“Anything you all left out last night?” Maddox asked.

There was a shit ton they left out.

But it was a shit ton they’d never know.

He liked these guys.

But they were not Chaos.

“Not that I know. It’s a mess. I’ve been in it for years and I can’t keep up,” he said.

Maddox went on the move, rounding the counter and doing it talking. “We thought we’d come up, get Rebel, leave. That isn’t happening. This shit is going down, we can’t leave.”

Rush got out of his way for Maddox to commandeer the coffeepot and watched the man move to their mugs at the counter, still talking.

“We got personal days we can take. That’d bring us to Tuesday. After that, we’d have to take vacation. We got some,” he was pouring coffee into Diesel’s mug, “but we also got a two-week honeymoon that’s comin’ up soon and that shit is happening. In other words,” he shoved the pot back into the maker, “you got a week.”

“Before what?” Rush asked as the man moved back around the counter.

“Before we take her and go,” Diesel forced out then sucked back more joe, a lot of it, hot, and Rush was impressed he didn’t run directly to the freezer to suck on an ice cube.

He thought this instead of allowing his back to get up when they mentioned taking Rebel.

“There’s no timer on this situation,” Rush informed them.

“There is now,” Maddox replied, planting his ass on a stool but lifting his hand toward Rush. “You’re solid. Your Club sounds solid. Nothin’ but good vibes, brother.” He dropped his hand. “And not sayin’ dick about your ability to look after her. It’s clear you’re more than into her. It’s clear she’s more than into you. And you look like a man who can handle himself. But we wouldn’t be movin’ her to Phoenix. We’d be taking her there and she can come back when this is done.”

“She does have a say in this,” Rush pointed out.

“She does not,” Diesel muttered into his mug.

Maddox gave his man a look before turning back to Rush. “I hear that. We’ll talk to her. But she’s safer down there.”

“I got fourteen brothers who’ll look after her here, there’s two of you and you got work. You also got a woman. I’m not sure how long the arm is on these assholes, but I’m thinkin’ none of us want to find out,” Rush returned.

“You don’t give a fuck,” Diesel said.

Right.

Now he was getting pissed.

Maddox was correct. He could handle himself.

One of them, he played it smart, he might be able to best.

Both of them, he was fucked.

And no way he wanted Rebel to wake up to her man fighting her brother and his man in the kitchen.

“I do give a fuck.” His voice was tight trying to rein it in.

“No,” Diesel said, putting his mug down. “We got a woman. You just said that. I fucked my boy hard last night, you heard it. And you don’t give a fuck.”

“Why would I give a fuck?” Rush asked.

“What biker doesn’t give a fuck a man’s fuckin’ his man up the ass down the hall?” Diesel asked bluntly, and the blunt had a purpose.

It was a challenge.

Rush didn’t need a challenge.

But Diesel did.

And for Rebel, Rush had to put this to bed.

“This biker doesn’t.”

“Your family doesn’t either, and there were two patched in sittin’ that table last night, and they don’t either,” Diesel remarked.

“No, they don’t.”

Diesel stared at him.

Then he shook his head again, looking down at his mug as he lifted it up, muttering, “Trust Rebel to find the likes a’ you,” and he sucked back another enormous swallow.

“Are we done with that shit?” Maddox asked impatiently.

Diesel’s massive shoulders shrugged. “Sure.”

“You wanna weigh in on where you’re at with your sister bein’ up here or down there?” Maddox prompted.

Diesel looked to his man. “We got a week. After that week, this shit isn’t done, we’ll reassess.” He turned to Rush. “Work for you?”

Rush nodded and sipped his own joe before putting it down on the counter. “Works for me.” He then moved to start getting the shit to make his father’s pancakes, saying, “Now you two wanna share who that chick was who was with you?”

“Sixx,” Maddox told him. “She’s an investigator down in Phoenix.”

“She’s also a badass,” Diesel mumbled.

One look at her, Rush got that impression.

“Seems a significant show of friendship, she escorted you guys up here,” Rush noted.

He got nothing to that.

So he set the bowl he’d been getting out on the counter and looked to them.

“What?” he pushed.

“Sixx is good at what she does,” Maddox shared.

“And?” Rush prompted.

“This Valenzuela guy fucked up a Domme yesterday,” Maddox told him.

“Jesus, fuck,” Rush bit out.

“Yeah. Beat her to shit. Raped her ass with a dildo. Left it inside her and her lyin’ on the floor while his people came in, took the sheets, even sent cleaners in to wipe the place down and vacuum around her lying there,” Maddox said.

“I should not be surprised at more evidence this guy is a sick fuck, but I’m surprised he’s that big of a sick fuck,” Rush clipped.

“Yeah, well,” Diesel chimed in, glanced at Maddox, then back at Rush, “we’re in the life.”

“The life?”

“We’re Doms,” Diesel told him. “Got one sub, Molly. But we play. And I’m head of security for a sex club down in Phoenix.”

Well, that explained who was top.

“Right,” Rush replied.

“Sixx is also a Domme,” Diesel continued. “We’re a community. We look after each other. This woman who got worked over, she didn’t want to talk. Someone gave her protection and got her to talk. Word filtered, Sixx heard, she’s too classy to go batshit crazy. But under that class, man, trust me, she’s going batshit crazy. She’s here for us. For Rebel. But she got word of that when she was sharing all that’s been going down and we were buying tickets to get up here yesterday, so she tagged along because now she’s here to see to shit with this Valenzuela guy.”

Fuck.

“That’s not a good idea,” Rush told them.

“Sixx unleashed, not sure anyone can control that,” Diesel replied.

“She’s a switch, she’s got her own Dom. He’s possessive, protective and a man with some serious means. If he even thought he could lock her down, he would. But she’s up here. So that says it all,” Maddox added.

“I’m not sure you both caught the fact that it’s only women who are made to stop breathing with all this shit,” Rush pointed out.

“Not sure any of those women got dead are like Sixx,” Diesel returned.

“A bar owner, who’s the toughest broad I know, got shot in the face in her own back yard,” Rush shared.

“Sixx doesn’t wear a mask and cape, but don’t be fooled,” Maddox advised.

“I see you got mad respect for this woman, but I saw with my own goddamned eyes, a woman laid out on a table, throat slit and a note stapled to her forehead. I didn’t even meet your friend, but I know I don’t want that to happen to her,” Rush shot back.

“So you did hold shit back,” Maddox growled, and Rush focused on him.

Well, Christ.

He liked the man, was getting to know him, good guy.

But his normal look could give you the shivers.

Him pissed, Jesus.

“Your girl Sixx didn’t give that to you?” Rush asked.

“She had that and didn’t, we’ll be chattin’ with her next.” Maddox was still growling when he answered.

Rush gave them a nod. “Going into specifics over beef casserole, with two boys who’re eating down in the basement in front of a PlayStation but could come up at any minute and anyway, they’re big on listenin’ in when they shouldn’t, and women around the table, wasn’t the way to go,” Rush said. “You want it all, the other body was my sister’s best friend, dumped behind a bar, and keeping her company in her body bag were two skulls and some tarantulas. This shit is fucked up. This isn’t about women’s liberation. This is about women getting dead.”