“And while some member of your team deals with legal issues because he put himself out there to be arrested, we’ve lost resources that could be put to better use,” Mitch retorted.

“Let me talk to Resurrection,” Rush suggested.

“Room’s already pretty fuckin’ packed, man,” Luke noted.

“Resurrection won’t mind a couple of brothers going down for something they didn’t really do,” Rush replied. “As long as we make sure their asses are pulled out of that sling. And anyway, back in the day when they were Bounty, if B can be believed, they were in bed with these assholes without knowing they were in bed with them. They were the ones who were running security for those transports that were taken down. If that was me and my club had that in its history, I’d wanna know. Having it in their history without knowing it makes them vulnerable. It also makes them motivated to find out who was really behind that shit. So them getting involved in this won’t come as a surprise. They had men who did time back then, ties like that bind. We’re allies. If I don’t share that with them, they find out we knew, we’d lose that, and we need shit copacetic with MCs all the time, but now especially.”

Axl didn’t miss the proud look Tack Allen had on his face when his son was talking.

And he thought it’d be interesting to know how that felt, having a dad that was proud of you and did not hesitate showing it.

Though he suspected he’d never know.

“Mitch, you good with that?” Hawk asked.

“Plan carefully, Hawk,” Mitch said quietly. “We do not need innocent men behind bars and dirty cops free.”

No one said anything because no one disagreed.

Hank broke the silence.

“By the book.”

Yeah.

Fuck.

From here on out, they had to keep their noses clean.

Or be even more careful when they didn’t.

“Hawk, you definitely. Lee, you too. And Knight, you watch your back,” Hank went on.

Knight’s lips thinned.

“Brandi mentioned you and Eddie specifically, Hank,” Aug reminded him of something they’d already reported.

“We’re clean,” Eddie grunted.

He and Hank were partners.

Hank knew the rules, and for the most part, played by them.

It was lore that Eddie Chavez had always shot from the hip.

If it wasn’t this situation, this would almost be funny.

But it was this situation.

So it was not funny.

“We’re up,” Malik put in. “Me and Mitch and Brock. We can’t swing our asses out there, but you got inside shit you need done in a cop shop, you come to one of us.”

There were general murmurings of agreement all around.

“Right, we have movement,” Hawk said in a way they all knew he was ending it. “Not much, but there’s something there now when before, we had nothing. Cisco and I are still on Mamá to get to Lynn and Heidi. For now, we just had a huge fuckin’ wake-up call to stay smart and vigilant. Let’s not drop that ball.”

There was more murmuring of concurrence.

And the meeting was adjourned.

* * *

After the meet, they’d had time to grill burgers at Lottie and Mo’s while the women continued to do whatever women did at a bridal shower.

Hawk joined them, and not only because his wife, Gwen, was at the shower.

Boone was pissed.

And Axl had walked into the meeting raw from a conversation with Hattie.

Boone wasn’t hiding his and Hawk was the kind of man, part because he was their boss, part because he was a good guy, and part because he was a vet himself, who would not miss the kind of raw Axl was feeling.

Not to mention, one of his own was imminently getting married to a fine woman who loved him more than her own life.

So he stuck with his men.

They all started getting texts, though, and none of them fucked around with moving out to go to their women.

As Axl passed the house, he saw Hattie come out of it and he knew she’d been watching for him.

Looking out for him.

Feelings invaded, some of them bad—Jordan coming up, how he hadn’t handled that well with Hattie.

A lot of them good, culminating in him having to park three houses down from Jet and Eddie’s, but by the time he got out of the Jeep, Hattie was skip-running his way.

He was on the grassy verge up from the curb, hadn’t even made the sidewalk, when she hit him, and he immediately curved his arms around her.

She arched in, one arm around his shoulders, one hand wrapped around the back of his neck.

She’d gripped his neck like that before.

That night they made love.

He knew right then it was her brand, hot on his skin in a way that radiated out and released the tension from his neck and shoulders better than any steam or massage.

“Hi,” she said softly.

Christ, his girl was something.

“Hey,” he replied. “Have fun?”

“It was a blast.”

He grinned at her, but it was small, and it died fast.

“Babe—” he started.

“You don’t have to—”

“I do.”

She went quiet.

“I wasn’t ready to talk about that piece, or Jordan. But you’re right. It’s a part of me and with what we’re building, I need to give it to you. And I should have just said I wasn’t ready instead of being a dick to you.”

“And you were right,” she instantly returned. “That wasn’t about me. I should have let it go and then brought it up later, letting you know it was important to me to have it, but you could give it to me when the time was right for you.”

“Okay, but I could have been cooler in how I communicated to you.”

“Axl, honey, I want you just as you are. Not diluted. Not careful with every step you take or word you say. You were feeling something, and you let it out. My point is, I can take it.”

“Yes, I know, you’ve been taking a lot from your father for a really fuckin’ long time.”

Her entire head jerked, her curls bouncing.

“That’s not like my dad.”

“It’s—”

Her hand on his neck squeezed hard.

“Axl, it is not one thing like my dad. We’re going to fight. There are going to be times when you’re not cool, or I’m not cool. We just experienced one. That isn’t like what my dad does. It’s being in a relationship.”