Warlord (Anathema Book 1) (8 page)

I ignored the
throbbing cut on my cheek. “Compliments of my adventure this morning.”

“I’m getting a
little tired of all this adventure,” Keep muttered.

“You and me
both,” Brew said.

“New business.”
I extended my arms. “Met an old friend this afternoon. Priest decided to take a
joyride across the river. I don’t think it was a friendly visit.”

“Christ.” Gold
kicked back in his chair. “Was it a hit?”

“No. But he
wanted me to know he was following.”

“Why now?”
Scotch asked. “What are they playing at?  Neither of our crews are ready for
war again. Breaking the truce would be suicide.”

I shook my head.
“He’s expanding. Exorcist is sniffing around Sorceress. Harassing Lyn.”

Brew chuckled. “Lyn
can handle herself.”

“Usually.” I
tossed the baggie of crimson meth onto the table. “But the stakes have changed.”

I studied the
table. Four men I trusted. Four men the club trusted. Scotch was one of Anathema’s
first prospects in the seventies. Gold treated his office with as much respect
as his military career. And Brew and Keep came from an original member. They
worshiped their father and lived just as he taught—to put Anathema first.

Only they had
broken their vow to their father and to the club.

One of the
brothers betrayed us.

I just needed to
know who.

“Is that
Temple’s meth?” Scotch asked. “Where’s it from?”

“One of Lyn’s
girls is shacking up with a Coup officer.” I pitched the baggie across the
table. Keep shifted as it rolled near him. “If Exorcist made a deal with Temple
MC, he’ll have money for guns, weapons, bribes, everything.”

Gold shook his
head. “But Temple hasn’t dealt with Anathema for years. Not since...”

Scotch took a
hit of his cigarette. “Not since Blade was put away. ATF wanted him to rat on
his supply. Never did. Can’t get that kind of loyalty anymore.”

“If anyone, Temple
owes the drugs to us.” Gold leaned forward, flexing a scarred arm burnt in a
firefight somewhere outside Tikrit.

“No,” Scotch said.
“They owe it to Blade. Never trusted anyone else.”

“Until now?”
Keep asked. “Why the hell would they partner with Exorcist?”

“No one is
saying they did.” Brew frowned. “Maybe Lyn’s girl got it outside the valley.”

Gold nodded. “That’s
true. Ex wouldn’t be stupid enough to deal here.”

“Unless he meant
to send a message.” I glanced over the table. Scotch and Gold eyed me through
the smoke. Keep avoided looking at the drugs. Brew stared at his brother. “They
deal in town. Make a move on Sorceress. Follow me in broad fucking daylight.”

“Damn.” Scotch
patted out his cigarette. “So what do we do?”

“Can Lyn talk to
her dancer?  See where she got her fix?” Gold asked.

“Already pinning
her down, I bet.”

“Wouldn’t mind
watching that,” Keep grinned. “Not at all.”

“Well, when Lyn
blackens her eyes and Exorcist’s crew screams for retaliation, she can stay
with you until the shit-storm passes.”

Keep shrugged. “Love
is pain.”

I studied the
table again. “Gold, take a ride across the river. See what our friends are
doing. Find out who they’re talking to.”

“I’ll take my
guys. Survey any new businesses popping up.”

“Be careful,”
Brew warned. “This ain’t a time to flash a smile and wag your cock.”

“Appreciate your
concern,” Gold winked.

Keep took a
breath. “Anything else?”

Plenty, but nothing
I was willing to say. I shrugged.

“Your sister’s
causing problems.”

Both brothers
tensed. Brew’s scowl darkened, but Keep shrugged me off.

“It’s fine. No
harm done. Rose is just a kid.”

“Doesn’t look it
to me,” I said.

Keep’s smile
faded. Brew pushed away from the table.

“They won’t act
on her.” Keep ignored the comment. “She pawned her guitar, trying to prove some
dumbass point to us. Same shop our dad used back in the day. They’ll know she’s
an innocent.”

“She’s not
innocent. She’s a Darnell. Your family is renowned.”

Brew snorted. “Not
renowned. Notorious. I want her protected.”

Keep’s brow
twisted. “What?”

“I want a guard
on her. Someone to run by her apartment at night. She made a mistake. A big one.
And I don’t think Ex is going to forgive her. Not when he can exploit it.”

Keep interrupted
Scotch with a laugh. He shrugged. “Exploit
what
? She’s not involved with
Anathema. Anyone with half a brain knows it. She doesn’t need a guard. Maybe a
kick in the ass, but no one is going to piss around with her.”

Gold brushed
imaginary dust off his vest. Scotch picked at the plastic wrapper on his
cigarette package. The brothers didn’t notice.

“It doesn’t
matter if she is involved or not,” Brew said. “She looks like it. She needs
help.”

Keep groaned. “She
needs a guitar, not a fucking escort.”

Neither brother
would back down. It was what I needed, but not what I wanted.

The only time Keep
and Brew ever disagreed, and it made a bulls-eye out of an innocent girl. I
grew up with the brothers. Cut my teeth on the same corners. Fucked the same
girls. We practically bled the same blood.

But there it
was.

Keep and Brew
weren’t fighting about their kid sister’s safety. One of them knew something
the other didn’t. Either the girl would be a target for Exorcist, or she was just
a Darnell with tits.

Brotherly
disagreements didn’t usually get the kid sister killed. This one would do more
than that. The future of Anathema existed in whatever truth I could decipher
from Keep and Brew. And I had no fucking clue how to figure it out.

I waited as the
brothers glared over the table. I didn’t know how to read them, but someone did.
Someone young. Pretty. Cute enough to pout her away out of trouble and naive
enough to slip headfirst into danger.

She needed a
rescue. I needed to find the traitor. And once I got Rose to talk, I’d have all
the answers and all the ammunition it took to rid Anathema of its betraying
desecration.

The smart girls,
the good girls, stayed clear of me.

Rose tripped on
her way to my altar and offered me Anathema’s redemption. Salvation never
looked so beautiful, and damnation never felt so righteous.

“Bring her in,”
I said.

The brothers
went silent. Scotch softly coughed, waving the smoke from his face.

“Who?” Scotch
asked.

“Rose. Bring her
in.”

Keep’s trembling
stilled. A moment of shock that sobered him up. “Why?”

“Better safe
than sorry. Don’t want anything happening to her, do we?”

“Nothing is
going to happen to her.”

“Of course not.”
I offered a smile. “Especially not under my watch.”

Brew stilled.
“Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

“No sense in
that. Not if she’s in such danger.”

“She’s our
family, we can take care of it,” Brew said.

“Anathema is our
family.” I let the word linger. He didn’t blink. “You want her protected?  I’ll
fucking protect her.”

“She doesn’t
need your kind of protecting.” Keep’s jaw flexed.

“What’s that
mean?” I asked.

“She’s a good
kid, man. She’s not someone like...” Keep’s hands shook harder. “Like Jocelyn. She’s
no whore.”

“I’ll remember
that. Any other business?”

Brew’s chair
flipped. He stood, staring me down. “We aren’t done here.”

“Do you want her
safe or not?” Like they had a choice in her destruction.

“Jesus Christ, Thorne.”
He slammed a hand on the table. “Rose is not that kind of girl, and you are
exactly
that type of man. She needs me to make sure she gets to work and home, not...”

“You think I’m
going to hurt your sister?”

“She couldn’t
stop you if she wanted.”

I tossed the
gavel down. “We’re done. She comes here. End of discussion.”

Keep’s teeth
ground audibly from across the room. He rapped his fingers against the arm of
his chair. “Thorne, Exorcist has a hard-on for you. Rose steps anywhere near
you and she
will
become his prime target. Or she’ll get blown away when
Ex storms the fucking gates and aims an AK at your bedroom.”

“Ex takes a hit
on me and he’ll have full anarchy in the valley,” I said. “He doesn’t have the
balls yet. And we’ll take him out before he even gets the idea in his fat head.”

Keep met my gaze
for the first time. “I want a vote.”

“I’m offering my
services.”

“You don’t have
the authority to volunteer our sister into your
services
.”

I glanced from
Gold to Scotch. Both held back their tongues so hard they prepared to choke
instead of speak. I waved a hand toward them.

“All those in
favor of protecting Baby Bud Darnell?”

I raised my hand.
Keep and Brew simmered. They’d blow after the vote. Didn’t matter to me. I only
needed to see which one would finally snap.

“Look.” Scotch
lit another cigarette, if only to delay speaking. “I love Bud as much as you
guys. But she made an idiot move today. I feel better keeping an eye on her
until it blows over.”

“Fuck me,” Keep
grunted.

Gold ducked his
head down. “I’ve seen a lot of shit lately. Ex isn’t man enough to go after Thorne,
but he’d piss with family in a heartbeat. I’m with Thorne. If you want to keep Rose
out of this mess, you’ve gotta bring her in. Keep her safe here.”

Brew rubbed his
face. He laughed. Didn’t mean he was amused. “This is fucked up.”

“I’m not going
to hurt her,” I said.

“Bull-fucking-shit.
You ain’t taking her on for free.”

“Then that’s
between me and your sister.”

“You
sonofabitch—”

Keep dove toward
me. Gold intercepted, tossing him into his seat before he did something really
fucking stupid.

“You lay a
finger on her and I’ll kill you myself,” Keep said.

“That I
believe.”

The silence
pulsed in the room. Brew’s eyes burned black, but he said nothing else. Keep
swore and pushed away. The tremors rocking his body nearly propelled him
through the door. I only hoped he had enough sense to get his fix before
grabbing Rose.

Pretty little
thing that she was.

I smirked.

“Meeting
adjourned.”

Twenty-one was
too old to run away from home.

Except
leaving
town
wasn’t accurate. I wasn’t declaring my independence. I quietly stole
it before my brothers realized just how pissed I was.

I packed a spare
change of clothes, but the second pair of jeans and shoes didn’t fit with my laptop,
flute, and guitar’s looping pedal. The keyboard jammed across my car’s backseat.
I needed it more than the TV Brew
acquired
for me last Christmas.

My suitcase
bulged with more musical instruments and equipment. No guitar, of course. I
regretted stumbling into
that
mess, but at least it was already handled.
The tie severed, the debt repaid as much as my brothers would allow.

My cell buzzed in
my pocket. I groaned. No way was I talking to either brother.

Not after they
hauled me out of Anathema like I was some sort of wayward child.

Not after they
shoved the stack of twenties into my purse.

Not after they forced
two prospects to
escort
me home.