Unbreakable: Unrequited Part Two (Fallen Aces MC Book 2) by Max Henry Page B

to clear our debt. Carlos said he did it for cheap labor. But that’s bullshit.”
    “Why?” Hooch crosses his arms over his chest, squinting at the smoke that curls off the smoke poised between his lips.
    “He set us up. By givin’ us that work, he knew exactly where we’d be and when. What better way to track and control our whereabouts? Who then do you think he passed that info on to?”
    “You sayin’ our rat was never within our walls?” Callum frowns, clearly trying to patch the pieces together.
    I nod. Riding out to see Shanaya gave me time to think, and fresh air to clear the fog in my head. The puzzle pieces were there all along—I just needed the time undistracted to step back and place them where they belonged, to look outside the box.
    “Far from it,” I reply. “He told the Blood Eagles where to find us, knowin’ that our clubs are at war. He wasn’t tryin’ to do us over, or get on the good side of the Eagles. He was turning us even more against one another.”
    “He was settin’ us up to take each other out,” Hooch says, his eyes wide with the realization.
    “Exactly. He was clearin’ a path.”
    Callum’s eyes narrow. “You think Sawyer’s in with Hooch’s crew as an informant?”
    Hooch shakes his head, sucking the last life from his cigarette before he drops it to the ground and stubs it out. “No way. That kid hates his old man more than we do. Fuck, we don’t mention the asshole’s name around him half the time because it’s a surefire way to waste an hour tryin’ to talk him off the ledge. He’d rather kill the guy than work for him.”
    “Apex is gonna tell us to rain hell on the Blood Eagles.” Callum rubs his palm over the stubble on his jaw. “But if we do that we’ll play right into this fucker Carlos’s hands.”
    “Mm-hmm.” I flick the butt of my smoke into the tin at my feet. “Fine fuckin’ conundrum, huh?”
    “I need a fuckin’ drink.” Hooch leads the three of us inside.
    Callum hobbles across the room and gets reacquainted with his position on the sofa while one of the property girls carries a fresh brew over. I sit beside Hooch at the bar and eyeball Apex while he’s distracted talking to Beefy. The bastard wears a permanent scowl, accented by the crow’s feet that wrinkle into his weathered skin. Not so long ago I thought I had this guy figured out, that I was one of the few men he respected. I’d actually felt proud at that, thinking it was some sort of achievement. Now I feel like nothing but a fool, played for the novice that I was. He’d never respected me; he’d simply made sure he kept a future enemy close at hand.
    I make the most of Apex’s break in conversation with Beefy and interject. “Did new officers get voted in?” The remaining officers were in the meeting room when I’d arrived to deliberate the course of action the club would take against the Eagles.
    Apex looks me over; his eyes roam my face with a frown before he answers, “Not yet. Majority ruled we vote them in once the whole club gets a say on the current situation.”
    The answer surprises me. “You putting it to general vote?” From the way Callum had talked, war had been decided.
    “Why wouldn’t I? This fuck-up of yours affects everyone, King.”
    I shirk off his snide attempt to lay blame. “Isn’t retaliation a given?” I feed him the bullshit he’ll expect to hear. “They gunned two of our own. Eye for an eye.”
    “Not always.” He takes a swig of his coffee—black as his heart. “Didn’t do it back in ’97, did we?”
    “Exactly, and look where that got us.”
    “What you sayin’, King?” He twists in his seat to place a pointed elbow on the counter as he faces me.
    “Nothin’.” If he chooses not to retaliate, it paints us all as cowards. The Blood Eagles took two of our own. They stole lives from our brotherhood. Why the fuck should they be able to just walk away?
    “You sure it was nothin’? Sounded like you had a fuckin’