“Renee?” Ice spoke his own thought out loud.
“Dunno.”
“Could be anything,” Jackal broke into the conversation. “She could owe money or have a habit she’s hiding. She could even be giving it to her boyfriend.”
Max shook his head. “She doesn’t spend any money on herself. She has five work outfits that she wears different days of the week. She never goes out. Her ma is always asking her to go shopping and shit with her, and she never goes. I would know if she was doing any drugs since we control that shit in town.” Max spoke faster at Ice’s warning look about watching his words around Grace. “Her boyfriend is a stockbroker from out east and has more cash than he can spend.”
“How’d you know she has only five work outfits?” Grace’s curious eyes met his.
“There isn’t much I don’t notice about women,” Max bragged.
“I didn’t see you paying much attention to what CeCe was wearing. You asked her if one dress she was wearing was new twice.”
Max shrugged. “You still pissed about me and CeCe? She was the one who dumped me, remember?”
“Because you didn’t want to make a commitment,” Grace said accusingly.
“I have to spread the love around,” he joked, winking at Grace, who didn’t smile back.
“What you’re spreading is bullshit, not love.”
“You check the boyfriend out?” Ice broke in, cutting off the budding argument between Max and his wife.
Max raised a brow at Ice’s silent warning to drop the subject of CeCe. Grace and CeCe were best friends, and Ice didn’t want Grace to form hard feelings that would make it difficult to be around the club members.
“Her ma asked me to. She thought he was flashing too much money around. He’s Mr. Clean; couldn’t find crap on him.”
“I don’t understand why you feel the need to try to interfere in her life. She obviously doesn’t want your concern,” Grace remarked.
“She’s not going to get her wish. Snake!” Max yelled at the biker at the end of the row of bikes.
The biker walked toward him with an apprehensive look. “What’s up?”
“I want you to stay and watch the store until Casey gets off tomorrow morning.”
“Fuck, no. I’m not getting stuck watching over another one of your women. Let someone else do it,” Snake argued.
Max’s eyes narrowed on him. “You telling me no? I’ll rip your fucking head off and piss down your throat. She’s not my woman; she’s my stepsister, and I want her watched,” he bellowed.
“Shit, if you put it that way, I’ll stay. It’s not like I have a fucking choice, is it?” Snake said snidely.
“No, if I tell you to shoot yourself in the foot, you’ll do what you’re told until you’re patched!”
“I’ll do it, but if she gives me the same trouble Grace did, I’m packing up and going back home. If I’m going to be bored, I can go home and bale hay for my dad,” he complained.
Ice and Jackal watched as Max took a step forward and punched Snake in the mouth. Blood poured from his split lip.
“Shut the fuck up. You’re whining like one of my bitches.”
Grace gasped, staring at him with a shocked expression. “I thought you were the nice one in the group.”
“I am,” Max said, opening his beer and taking a long drink.
Grace stared at him dubiously. “Did you not just hear yourself threatening to rip his head off and piss down his throat?”
Max screwed the lid back on to his pint of beer before putting it in his saddlebag. “That was me being nice. If he had talked back like that to any of the other brothers, they would have ripped him a new asshole and then stuffed him in that dumpster.” Max’s veiled threat was silently acknowledged by Snake, who was about to have seven different kinds of hell beaten out of him if he didn’t watch his step.
“Why are we still talking about this? Let’s go.” Jackal started his motor, impatient to leave.
“What’s the hurry?” Max turned the key in his ignition.
“I thought we were going out for a ride, not sitting out here in the fucking parking lot.”
“Let’s ride,” Ice agreed, pulling out in the lead and onto the road.
Max’s eyes went to the large window, staring into the store where he saw Casey was loading the cooler.
“Anything happens to her, the only patch you’ll be getting is the patch of ground I’ll bury you in,” Max threatened, giving the brother holding his bandana over his mouth a final warning before following the others out.
As he sped up on the road, he became angry at losing his temper in front of Grace. Ice was going to give him shit about it later. He didn’t even know why he was so pissed off. Casey was nothing to him. He had known her since she was a kid yet had never tried to get to know her until his dad had married her mom. She had been a stuck-up bitch then and hadn’t changed any as she had grown older. Then again, Mugg likes the girl, so I should make sure she is safe, Max told himself.