Free Strength & Courage (The Night Horde SoCal Book 1) by Susan Fanetti

the U-Ship-It. I had the social worker’s card with her name on it. Told him to put his chick on it. What’s-her-name uses that place, so her address is on file.”
     
    Muse stared. For several seconds, he just stared, trying to sort the near-catastrophes and the definite idiocies out into a row from least to worst. Demon didn’t look at him; he kept his eyes on his glass.
     
    Lakota, another patch who worked as a Hollywood TA, came into the Hall. Cliff got up from the floor at Muse’s feet and loped over to greet another friend.  Muse turned and nodded a hello to his brother, then grabbed Demon by the kutte and pulled him back to his little office.
     
    He pushed him onto the cheap plastic chair Muse kept in here for an extra seat. The room had been a storage closet in the building’s previous life. It was small and windowless, but it gave Muse a place to deal with the paperwork for managing the club’s entertainment support business.
     
    “Muse, I know—”
     
    “Shut the fuck up, asshole. You’re telling me that you had a brand-new Prospect get you protected information about the caseworker in charge of your kid? And he got that information from some chick he’s porking ? Do you know how many ways you could have exposed us—and maybe still are?”
     
    “Peaches won’t say anything. He’s new, but he’s all in. And the chick is the one who broke the law. She’s not gonna say anything.”
     
    “She’s not an old lady. She’s not even his girlfriend. She’s just some chick who’s putting out for him. And he’s almost a full year from even coming up for vote consideration. Bringing outsiders into our business, Deme. That’s bad news. Do you even know the chick’s name?”
     
    Demon shrugged. “Something with a ‘B,’ maybe.” He sat up straighter. “Why’s it such a big fuckin’ deal? Law doesn’t look twice at us these days.”
     
    That was true. They never left the grey area anymore. Almost everything they did was strictly on the up-and-up. Still, though, letting near-strangers into club business was bad practice, and Demon was too loose. Usually, despite his flagrancies otherwise, Demon kept club business locked down tight. What was going on with Tucker was really fucking him up. What he’d done last night, if Muse hadn’t pulled him off, could have blown up in his face—and in the club’s, too.
     
    Muse was going to talk to Hoosier and Bart. He thought it would be a good idea to tell the Prospects that they had to clear with an officer any special orders Demon gave them.
     
    “I need to talk to her. Muse, I got to.”
     
    He sighed. “Okay. Let me see what I can do about that. In the meantime, we talk to Hoosier, see if he and Bibi will get registered or whatever the fuck they call it so Tucker can go to them.” He leaned forward, got face to face with his friend. “And, Deme, you steer clear of Dakota. Do you understand me? Hurting her is only going to fuck you up more. You keep far away from her.”
     
    “Okay. Can’t find her anyway. Fucking used-up skank must be hiding from me.”
     
    Muse thought that was probably one of the few smart moves that bitch had ever made. With any luck, she’d stay hidden until Tucker was where he belonged and Demon was back on something like an even keel. He stood. “Let’s go back out. We got the Keep in a couple hours.”
     
    Demon stood, too, and Muse followed him out of his office. They’d just made it into the Hall when Demon stopped suddenly and turned around, his face starting to get pink. “Hold up. What makes you think you can get the social worker to do anything?”
     
    “I talked to her last night.” Muse saw the danger coming. He kept his voice low.
     
    “You talked to her? What did you say? Why the fuck would she trust you?” His head dropped an inch or two, like a bull about to charge. “You didn’t fucking talk to her, did you?”
     
    They had the full attention of the men and women—and dog—in the