Having It All by Kati Wilde Read Free Book Online

and face hard, my veep answers. Looking at him, most of the brothers are probably assuming that Blowback took the prospect out. He didn’t. Blowback got some info from him a few weeks ago—mostly about the Eighty-Eight’s meth operation—but the prospect vanished about a day after. We still don’t know if he took off or if Reichmann killed him for talking.
    “So we need that info,” Red says. “We don’t want to leave shit to chance. And we don’t want to leave anything that’ll point to us. So when we burn their house down, we need to be like a dick in a rubber—we go in clean and we come out clean.”
    Fuck. That’s a good one. But grinning makes my head pound and my temper short, so when I see Bottlecap sidling along the wall toward Red and me, the look I give the prospect freezes him in place.
    He holds up a phone— my phone. The last I saw it I was dumping it in a basket with everyone else’s so there weren’t any distractions and no one got their asses kicked for texting during the meeting.
    “You got a few messages,” the kid says.
    “Prez,” Red reminds him quietly.
    “You got a few messages, Prez. I’m on phone duty.”
    “Bring it here. Everyone else, take ten minutes.” Two messages. “You got reception here?”
    “No, sir. I was babysitting them out by the bend in the road.”
    One from Hashtag. Miss E was crying her eyes out because the fridge is empty. We’re heading to PV for lunch.
    Into town. “Who usually shops for groceries?”
    “Me, sir.”
    “You make sure you get them this afternoon.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    I read the message again. My chest is tight as fuck. Crying her eyes out. Jenny doesn’t cry easy. Not over food. She told me she’s all right.
    She’s not.
    But there’s no message from her, asking for me to come. Just one from Zoomie. According to Blowback, she’s not here because she’s flying a helitack crew out to a wildfire a few counties over. That probably pisses her off. She’s real careful never to give any brothers the opportunity to say she isn’t pulling her weight—and some will. They won’t say shit about the others who couldn’t get off work to come to this meeting. But some will say maybe she’s afraid to mix it up with the Eighty-Eight.
    It’s not about the meeting, though. Jenny’s asking me if I know any aerial photographers so she can make a brochure. BUT SHE DIDN’T WANT TO HIRE MY BIRD. I gave her a few other names but WTF? She wants them by tomorrow. TOMORROW. Is she okay?
    Irritation spikes through me. What’s the big fucking deal about tomorrow? There’s nothing else going on. And if Zoomie’s upset that Jenny wants to hire someone else, that’s her damn business. Jenny’s not running a lemonade stand. Everything she does with that brewery is based on all kinds of marketing research and she plans everything ahead—
    Hell. She plans a lot further ahead than tomorrow . That’s what Zoomie’s getting at. There’s nothing particular about tomorrow. It’s just that Jenny doesn’t run her business that way.
    She’s usually generous with her friends, too. I’ve seen it. There’s pretty much nothing she won’t give them and tossing a little business in their direction is just part of it—just like the brothers look to each other before hiring someone outside the club.
    And she’s not all right. Breaking down and crying.
    It isn’t hard to guess what’s going on. Throwing herself into work, distancing herself from her friends. She’s blaming herself for this. Maybe worried she’ll put a target on Zoomie just by being close. Probably real scared the Eighty-Eight will come for me again. If that’s the case, nothing will help her but getting out to the Eighty-Eight’s compound and finishing this.
    And I’m the stupidest fuck that ever lived.
    I write a response. She’ll be all right. Get your ass here ASAP. I need to hire your bird.
    Bottlecap’s still waiting. I give him the phone. “That’ll send when you get back