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“Good. How long before the choice to evacuate is taken from us?”
“Another couple of hours? Unless we left on bikes, we probably couldn’t make it out now. Traffic’s too backed up.”
“All right then.” Thorn stepped back. “We hunker down and wait for this to pass. Sandbags are in place around the compound and the clubhouse, but I’d like to do one more sweep. I’d rather not have flooding that’s preventable.”
We spent the next couple of hours inspecting and shoring up any weaknesses around the Salvation’s Bane compound. Most everything was done so this was mostly a walk through. I felt like a commander taking one last review of his troops before a battle. Ensuring everyone was ready. That the equipment and weaponry was good. In a way, I suppose that’s exactly what it was, only the enemy wasn’t one we could defeat. We just had to hold on until it tired itself out.
We’d gone out in pairs. Venus had volunteered to go with me and I knew exactly what the woman was after. I had to cover my mouth to keep from smiling. I knew this was coming, only I expected it would come from Shadow. I should have known better. Shadow wouldn’t have hesitated to bring something to me, but he was likely hoping to enjoy watching Venus tell me how it was going to be.
“Have you thought about patching women in Bones?” Venus was a tall, pink-haired beauty. She was built like an Amazon and was just as deadly. I was six-five and two hundred eighty pounds, but Venus wasn’t intimidated by me in the least. As far as I could tell, she wasn’t intimidated by anyone. Which is likely why no one ever called her out about her pink Harley.
Ever.
“Yep.” I had. Daniel -- Cyclone -- and I had already decided we were bringing it to a vote after we got back. If anyone deserved to be patched members, it was Millie and Cheetah. Millie was as deadly as they came while Cheetah had been with the club for the better part of twenty years. She was a warrior in her own right, but she saw her role as public relations. There wasn’t a kid in town who didn’t come running when she pulled that old-ass Winnebago into a Fun Run or into the mall parking lot during a Somernites Cruise weekend. She wasn’t officially a patched member, but Cain had always allowed her as much say as any other member.
“And?”
I grinned at her. “That’s club business, Venus. Bones business. Not Salvation’s Bane.”
She frowned at me. “I know places in swamp where even gators would have trouble finding your body.”
“I have no doubt you do. But if that happens, you’ll never know what we’ve decided.”
“Let Millie in or I’m going to convince her to come to Bane. She only stays because of Shadow. If I get Shadow to move, Millie will too.”
I stopped and turned to the woman, giving her a hard stare even though it was hard not to smile at her bossiness. “You can threaten me all you want, Venus. I respect you and Millie as both women and warriors. But Bones is my club. You don’t get to dictate how I run my club.”
We stared at each other for a long moment. I won’t lie. Those fucking freaky pink eyes of hers wigged me the fuck out. As did her razor-sharp pink nails. She wrapped up the look with pink leather and pink motorcycle boots. It should have looked ridiculous, but it was just… fucking creepy as shit.
“Point taken,” she finally said, breaking off to continue moving through the compound to the next structure we were inspecting and making last minute fortifications. I knew this wouldn’t be the last I’d hear about it, but, really, it was already a done deal. We’d only waited to implement the final changes until me and Cyclone had settled into our new roles. Should have been done ages ago, but Cheetah had never pushed, and Millie was still relatively new. She’d taken on the role of a prospect, but nothing had been made official. It was way past time.
The wind was picking up. Still nothing horrible but I knew it was a portent of what was to come. And something just felt… off. I blamed it on my overprotective instincts. Since I was a kid, I’d always seen it as my job to look out for my family. Dan and Suzie had been the only family I’d had until we came to Bones. I’d brought my brother and sister to the biggest, baddest place I could find in the hopes the club would kill our nightmare. Bones had.
Over the radio someone reported in. “All good on the West end of the compound.”
We’d divided into three teams. Seemed it was time to sound off.
