The Devil’s Reward: An Opposites Attract Romance (The Devil’s Soldiers)

Time to take donations for the bail fund.

Church is in session, but I’m still glancing at my phone. I can’t believe that Quinn snuck out of here with Rose and Sage. Bullet and King were not pleased, while the rest of the brothers are grinning. “You’re fucked, brother,” Timber teases. “Your woman and those two, you’ll be lucky if they aren’t calling to get bailed out in a couple of hours.”

“Don’t jinx me,” I warn him. “Quinn’s told me that her mother and sister are only slightly tamer versions of Rose.”

Everyone looks at me in panic. Yeah, that’s what I thought, assholes, I think smugly.

Bullet bangs the gavel, bringing our attention back to him. He looks around the room and says, “We’re here to discuss a few things today. We are going to hold a service for Hammer tomorrow, and some of our allies will be here. A few may even arrive tonight. The club girls are back and I have them readying some rooms, but they’ll be scarce until tonight. Shadow, you may want to take Macy and Quinn back to her place. You know how rowdy it can be.”

I nod. “I’ll talk to her. She may want to spend some time with her family anyway.” And hopefully, keep the women from all flocking together.

“Hammer wouldn’t want a big thing, but we’re going to give him one anyway,” Bullet says gruffly. “Our brother lost his life in a search for the truth. We’ve taken care of his killer, and he’d be happy with that. After the funeral, we’ll be back here for our celebration of his life.”

“To Hammer,” Sniper says, pounding his fist on the table. “A damn good brother.” We all echo the sentiment, pounding our fists on the table. I look over at his empty chair, and it’s a punch in the gut to know that he won’t be the one to fill it.

Fucking Dagger.

Before we killed him, we got all the information out of Dagger we could. He admitted to Hammer following him and confronting him. Told us how he died in that cabin, and then he had Dmitri and his men throw his body at the gate as a message. Bullet had pounded on him at that admission. He didn’t care about his own wounds, he wanted justice for his best friend and longest brother.

Dagger also told us where to find the journal with all the information on Dmitri’s operation, not that he had any choice. We’d all had a turn at him by then, and he was long past holding anything in. He knew it was the end, and what was the point in hiding anything more?

Finally, Bullet killed him, a bullet to the middle of his forehead, the same way Hammer died. I didn’t stick around to worry about his body after that. I needed Quinn and spent most of the night holding her close, reassuring myself that she was safe.

“The other piece of business is what we know about Dagger’s information.” He pulls out the journal that we found in Dagger’s room, in a secret compartment under his bed. “We need to go to each of these locations to make sure those places are still in use, and then we need to decide what we do with the information.”

“I say we tip off the feds and let them handle it,” Viper suggests. “We’ve cut off the head of the snake, they can deal with the fallout.”

“Can we make sure they don’t come back to us?” Titan asks Cryos.

He gives him an affronted look. “Do you even know who you’re talking to?” he sniffs. “That’s child’s play.”

Titan rolls his eyes. “Whatever, I was just being sure.”

“Everyone in agreement?” Bullet asks. We pass it with a unanimous vote.

“What are we going to do about Isidor? I think the mafia is going to notice that their number one hitman is missing,” Viper points out.

Isidor was like a vault, but with some creative questioning from myself, Frost, and Bowie, he finally admitted that the higher-ups were eyeing this area for distribution and that they would send someone else to finish the job. Everything else was the same as Dagger had said, so we got rid of him.

Good riddance, I say.

“Let them think that he ran off,” Bullet says with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Might bring some retaliation,” Viper warns.

“Then we’ll deal with it,” Bullet replies. “It’s going to take some time for them to get themselves back in business, and hopefully with us giving the info to the feds it will make them think twice about continuing to operate around here.”

“There is chatter already that they’re wondering where he is,” Cryos says as he looks at his computer. “Dmitri’s uncle is the right-hand man to the Pakhan overseas, and he’s not happy that his nephew is gone. There is chatter about someone else, but I can’t figure out who they’re discussing yet. If I get a name, we can pass that along too.”

Bullet nods. “I looked through the journal, and Dagger did make a few notes of his own but nothing that makes any sense.”

“I’ll have a look,” Cryos offers. “Run it through some software I’m working on. Maybe it can pick up anything important.”

“I want to know what that fucker meant before he died,” I say darkly. Just before Bullet killed him, Dagger had looked at Bullet and asked him how it felt to be so stupid and not realize who he was. That he had no clue what was coming. And that it was only a matter of time before the club was gone.

“A bunch of bullshit,” Hulk grunts. “Fucker was just trying to get under our skin.”

“Maybe,” I say with a sigh. “Still, we should keep our ears to the ground. I wouldn’t have put it past him to have dealt with someone else that we don’t know about yet.”

“What makes you say that?” Viper asks curiously.

“He said that Hammer died at that old cabin with him,” I say, looking around the table. “Hammer had a perfect shot between his eyes. No way in hell Dagger did that. The asshole couldn’t hit a target dead in front of him. He always pulled to the right.”

“He missed Sage and Carson,” King agrees, leaning forward.

“And he messed up trying to kill Izzy,” Torque agrees, blue eyes glittering dangerously.

“Maybe he got lucky because he was so close to him?” Cryos suggests.

“Possible.” But I don’t believe it. My gut is telling me that this isn’t over yet, but hopefully, the most dangerous part is.

“No point in worrying about it now,” Bullet says briskly. “We focus on burying our brother, honoring him, and then we worry about this.” Everyone murmurs their agreement. “Good. We’ll end this meeting and then I’m going to try and get ahold of my stubborn woman.”

“Good luck with that,” Viper laughs. “We all know there’s no stopping her when she sets her mind to something.”

“I’m increasing the bail fund fees,” I tell them all. “Especially if they’re all going to be together later.” The Lincolns and the Inked crew are coming over as well tonight, and the Lanes are still here. “Adding in Quinn’s sister and mother, I’m doubling it.”

“Come on, they can’t be that bad,” Timber laughs.

My phone rings, and I see Quinn’s name. I open it and put it on speaker. “Hey, gorgeous,” I say loudly. “Are Rose and Sage driving you crazy?”

“Ah, well,” Quinn hedges. “I kind of need your help. Oh, and your bail money.”

Timber bursts out laughing while the rest of us groan. “What happened?” I ask warily.

“We’re at the airport,” Quinn says tiredly. “Let’s just say it was a case of mistaken identity with my parents’ and sisters’ suitcases, involved a very horrifying search that has left me permanently scarred, and resulted in them getting belligerent with the agents. My family, Rose, and Sage, are all sitting in the airport jail. And they won’t be released until someone comes and bails them out.”

“Fuck,” Bullet groans.

“We’re coming, gorgeous,” I assure her as we all stand. “Are you and Macy okay?”

“I’m fine,” Macy shouts happily. “But Mom wouldn’t let me see what kind of toys Aunt Peyton brought. Grandma and Grandpa brought some funny ones though. One had a ball on a leather thing. Mom, do you think Grandma will let me play with the handcuffs? I want to try and get out of them.”

“Just get here,” Quinn pleads as the men around me laugh.

“We’re on our way. Just make sure Macy doesn’t get a hold of those cuffs. I don’t want her to learn how to break out of them yet. Save that for the teens,” I laugh.

“You’re not funny,” Quinn growls into the phone. Then she hangs up.

“Pay up, boys,” I say loudly.

“I think since it’s your woman’s family, we shouldn’t have to pay,” Medic argues, but he grins as he pulls bills out of his wallet and hands them to me.

“At this point, I just expect my woman to be in jail,” King says with a sigh. Then he grins wickedly. “Maybe I’ll bring out some handcuffs myself.”

I ignore him and we all head for our bikes. Bullet and Viper still aren’t up to riding so they climb into the SUV with Stone and follow us. When we reach the airport, I’m surprised to see everyone waiting for us on the curb, a couple of agents standing warily behind them.

I pull my bike up alongside them and climb off. “Shadow!” Macy screeches happily.

I scoop her up and set her on my hip when she reaches me. Quinn is just behind her, looking embarrassed and annoyed. “Hey, gorgeous,” I say with a smirk. “I hear you need bail money.”

“They need bail money,” she corrects me, pointing at the others.

“No you don’t,” the agent behind them grits out. “Just take them and go home. I’ve had enough suggestions for one day.”

“Seems you still have your head up your ass,” a woman who I can only assume is Quinn’s sister tells him drily. “You sure I can’t help you with that? I have something else with me that could work just as well.”

He glares at her even as the rest of us laugh. “Damn, I think I’m in love,” Viper announces, stepping forward.

She turns and looks at him, giving him an interested once-over. “He looks like he’d be the right size, alright,” Sage says gleefully, eyes bright with mirth.

Viper looks at her in confusion, and Quinn groans. Her sister grins wickedly. “Oh, I think you might indeed, big guy. We’ll talk.”

“Let’s go,” Quinn says impatiently. “I’ve had enough embarrassment for one day.”

“What’s a dildo?” Macy suddenly asks me, making my head snap around in shock. Quinn groans. Macy looks at me expectantly.

“What?” I ask, sure I’ve misheard her.

“I heard Aunt Sage ask Auntie Pey where she got her giant dildo. But I don’t know what that is,” Macy says. “Do you?”

“Ahhhh.” I’m at a loss for words. I look at Quinn for help, but she turns and walks away. “Not something for kids,” I say lamely.

Macy pouts. “I want to play with the dildo!” she yells loudly, clearly angry about being denied. “It’s not fair.”

The guys are laughing their asses off behind me, obviously pleased at my predicament. Assholes. “No, Macy,” I say firmly. “How about we head back to the clubhouse,” I suggest quickly when I see the temper tantrum brewing in her eyes. “We have ice cream.”

Instantly distracted, she brightens. “I want ice cream,” she says happily. “Let’s go.”

“Thank God,” I hear an agent say, and I glare at him. He turns and the others follow him back inside.

“Well, I guess if we were looking to make an impression, this was one way,” Quinn’s mother says brightly. “Nice to finally meet you, Shadow.”

“Ma’am,” I say politely. I look at her father and shake his hand. “Sir.”

“None of that,” her father says quickly. “I need a damn beer.”

“I think we can make that happen,” I promise with a smile. “Let’s go and catch up with your daughter. I’m probably in the dog house after this.”

“Son, with this group, just grab a pillow and a blanket because you’ll be in there plenty,” he advises as we start walking. Everyone follows as we make our way over to Quinn’s car. She’s leaning against it looking exasperated.

I go to her immediately and kiss her. “You okay?” I ask her.

She says nothing, just grabs Macy and puts her in her car seat. When she shuts the door, she turns to me and hisses, “No I am not okay. I have been publicly humiliated, forcibly detained, and if that weren’t bad enough, I had to watch federal agents showcase a bunch of sex toys directly from my parents’ suitcase. My sister, I expected; my parents, no. I need to bleach my mind, Shadow.”

“How about I give you something better to think about later,” I suggest in a low voice, leaning down to press a kiss to her neck.

She shivers. “I don’t think that’s going to happen quickly. I might need a few tries,” she murmurs back.

“A good spanking might work,” her sister quips from beside us, making Quinn screech in surprise. Peyton grins and I have to bite back a laugh. “Come on, sister. The sooner we get to the clubhouse, the sooner you can bang your man. I’ll happily watch Macy, but you’re on your own tonight. I have my eye on some options and I want me some biker dick before I go home.”

I can’t help it. I laugh, and Quinn glares at me. God, I’m so screwed with this bunch, but it’s going to be fun. Now to just keep the girls all away from each other.