The Biker's Fate Chapter 263

Hatch

I FIGURED MAISIE would be stuck dealing with her brother for a while, so I swung by my place on the way to the compound. My brothers were essentially running the shop for me for the next few weeks while Maisie got back on her feet. Cade still had to run his construction crew, but I had guys I trusted who needed the work, whereas he only trusted our family. So, for the moment, Cullen and Cameron could run the shop since Cricket would be moving on, and I would check in when I could.

Flea was finishing up school, but he was a great addition to my shop, plus, the Dogs had a couple of recruits I wanted to train up, but they wouldn't start until the beginning of next month, so I had a little breathing room.

I walked through one of the roll-up doors and saw legs poking out from under a red Toyota sedan. "Cam?"

"Yeah, brother?" Cameron slid out from under the car.

"Why don't you have the car lifted?"

"Because this takes less time." He jumped to his feet with a grin. "It's done and now I don't have to bring it down from the lift."

"Safer on the lift. Use it," I said as I shook my head, and walked into the front office. Cricket was helping an older female customer with her paperwork, so I slipped through the door into my private office.

 A few minutes later, Cricket knocked and pushed open my door. "Hey, everything okay with Maisie?"

"Yeah." I thumbed through invoices as I powered up my computer. "Her brother showed up, so I need to check in on a few things before I head up to the club and then pick up Poppy."

"Where does her brother live?"

"London."

"Wait. He just showed up all the way from England?"

"Yeah."

"Is she okay with that?"

"You'd have to ask her."

"Well, did she seem okay with it?" Cricket continued.

"Cricket, what's with the twenty questions?" I ground out. "Got shit to do."

"You didn't ask her any of this?"

"Why would I? It's her business."

She threw her arms in the air. "You are such a guy!"

"You're fired, by the way."

"What the hell, Connor!"

I gave her a slight smile. "You're gonna be workin' for Maisie startin' tomorrow."

She grinned and punched my arm. "Ohmigod, you're such a dick!"

"You're welcome."

"You did this?" she said, her face dropping.

"No. She did this. I acquiesced because I need you to watch out for her. Alison's husband showed up at her place today unannounced and she opened the door, thinkin' I'd forgotten my key."

"Holy shit," Cricket hissed. "Isn't he a cop?"

"Yeah. And he used that fact to get upstairs without a phone call, which I fuckin' don't like. Jax is handlin' that part of it for the moment, but only because I'm not interested in landin' my ass in jail while Maisie needs me."

Cricket scowled. "You're not interested in landing your ass in jail even if she doesn't need you."

I sighed. "Yeah, Cricket, I'm not gonna do anything stupid."

She relaxed. "Okay, I'll be there tomorrow at eight."

"Ten. I'll tell her you're not comin' 'til then," I said.

"I've got class tomorrow afternoon."

"Ten will still work."

"How about I text my new boss and find out what time she wants me to come?" she countered, her sass front and center. "In the meantime, I just checked out our last customer for the morning, so I'm going to get some lunch and then I'm going to go shopping, so I'm not coming back unless you really, really need me."

"No, Cullen can handle the afternoon." I grinned. "He smiles more than you anyway."

"Jackass," she retorted, albeit with a grin. "Thanks for not being a total douchebag about this. I love you, big brother." She kissed my cheek before walking out the door.

After looping in with Cullen about the schedule changes, I checked on a couple of parts orders and invoices, then walked back out to the shop floor. "I'm headin' out, in case anyone cares."

"No one cares," Cameron called.

"You gonna be home tonight?" Cullen leaned out from under the hood of an Impala.

"Why?" I asked. "You wanna spoon?"

Cullen laughed. "Can we?"

"Yeah, I should be home tonight. Maisie's brother's in town."

"Okay, got a lead on a place. Wanna show it to you."

"Sounds good." I left and headed to the Club.

Pulling up to the front of Big Ernie's Body Shop, I parked my truck and headed into the compound.

Ace and Knight's bikes were both in the lot, as was a large black SUV which had all the markings of an FBI vehicle. Shit. That meant Jaxon. So, either he was here to shoot the shit with his brothers, or he had news I didn't want to hear.

I entered the two outer doors, then walked through the small lobby and into the great room, relaxing slightly at the scene. Jaxon sat on one of the bar stools, an acoustic guitar balanced on his knee, playing quietly while Cambry danced around him and did her best to get her cousin Liam to join in. Liam, however, wanted to play pool with his dad, so Ace lifted him up high enough to maneuver the pool cue and helped him aim.