“Hi,” she says.
“Hi. Everyone still in the meeting?” I ask.
“Yeah, it just started,” she says. “Want to have a drink with me?”
“I really need to talk to Wirth.”
“Oh. Well, I haven’t been around here long, but I don’t think it would be wise to interrupt, not today.”
She’s probably right. So, I reluctantly decide to wait, climbing up on one of the barstools next to her.
“I’m Cora,” the woman says, offering me her hand.
“Maeve,” I say as we shake.
“Maeve,” Cora repeats. “That’s Irish right? Doesn’t it mean…intoxicating?”
“Ah, yeah. It is,” I say, glad that no one else is around to hear that information.
“Mine is too, but Cora just means heart or maiden, so lame.”
“So, you’re Irish too, a natural redhead?”
“Yeah. And I’ve been hearing that’s not a popular thing to be right now since it may have been the Irish that shot up the Knights’ bar. I told Silas I should probably stay home, but he’s so protective.”
“Sounds like he’s a good one.”
“He is,” she agrees with the dreamy smile of a woman in love.
Cora and I chit chat until the door to the meeting room finally opens.
I’m off my barstool in a heartbeat, hurrying over to look for Wirth.
“Maeve?” Hunt says in surprise when he comes out first. “What are you doing here? Worried about us so much you couldn’t stay away?” he asks as he wraps me in a tight bear hug.
“That’s right,” I agree. “How are you?” I ask, noticing the gauze wrapped around his head and covering his ear.
“On the fucking mend,” he says.
Right before he lets me go, I spot Wirth over his shoulder. He comes to a complete stop and stares at us.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” I say to Hunt before I go around him, saying hello to some of the other guys until I reach Wirth.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he whispers under his breath.
“I needed to talk to you, and you blocked my phone calls,” I tell him. “Please, Wirth?”
“Who’s this? Who is she?” a big, tattooed man with shoulder-length brown hair asks when he strolls up next to Wirth.
“Malcolm, this is Maeve. Maeve, this is the president of the original Dirty Aces. He was almost killed the other night,” Wirth grits out.
“Ah, it was just a scratch,” Malcolm says with a pat to his wounded shoulder. “Now I understand why Wirth went MIA…” he trails off as he eyes me up and down with obvious male appreciation.
“Yeah, but would Naomi?” Wirth snaps at him.
“Oh, fuck off,” Malcolm says before he chuckles and walks away.
“Can we talk?” I ask Wirth when the other man is out of earshot, nodding to the empty room behind him.
“I’m not letting you in there,” he says, grabbing me by my elbow and pulling me toward the front door. He’s muttering under his breath so no one can hear, but it sounds like he says, “For all I know, you’ll plant a bug in it.”
Outside and down past all the store fronts, Wirth finally comes to a stop and lets me go in the alley.
Glancing around, he says, “Huh, this reminds me of the alley where Fiasco was shot twice and nearly died.”
“I swear I didn’t know they were going to shoot anyone!” I tell him again.
“That’s the biggest load of horseshit I’ve ever heard!” he yells back.
“It’s the truth! Cormac told me they were going to do a drive-by to scare the Knights, to try and run them out of town, hit up the bikes.”
“Do you honestly think those men inside would run from a few stray bullets?” Wirth asks.
“I-I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do! This is war, Maeve! You had to have known that, so save your lies for someone who will buy them!”
“I was just trying to protect my brother, okay?” I finally admit to him.
“Your brother. Right.”
“His name is Rian, and he’s only eighteen. He just turned eighteen, but now he thinks he’s some bad ass soldier for the Irish. Cormac is in charge, but only for a few more years, until my brother is ready to take over and follow in our father’s footsteps. He’s all the family I have, and I can’t lose him!” I tell him through the tears blurring my vision.
“So, let me see if I’ve got this straight – you were a goddamn plant in the Knights to get intel for the Irish, including when they were having a big party with everyone there?” Wirth asks.
“That’s…yes, but it’s not as bad as it sounds!”
“It’s sounds really fucking bad, Maeve. There’s no other way to spin it! You’re a traitor, plain and simple. You fucked all the Knights and were giving information to their enemy!”
“I made a deal with Cormac. He said he needed my brother, and all of the guys who think Rian is supposed to eventually lead, to help him keep the Knights from taking over his drug business or whatever. I told him I would help try to get them to leave if he would figure out a way to push my brother out when the Knights are gone. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, I swear!”
“Well, three men did get hurt. More could have, including their women. Do you have any idea what they would’ve done if one of those guys lost their girl? They would’ve torched the entire earth to go after the people responsible, you included!”
“I know that!” I exclaim. “I’m sorry.”
“Finally, you apologize,” he grunts. “And the fucked-up thing is, I don’t even know if you mean it.”
“Of course I mean it! I’m not the horrible person you think I am.”
“Could’ve fooled me. You acted like a bitch from the second we met.”
“That…I told you I was sorry for that too,” I tell him. “It’s just, I haven’t ever really been around many decent guys.”
“And the first one you meet, you try and get his friends killed,” he says through clenched teeth. “Do you have any idea how fucked
