your—”

“
No,
” he cut me off with a pointed finger, “you stay away from my private jet.” He turned to get in his car, but swung back around and leaned in again. “That includes any hackable electronics and flight controls, don’t even think about it.”

Grinning, I waved him off and cranked the music back up. A glance at the clock indicated I had about ten minutes to kill, so I reclined the seat and tried to clear my head by focusing on the melody. It was going to be a long fucking day.

: 29 :

| LIVIA |

I stood waiting at a nurse’s station on the fourth floor of the hospital, when a jovial Dr. Louis Stevens approached. I recognized him from online pictures. He’d made quite a name for himself in the medical world and was considered to be one of the best pediatric oncologists in the region. I was just relieved to know my little sister was getting the quality care she deserved, so much so that I’d stopped by the billing department and paid off the outstanding balance of what my father’s insurance hadn’t covered. I’d also put down another twenty thousand for future copays and deductibles, with instructions to transfer the remainder to another family in need if Nicole’s treatment didn’t eat it all up. If all went well, she’d have a proper childhood ahead of her. I didn’t want her growing up in poverty like I had, not over her medical bills. I hadn’t done it for Graham, he could die penniless under a fucking bridge for all I cared. Nicole was the only one who mattered.