Page 27 of Tico

I dig my keychain out of my pocket and take off the extra key to my room I have on it and give it to Ember.

She blinks up at me in surprise but then beams up at me. “Sounds good, Handsome.”

Leaning down, I give her a quick peck, and then as another claim on Pyper, I kiss the top of her head, much like I do withmi mamá yhermana(my mom and sister).

“Prospects will get you anything you need.”

“Thank you, Tico,” Pyper whispers and Ember wraps an arm around her.

“Anytime,mija(dear one).”

Surprisingly, both of their eyes shimmer at my claim on Pyper and Ember mouths ‘thank you’ to me. I dip my chin in acknowledgement, though, I’ll be having a little talk with her later. She doesn’t need to thank me for things like this.

Turning, I look around the room, noting thatmis hermanos(my brothers) have already headed into Church and that Taco is standing at the door waiting for me.

“If you need me for something during Church, tell a Prospect. Both Taco and I have our phones on us but the rest of them turn them in before going into the Chapel. We’ll get you hooked up with a phone in a bit.”

“Will do, Tico. Go do what you need to do. We’ll be fine,” Ember says and with a nod, I follow Taco into the Chapel.

Walking to the center of the room, my gaze catches on our club emblem that’s carved into the table that marks my place—the bearded skull and crown with wings and two motorcycles flanking the skull. I look up atmis hermanos(my brothers), noting that a few of them are smirking, most likely at me finally claiming a woman.

“I know I said this out in the main room, but I’m officially claiming Ember Foxx as my woman, and hopefully soon, my Ol’ Lady.”

The guys hoot and holler and Draco, one of the older members of the club that was good friends withPapá(Dad) before he died of a heart attack last year, gives me a nod of acknowledgement. He looks at me with pride andchingar(fuck), do I wishPapá(Dad) was still alive. He would have loved Ember and Pyper.

I look over at Claw, our secretary. “Order a cut for her. I want it on hand for when she’s ready to become my Ol’ Lady.”

He gives me a chin lift. “No problem, Prez. What’s her road name gonna be?”

I smirk, not even having to think about it. The guys all grin when I tell him, and they give me looks of approval—especially those that recognized her viper tattoo.

I look around the room and frown. “Ember and Pyper are also why I needed to call Church tonight,” I say and the guys quiet down. “They both grew up in the same club Daemon did.”

Faces harden at my words because of what all Daemon told them years ago about the club.

I fill them in on what happened with Daemon pitching in every now and then, and when I’m done, all their faces are tight with anger.

“You mean that little thing out there is really the Viper?” Sandman asks.

I nod. “She is. We saw her fight a couple of nights ago against Luna. She’ll also be filling in for Ice for the foreseeable future. This doesn’t go outside the room since you know how Ice is, but she’s pregnant and therefore can’t fight.”

Wire frowns and I know where his train of thought just went. “That means we have to expose Ember. Tonight.”

I nod reluctantly. “I don’t like it either, but in all fairness to Banshee, she needs to know who her opponent really is. Ember wants to retire the Viper name. She wants to go by Fox going forward.”

Daemon barks out a laugh and I grin in response.

“Fuck, that’s so fucking perfect and that’s so fucking her,” he says as his laughter dies down.

Rocket frowns as he leans forward on his forearms. “With her being tied to the Chrome Viper’s for so long, they aren’t going to let her just walk away. I hate to put it this way, Prez, but they’ll see her leaving as losing their asset and property. That they’ve lost their control over her. They’ll be coming for her and her sister at some point.”

“You’re right and Wire thinks they’re already close. Wire?”

He adjusts his glasses and his fingers fly over his keyboard. The projector kicks to life and I step aside, pulling down the screen behind me.

“These are the three that we’ll most likely see. I’m sure they’ll bring more club members, but these are the three big hitters. The President is Scooter, real name Marshall Drake. Her dad is Drone, real name Jerry Foxx. Last is her uncle, Bug, real name Ryan Foxx, younger brother to Drone,” Wire says as he absently pushes up his glasses. “I flagged their credit cards in my systems to give an alert whenever they’re used. Their cards pinged in Green Bay about forty minutes ago. My guess is they’ll find a cheap hotel nearby to squat in. The question is, do we draw them out? News of Ember fighting will hit the circuits as soon as we notify Banshee, her manager, and her trainer. If they don’t find out tonight, they’ll find out tomorrow most likely.”

Daemon lets out a low growl. “My bet is they’ll be at the fight tonight. Em said that Jerry was going to sell them both. That he was going to give Em to Scooter to gain back his patches he lost when my dad was still the President,” Daemon spits out and I have to work very hard not to let my anger take over at the thought of Ember and Pyper being sold. “With our reputation, I doubt they’ll try to do something public—they wouldn’t risk Ember and Pyper saying anything and revealing their plans. They may not respect women in their little corner of the world, but they aren’t so stupid as to think that everyone is of the same mindset. Though to them, we’re the ones in the wrong for not thinking the same way.”