Page 58 of Property of Rattler

“But…”

“Quiet!” I snap. Rubbing my temples, I remind them, “We shouldn’t take our eye off the prize. Apart from protecting her for Rattler’s sake, the club stands to earn a pretty penny for keeping her safe. While I’m not totally discounting the idea of using her to lure her brother to us, our main aim is to make sureshe comes to no harm.” I raise the gavel, but don’t bring it down. “Now, unless anyone has anything else to contribute, I say it’s more important we find Stone and do everything we can to bring Rattler home.” I don’t add dead or alive, but I’m sure everyone is thinking it. “Genie, you keep trying to track him down. You found him this morning…”

Genie frowns and interrupts, “Too late. I’ve been watching out for the number plate of the SUV that I’d clocked close to Royals the evening he broke in. Picked it up this morning, came to you as soon as we saw where it was heading…” His voice trails off.

Yeah, he did. There’s only one road out of Gravity leading up to the mountain, and only one reason that Stone would have been heading that way. “You did what you could.” I absolve him of responsibility. If anything, it’s my fault for being too complacent, believing the cabin couldn’t be found.

Nodding, Genie resumes, “Didn’t catch him as he returned to Gravity. But he could have taken a back route to avoid the traffic cameras. We’ll keep looking.”

Throwing him chin, I look down the table. “I want a group of you to go searching around town. Look for any abandoned buildings where he might have holed up.”

“I’ll lead a group out,” Tempest offers. “But he could have gone back to Phoenix.”

Paint raises his hand after exchanging a glance with Piston. “We’ll come too. It’s Ames he’s after, so it makes sense he’d stay close by.”

“Why not bring Satin in, Prez? She might know something.”

I glance toward Short, and purse my lips as I think. “We’ve only got circumstantial evidence it was her.” Then I turn toward Stalker. “How easy would it have been for her to know what she was looking at? Strippers don’t get into that line of work due to what’s between their ears.”

Stalker’s face goes blank for a moment. “She could have taken a screenshot with her phone and sent it to Stone.” He shrugs. “But you’re right, I can’t say for certain.”

Twisting my head toward the enforcer, I tell him, “We need to have words with her. Though even if she’s working with Stone, I doubt he’d have told her anything that would help us locate him. But he’s still looking for Ames. He might contact her again.” I snap my eyes back to Genie. “Can we bug her phone?”

Our tech expert raises his chin. “Consider it done.”

I raise the gavel. “We’ll meet again as soon as we have more information. Keep your phones on and stay close.”

Woody looks up. “Before anyone heads out, I, for one, would like to raise a glass in Rattler’s memory.”

“Yeah?” I narrow my eyes on him. “And what if by some miracle, he’s still alive?”

All faces turn their heads toward me, their expressions suggesting I’m mad to even consider the possibility.

It’s Short who puts it into words. “Stone benefits more if she’s a widow. Leaving Rat alive is too risky for him. There’s no way on this earth he’d have left him breathing.”

Genie waggles his fingers. “I can do what I can on my own, but I could really do with Pippa…” He raises his eyes toward Saint.

“Jade’s not been sleeping. Pippa’s fuckin’ exhausted. She’ll assist in the morning,” Saint answers tersely.

My mouth quirks. From what I know of Saint’s old lady, she won’t just be assisting. She’ll be taking over. But I’m not such an ass to insist he puts her to work, tired or not. And, however much I hope Rat’s alive and breathing, I know there’s not much chance. Not enough to insist on pulling a woman away from her baby.

Looking around the faces, I know we’re all hurting. We’ve lost one of our own today. And the way bikers handle such a lossis to drink and fuck. Losing Heathen, our prospect, last year was bad enough. But a brother sworn to the patch? It’s devastating.

Deciding to ease up, I slowly nod. “Go ahead. Let’s all raise a glass to Rat.”

“God rest his soul,” Words states, bowing his head.

I’m not sure all of us believe in the existence of a deity, but there would be no disagreement with the sentiment. I give them a few seconds of quiet contemplation before I bring the gavel down.

Chairs scrape across the wooden floor as everyone gets up, but unlike normal, when there’s laughter and conversation, they leave in virtual silence. We might all joke about Rat, but hell, he’ll be missed. Maybe because of the mayhem he caused instead of in spite of it.

I, as the prez, feel like I’ve failed. I’d underestimated the danger when I’d sent Rat and Ames away.They should have been safe.Staying in my seat as the brothers exit the room, I wonder what signs I’d missed, and whether I was wrong to send Rat in the first place.

But fuck, there should have been no risk. No way for Stone to find out where they were. Frowning, I decide I want to talk to Satin as soon as possible. If it wasn’t her, then who the fuck was it? I trust all the brothers with my life.

Lowering my head into my hands, I think about Rat, where he is, and, in the unlikely event he’s not dead, what Stone would be putting him through. My stomach roils just to think about it.

I’d sent Rat with Ames as a punishment, but I’d never have wished this fate on him. Even Rat, himself, knew he’d been skating on thin ice, his constant interruptions and snide comments getting too close to the bone for comfort. And yeah, he must have realised, forcing him to marry Ames and sending him alone with her to the cabin was partly to give the rest of us breathing space.