Page 19 of Ex-Military Biker’s Bride

“How do you know?”

“Prez asked me to hack her laptop when I repaired it. Just in case.” She gives me an apologetic grin. “He’s in the office, if you want to talk to him.”

The back room smells of paper and old cigarettes. There's a big desk which Striker and Prez share, a filing cabinet with a dent in the side, and a wall of photographs going back years from the club.

Prez shuts the door and stays standing.

“You need to tell me the truth, brother. Did you tell her what you are?”

“Yes.”

“After I said not to.”

“Yes.”

“Fuck, Lucky. I know you’re half in love with her already, but how did you let your cock replace your brain?”

“We can trust her, Prez.”

“What I said to you was that we don't know how deep she's in with Rotmere. Maybe she’s lying, maybe she’s not.” He leans forward on both hands. “How long have you known her? Not long enough to make an informed decision, that’s how long.”

There's nothing to say to that.

“You want to know what it costs? Say that story runs.” His voice stays level, which is worse than him shouting at me. “Rotmere reads it and works out which pilot's been fooling them all this time. They’ll try and bury you in a hole in the forest inside the week. We’ll lose people trying to protect you.”

“I know.”

“And those women we think they’re holding?” He straightens up. “The day it prints, they move every one of them somewhere we will never find them. Doc's two years of work are up in smoke and the whole thing starts again.”

I take off my cut and lay it on the desk.

Prez looks at it for a long moment. Outside, somebody starts a bike in the lot and lets it idle.

“No, Lucky. You put that back on.”

“Prez.”

“Pick it up.” He shoves it back across the desk at me. “You're still my brother, you still fly for me. You made a mistake, now you make it right.”

Hawk finds me out by the fence at the back of the lot. It’s a spot where the gravel gives up and the grass runs up into the forest. Birds congregate around the little fountain Bethany put out here.

My brother doesn't say anything for a while. He leans on the rail with his shoulder close to mine. He’s a grumpy bastard, but he’s always got my back. He’s been right by my side since we were kids; every time one of us had broken something that couldn't be fixed, the other would stand by his side.

The wind's coming down off the ridge with a cold edge on it that means rain.

“Heard you’ve been stood out here a long time,” he says.

“Yep.”

“She call you back?”

“Nope.”

He looks out at the mountains. “You think she’s going to publish her story?”

I turn my head and shrug. “The other thing it could be is that something's happened to her out there and I don’t know where she is. And I'd rather she be the villain than that.”

The wind moves the long grass down by the fence line. He pushes off the rail and claps me on the back of the neck. “Eat something. You're no use to her like this.”