Ryan and I manage to get the kids back to the ranch. Without much of a clue as to what's been happening, we contact their uncle and aunt, getting them somewhere safe. At least until we figure out what's going on with Dakota. "You know she'll be fine right?" Ryan asks, making me grunt as I shake my head, turning to look at him.
"This can't be a coincidence. They show up having found their murdered father and now Dakota is dealing with... whatever she's dealing with." Ryan stared at me from his spot, leaned up against the railing.
"I-" He sighs and shakes his head. "I can't say that it's not weird." I have to roll my eyes as I stomp across the porch.
"Not weird? Really, that's the best you got right now." He shrugs with a sigh, making me glare at him more. Fortune Teller? Shadow? Cane? Her military ramblings left me with a puzzle. Fortune teller is more than likely Fortune and Clyde. If I had a guess it's been Isadora. But throwing hands? That worried her, too much to not be something bad.
"Digger, Koda can handle herself, you don't gotta worry about that." She has her friends out there chasing shadows with her. It was enough of a reminder to make me shake my head and drop onto a chair. There's more to worry about than just her handling herself. The rumbling engines of bikes roll up to the house, familiar faces greet me, one grinning like a fool, the other pouting. Now ain't the time for your shit. "Oh this should be fun." Ryan muttered amused as I stand to watch Axel, kick off his bike, Angel standing next to him.
"Can we talk?"
"Now ain't a good time Axel." I shake my head watching as he frowns before sighing.
"Dig, listen I was an ass but you already know this. I want to make things right." I shake my head with a sigh.
"Axel, now ain't a good time, come back later ok?" I try as Ryan's phone rings, making my heart stop. He pulls it out and sets it on speaker.
"Koda, what's going on, how can we-"
"I need the chopper, get the body basket and the large sling. Bring my go bag." Dakota cuts him off before hanging up, her voice empty, Ryan sighs and gives me a look.
"I'll go." I automatically offer and he shakes his head.
"No Digger, you gotta stay... it's better you stay here, she'll need you." I want to argue, cursing under my breath I rub my face with a growl.
"She needs me more there." Ryan shakes his head as he pushes from the railing.
"No Digger, you gotta stay here, it's how things are handled. You can't know shit." He said quietly, making me realize that things probably went more south than I had originally thought. Son of a bitch. I'm forced to watch him walk away, grabbing a small duffel from inside the house before heading out.
"Dig?" Axel calls making me look at him.
"What Axel?" He watches Ryan head out, Angel moving to stand next to her husband an unsure look on her face.
"Is everything ok here Digger?" She asked with a small frown. I wish I knew. I shrug and head inside, leaving the door open for them.
"To be honest, probably not." Snake gives a chuckle, an attempt to break the rising tension.
"What have you managed to fall apart without us?" I shoot him a look as I drop into the chair in the living room.
"What do you guys want?" Now really isn't the time I want to be facing this problem, not when my woman is out there obviously not in a good situation. And what is my ass doing? Sitting here looking pretty, how pathetic. Axel gives a grunt as he sits down on the couch with Angel.
"I'm here to fix things." He says curtly, making me look at him.
"Axel, I told you, you have to fix things with Dakota. I'm not going to sit around and listen to you bitch about her, she's my woman. I'm tired of you shitting on her for some kinda damn grudge against her." One that's pointless no less. He frowns and shakes his head at me.
"Digger, it's more than that, you don't understand what her mom let-" I have to scoff.
"What her mother did or didn't do isn't something to be held against Dakota. That's like me saying you are responsible for Knuckles actions. Do I have to remind you what Dakota had to do, for you?" He grunts and shakes his head as he looks at Angel.
"I told you he wasn't ready for this." I want to growl and shake the hell out of him.
"Axel, I've had a really long fucking day, I don't want to deal with your shit right now." I have much more important shit to be dealing with.
"Dig, what's been going on? You look tense." Snake observes, sensing there is more bothering me than just Axel. "We haven't heard from Chicka in some time." He says in thought, cutting to the source. I grunt and shake my head.
"You two haven't, she's been gunning for Kota." Like she said she would. It's crazy Dakota managed to hit that nail on the head so well.
"What? For what?" Axel turns his head to focus on the conversation with a slight frown. "Why does she got a hard on for Dakota?" He asked confused making me sigh.
"She's got land a lot of it. Kota thinks she's trying to set up a base operation here to get things rolling, I guess theres a lot to the land and she's hunting for a lot of money." I only offer, not bothering to share just how much wealth is sitting under her... our asses. It knocked the breath outta me when Clyde showed me just how valuable the land is. I'm shocked no one has been trying to swipe this from them years, generations before.
"I'm guessing it's worth a pretty chunk of change." I snort with a chuckle.
"Yeah, you could say that against Axel." He arches a brow confused by my meaning.
"Ahh, that kinda wealth." He grunts before pausing. "So that's why Chika is here? To set up a business here?" I have to give a shrug as I watch him.
"I mean I guess, so far we only have assumptions to base off. Isadora is here for something and I'm sure she's seen Snake and Sarah in town and I'm almost positive the reason she hasn't been chasing after you, no offense Sarah, is because Dakota is presenting a bigger issue for her." Sarah frowns as she leans into Snake. He kisses her head gently and wraps his arm around her securely.
"I guess that's good for me... but bad for her." She frowned more as she looked around with a small blush. "I didn't mean to bring all of this here..." She trailed off and I sigh and rub my face. Poor girl really had no freaking clue what she was bringing around.
"It's not your fault Sarah, the club took this on, we expected things to be... interesting." Axel grunted in agreement.
"Yeah, it's a thing, we're figuring it out, don't beat yourself up." Angel squeezes her hand gently offering a comforting smile. "I wanted to talk to you and Dakota, to offer a truce and a... partnership. You're one of my best friends and well I hate to say it, but I know you and Dakota work together, probably too well together." He grunted and earned a smack from Angel, almost making me smile.
"A partnership?" I ask confused as he grunts.
"I know this is piss poor timing, but Crow is a great enforcer and likes the role, I know you were getting run ragged in that department, not caring for it much anymore. So I wanted to offer you a new role in the club." I stare at him with an arched brow.
"What kind of role?" I can't lie and say I haven't enjoyed time away from the club. But I also can't say that I've enjoyed staying completely away from everyone. I'm a rider, I love riding my back, I've missed it too much.
"Yes, I want you to come back, to be a liaison for the club and the ranch... I want to bring Dakota on board, I've realized I'm an ass for pushing you both away." I could hear the underlying reason. Because it makes him face his past.
"Liaison for the ranch? For what?" He looked at me as if it were obvious.
"You and I both know that once Chika is handled, in whatever way it is, we're going to be having a war with her people. I don't think we should have two strong powers stand apart when we could stand together. It's a smart move, business and strategy wise." I have to look at him for a long minute. He's not wrong, we need all of the man power we can get to combat these idiots.
"You'd have to get Dakota to agree, she's not really happy with you." Not that she really gives a rats ass about you. He grunted and nodded as he leaned back.
"I know, I know, I have to get on her good side, but she's reasonable." She may be reasonable but that doesn't mean that she's gonna want to listen to you. The door opens and I stand, Dakota says nothing as she moves past us, her face emotionless, tracks in the dirt on her face make my heart break. Oh shit... how bad is it. She grabs a bottle of jack and pulls the cap off, downing at least two shots right off the bat. Ryan comes inside and holds up a bag, pulling out a pair of her chaps.
"Kota, I can't burn these, they are still good." She turns to him with a dead look.
"Burn... them." She said slowly, he shook his head with a sigh.
"No, Kota, I can't do that." I move around the chair towards her, watching as she pulls out her knife and takes another long drink of jack before setting the bottle down, rattling the table. She moves silently, a fixed stare on him.
"I said... burn them." She said lowly as she grabbed the chaps and sliced through them cleanly. "Now they aren't good." She growls before sheathing her blade, slipping it into its holder on her thigh. Ryan shakes his head with a sigh as he turns around and heads back out.
"That was a bit of a dick move don't you think?" Axel asks making her turn to him with a glare.
"Don't... start... not tonight." She said lowly as she moved to grab the bottle again. What exactly happened? I move to her, stepping in front of her to grab the bottle.
"Hey... what do you need Little lady?" I ask softly as I bring her attention to me. The mask in her eyes slips away for a sliver of a moment, exposing the deep pain that's settled over her. She releases a breath and shakes her head silently. Not now... I get it.
I'm tempted to wrap my arms around her, to try and ease the pain, but honestly I don't think she'd be able to keep the facade she wants to keep. "Why are you here Axel? What do you want?" I hear how tired she is, the underlying note noticeable to me. Axel shakes his head with a sigh.
"I'm here to offer you a truce, a partnership if you will. Chicka doesn't seem to be leaving us alone, and once she's dealt with... I'm sure there will be more, better to combine forces and take out the threat." She stared at him for a long minute.
"You don't need to worry about here, she'll be handled." I look down to her with a small worried frown. Something big happened.