“No, I guess not.” I sat back in my chair and rubbed the back of my neck. “Prez, doesn’t it seem strange to you that basically every person we’ve been looking for over the past few weeks has turned up dead?”
Copper shrugged. “Oliver hasn’t. Besides, it’s not uncommon for people to overdose on heroin.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. So, what’s the plan?” I asked.
“According to the information I was given, Roy was married. He has one son from a previous relationship, Oliver, and another son from his current wife. He also has a stepdaughter, which we met the day we were looking for Oliver and found Spring. Since he has a family, I’m thinking there will be a funeral.”
“You want to grab him after his father’s funeral?” I asked and acted like I was shocked when I was really just trying to poke the bear.
“Yes, I fucking do. He caused problems at my bar, he might be selling drugs in my establishment, and he helped his friend break into one of my rental properties who then had the audacity to die inside,” Copper fumed.
“Easy, Prez. I was just fucking with you.”
“Fucker. You’ll pay for that,” he laughed. “What’re you doing here anyway?”
“River’s working tonight. I thought I’d get some work done so I can spend some time with her on her days off during the week,” I told him.
“When are you asking her to be your Old Lady?”
“Who said anything about that? She’s only here for a few more weeks,” I quickly replied.
Copper nodded and got to his feet. “No one needed to say anything. You took her to ride the Tail of the Dragon. I’ll catch ya later, brother,” he smirked.
I can’t say I hadn’t thought about her being my Old Lady because I had, more than I cared to admit. But she didn’t have a life in Devil Springs. She only had a few weeks left on her contract with the hospital and hadn’t said anything about wanting to stay in Devil Springs once it was finished.
I stayed in the office for several hours after Copper’s visit, but I didn’t get much work done. My mind kept wandering back to River and how much I wanted her to stay.
***
Someone banging on my door woke me. I sat up and glanced around my room, surprised that River wasn’t asleep beside me. Actually, I was more surprised that I hadn’t woken up when she got home from work.
I got out of bed and pulled my jeans on while the banging on the front door continued. “I’m coming,” I yelled and then cursed hoping I hadn’t woken River. She sometimes had trouble going back to sleep after a shift if she was woken up.
I yanked the door open to find Savior standing on my porch. “Copper wants you at the clubhouse.”
“Why?” I asked over my shoulder as I walked back to my room to finish getting dressed.
“Prez just said to get you to the clubhouse.”
“He could’ve called me.”
“He did.”
I looked at the nightstand and realized my phone wasn’t there. “Fuck! I must’ve left my phone at the office.”
I quickly brushed my teeth, slapped on some deodorant, and ran a damp cloth over my face. I quietly opened the door to River’s room to check on her before I headed out with Savior. When my eyes landed on her empty, perfectly made up bed, I whirled around to find Savior already heading to the front door. “What the fuck is going on?” I bellowed.
“Clubhouse,” was all he said before he climbed on his bike and took off.
I hauled ass to the clubhouse and damn near laid my bike down when I recognized several bikes from Croftridge in the forecourt, particularly the bikes belonging to Dash and Phoenix.
I pushed through the front door and was met with a fist to my face. Without conscious thought, I pulled my knife from its sheath and held it to the neck of the motherfucker I’d just slammed against the wall.
In the blink of an eye, my blade was knocked from my hand and I was face down on the floor with a knee in my back. “Breathe, brother,” Batta heaved in my ear.
“The fuck is going on?” I roared and tried to throw him off of me.
“You said you’d take care of her! You swore you wouldn’t let anything happen to her!” Dash bellowed from across the room.