Page 3 of Crash’s Secret

Razor is the club’s Road Captain. Crash might be the VP and my brother’s best friend, but when it comes to getting things done, Razor is Saber’s right hand.

“Don’t mind them,” Shelby says, close to my ear. “It’s been calm. That’s all anybody will tell us, anyway. Club business stays in Church.”

“And what do you think?” I ask her. The talk of all this violence makes me nervous. I care about a lot of people in this room; they’re the only family I have.

She takes a second before she answers. “I think two months of calm doesn’t erase years of bad. But your brother is careful, and National wouldn’t leave if it wasn’t safe. Come on, you need a beer.”

She flags down the prospect behind the bar, and he hands the bottles over to us. As I take mine, I look at the back door again, wondering where Crash went.

Shelby looks at the door. Then at me. She doesn’t say anything about it, and somehow that’s worse. She already has me figured out.

I just hope she doesn’t mention it to my brother.

Saber finds me an hour later and steers me into the kitchen.

“So.” He leans on the counter, boots crossed at the ankle. “I really want you to stay at the ranch.”

I shake my head. “Nope. I’m not moving in with you and your Old Lady.”

“I’ve got thirty acres.”

“You don’t need your kid sister in the guest room.” I lean on the counter across from him. “Besides, I’ve been on my own for four years. I don’t need a guardian.”

He scowls. “Fine. There’s an extra room in the clubhouse. Stay here until the trouble is over with the Warriors. Then, I’ll help you get your own place.”

“I thought it was over.”

“Probably is.” He doesn’t look at me when he says it. “Humor me anyway.”

I nod. “Deal.”

Staying at the clubhouse is not ideal, but it’s safe, and I’ll have my own bathroom.

“And I have a job for you.” He says this casually, but knowing my brother, he’s had this planned for a while. “The books are a mess for the club’s bar, and Duke is stretched thin. But he’ll train you on the Bones and Bucks ledgers. The pay is good. And you can walk there from the clubhouse.”

“A bookkeeper for the Hellborn Kings.” I turn the bottle in my hands. “Dad would be proud.”

“He would be.” The grief comes and goes in one breath, the only way either of us lets it. “It’s legit work, Cass. Nothing illegal. That’s the point of it.”

“Who runs Bones and Bucks now?”

I know the answer.

“Crash.”

The beer bottle is cold against my palm, and I’m using that feeling to anchor me. I’m going to be spending a lot of time with the man I’ve never stopped thinking about.

“Crash is the person I trust most in this world,” Saber says. “If anything escalates with the Warriors, I like that he’ll be close by. He’ll protect you if he needs to.”

“Okay, I’ll take the job.” My voice is too eager, but he doesn’t react.

“Great.” He squeezes my shoulder. “It’s good to have you back, sis.”

“It’s good to be back,” I say.

I just wish the man I came back for had stayed in the room long enough to say hello.

CHAPTER 2