Free Through The Weeds (Nightshade MC Book 2) by Shannon Flagg

himself smiling at that. The visit was just a sign of how much times had changed for Nightshade.
    “Sorry to show up unannounced.” Manuel stepped into the room and closed the door. “But we need to talk. Our clubhouse was hit tonight.”
    “What?” Buster noticed the blood on the white tee shirt that Manuel wore beneath his cut. “Jesus Christ, what happened?”
    “It was a typical Friday night. We were celebrating. We gave out a few prospect cuts tonight. We're down in numbers, needed to boost them. Anyway, we're having a great fucking time and then the door opened. Four guys walked in and just started shooting. They were gone as fast as they came. We got one of them. They got four of us.”
    Buster didn't know what to say. What could he say? Losing four men at once, in the middle of your own territory during a celebration was something that sorry couldn't fix. “Is there anything that we can do?”
    “Tell me that you had nothing to do with it. Give me your word.”
    “You've got my word,” Buster replied. “And you've got Nightshade's help, if you want it, to find whoever did this.”
    Manuel nodded. “I think that we're going to have to take you up on that. We lost Hector, Nathan, Franklin, and one of the prospects, Lucy.”
    “You're taking on female prospects now?”
    Manuel smiled slightly at that. “No. It was just what we called him. He was a redhead, always getting himself into some scrape, even when he was just hanging around. But he had heart. He was funny as fuck. Been calling the other prospect Ethel.”
    Buster chuckled at that. “Were they even old enough to remember I Love Lucy?”
    “Not really.” Manuel turned and hit the wall. “He was a kid. Hector has three kids. Franklin was set to get married and Nathan was a grumpy old bastard, but he was ours.”
    Buster could only imagine the rage that the man was feeling. He tried to and just the thought of it made him sick to his stomach. He watched Manuel hit the wall several times, breaking through the sheet rock and bloodying his knuckles in the process.
    “I need to get back. I had to see your eyes when I asked you if Nightshade was involved. I meant no disrespect.” Manuel was a large and imposing man. Buster had never seen him look quite so small and deflated.
    “You need a hand with anything tonight?”
    “Got a doctor you can spare?” Manuel asked. “On a normal night, Hector's Old Lady does our patching up, but she's in no condition.”
    “I'll make a call.” Buster took out his phone, dialed the number he had for Jillian. It went straight to voice mail, so he tried again with the same result. “Shit. I'll keep trying her.”
    “I appreciate that.” Manuel extended his hand. “Thank you.”
    Buster knew that he wasn't just talking about the call, he was talking about the offer of help. If someone would have told him a year ago that there would not only be a truce between Nightshade and The Street Kings but also a trust, he'd have laughed. “Anything you need.”
    Outside the room, oblivious to the destruction that had struck The Street Kings, the party continued to rage. Buster walked Manuel out to his bike, came back inside and drew shouts of annoyance from the crowd when he returned  inside and pulled the plug on the music. “Everyone out.”
    Everyone knew that everyone didn't mean everyone. It meant that it was time for the pass-arounds and hang-arounds to make themselves scarce. Buster saw Caroline near the bar; she looked confused. Shit, he'd actually forgotten all about her. He was on his way over to her when he saw Claire approach her.
    It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Claire was trying to get her to leave. Of course she would be, Claire had stepped up into a role no one wanted, managing the girls. Caroline looked less than pleased, in fact she looked downright pissed. Buster crossed the room quickly. “She's fine, Claire. She's staying.”
    “Oh.” Claire looked surprised. “Sorry, Buster. I