Chapter Twelve
James
Actaeon’s Custodians’ office space is oddly corporate.
Ace has two neighbors in the small building: an architect firm and a law firm.
It’s a smart look for a crime scene cleanup company.
Because only a dumbass would willingly live among lawyers and invite cops into their office when most of their income comes from criminal activities, right?
That’s one of the reasons I’ve always had such respect for Ace. He’s genuinely one of the smartest people I know.
His office is at the back, and I feel eyes on me as I walk through the space. None of the guys he sends to Saints’ cleanups work out of this office. The people here are primarily law-abiding. A police liaison, biohazard removal specialists, accountants, and other boring shit.
“In here, James,” Ace calls as I approach his office.
I shove open the cracked door, then shut it behind me so we have privacy. “Hey, Ace,” I greet the man sitting behind the giant oak desk. He has slicked back black hair, a stern face, and a perfectly groomed, dark stubble of a beard. “This is looking more legitimate every day.”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about. This business is nothing but legitimate.”
“Of course,” I concede. “You doing good?”
He nods. “I’d ask you the same, but with how often you’ve been needing my services lately, I think I know the answer.”
“Which is why I’m here. As much as I enjoy your company, I’d love to stop maxing out our cleaning budget every month.”
“Ever considered impulse control therapy?”
I almost laugh at the sheer irony. The reason for the last three bodies we had to hire Ace for is my brother’s therapist girlfriend. “I’ll make the suggestion.”
“T seems to be doing good, all things considered.”
I actually smile then, remembering Theo whistling this morning.
It reminded me of easier times a decade ago, when Shiloh was an infant and my brother and sister were delirious, with both lack of sleep and happiness.
Theo used to whistle all the time. I didn’t realize I missed the sound until I heard it again.
“He is. I never would’ve guessed it, but June is good for him.”
Something akin to discomfort flashes across Ace’s face. But it’s gone a second later, so I probably imagined it. “Do you like her?”
“Yes, I do.” It might’ve taken me longer than Theo, but I genuinely like June. Even with the chaos she brought into my life.
Without warning, a memory of Sadie fills my mind. Her angry golden eyes and dimpled chin as she berated me in the bathroom last night. Letting her return to Bowie, then leave with him, was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done.
“I’d like to meet this woman who managed to get the entire Saints of Purgatory wrapped around her finger in a month,” Ace says, yanking me back to the present.
I blink, attempting to process his words. “Really?”
“Sure.”
“Ace. I’ve known you for years, and I’ve never seen you willingly meet new people. You haven’t even met every Saint.”
“Maybe I should.”
My jaw nearly drops. Theo has been trying to convince Ace to join the Saints since before he took over.
The man already has a bike, and he clearly has no qualms about breaking the law.
Hell, he’s known Theo longer than I have.
But Ace is the definition of a loner. He has no desire to join any organized group.
I think Theo is his best friend, and they hang out maybe three times a year.
“Are you okay?”
He frowns. “Yes.”
I lean forward on the desk, brows lowering as I study him. “You haven’t been… I don’t know. Body snatched?”
“I simply suggested meeting my oldest friend’s new girlfriend. What’s so odd about that?”
“Everything. Everything is odd about that. What’s your angle?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why do you care about meeting June?” Suspicion flares to life in my gut.
Ace has taken care of the body of a man June killed and two men Theo killed to protect June, one of which was a detective.
Being the brilliant man he is, Ace has likely made all sorts of deductions.
But why would he care? Is this another Lorry situation?
Did June kill someone important to Ace? Goddammit, if I have to get that woman out of one more sticky situation, I’m going to lose my fucking mind.
“I’m intrigued. I’d have to be a robot not to be.”
My eyes narrow. He sighs and runs a giant hand down his jaw, scratching at the short beard. “Put your hackles down. I have no interest in doing or saying anything to hurt T. You should know that by now.”
Instantly, I sit back, slightly ashamed of my momentary lapse of judgement. He’s right. Ace is the last person who would ever betray Theo. “Sorry.”
He waves his hand through the air. “No big deal. Now, what are we looking for today?”
“Right, yes. I’m sure you’ve come across the South Five’s work before. And at this point, I’ll take anything we can find. So, let’s dig into those meticulous records I know you keep.”
Finding scenes Ace worked on that had connections to the South Five isn’t difficult.
The hard part is finding anything useful in his records.
Two hours pass before he gets a call and promptly kicks me out of his office.
Thankfully, he lets me take a box of files to go through on my own.
Which I do for the rest of the day until Theo comes home, alone for once, with some rare good news.
“Bonnie and Clyde got us some useful information while they were visiting their daughter,” he says. “Apparently, she’s dating a cop—I know, disappointing—but he has loose lips when he’s drunk. His buddy, a detective Cruz, has a C.I. inside the South Five.”
“Seriously?” A narc in the gang could be really good for us.
“Yes. Doesn’t know who the C.I. is, of course. We’d have to hack into their police database for a list of their informants. Not sure how possible that would be.”
“I bet Maple could do it,” I say without thinking.
“What makes you say that?”
Shit. I haven’t told him about the favors I got out of June’s friend. “Sadie said she took care of all the digital evidence linking us to Lorry’s disappearance.”
“I thought Ace did that.”
“It was probably more than he could handle. That was our most… high profile mess we’ve ever got into.”
“True.” He reaches up and pulls his hair free, letting wavy strands fall over his shoulders. “I’ll ask June to talk to her.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
His brows pull together. “You’ll ask my girlfriend to talk to her friend?”
“No, dumbass. I’ll talk to Sadie. She’s who asked Maple to help with Lorry.”
“June hates getting her involved.”
“At this point, I don’t think there’s any getting around it.”
He seems to chew on the inside of his cheek before deciding to change the subject. “How’d it go with Ace?”
I pat the box sitting on the dining room table. “Fine. Though he was acting strange.”
“How so?”
“He said he wanted to meet June. And he wasn’t vehemently opposed to the idea of meeting the rest of the Saints.”
Theo’s eyebrows raise. “Actaeon Demos? My little brother wanted to meet the Saints?”
I scoff. Ace and Theo were foster brothers for all of seven months when Theo was fifteen and Ace was fourteen.
The way T talks about that time, it was an intense seven months.
Enough to form a lifelong bond, but he only calls Ace brother when he’s being a sarcastic asshole. “Yeah, seems so. Maybe he’s lonely.”
“Ace doesn’t get lonely.”
“Well, something’s going on.”
After a moment of quiet, Theo starts laughing. “What?” I ask.
“I’m just imagining him spending five minutes with Luna and Raph.”
I picture it: Ace’s grumpy expression, Luna’s incessant talking, Raph’s idiotic comments, and soon I’m laughing too. “We’d have to hire him to clean up whatever was left of Raph.”
“Speaking of. Luna took me through the books today, and we were way overdrawn on our budget last month.”
“Wonder why.”
He shoves me, and I give an overdramatic sway, my lips still tugged up into a smirk.
“I know it’s not an ideal time, but we need to do a job soon,” Theo says. “We’re fine right now with dues and the money from the Cage, but our solo jobs are about to take a nosedive, and this war with the Fivers is bound to be expensive.”
Fuck. He’s right. With all the shit I’ve been doing to try and help lighten his load, I haven’t even considered mundane stuff like the fucking budget.
But wars are always expensive, and our biggest client, Lorry, became vulture food a month ago.
I can’t believe I haven't thought about this. I’m usually the one to remember details about meetings and money, while Theo handles the uglier side of our business. I dropped the fucking ball.
“I’ll talk to Kip,” I say. “And we can bring it up at church tomorrow. Maybe one of the guys will have a lead.”
“Good idea. I’ll add it to the agenda. Also, the South Five almost had a drug shipment intercepted by the cops last night, and I won’t be surprised if they blame us for it. I imagine tomorrow’s church will be several hours long.”
“I’ll make sure everyone comes prepared. We also have two new prospects to discuss. They’ll both be at Saturday’s ride.”
“What do you think of them?” Theo asks.
“One seems solid. He moved to the state from New Jersey where he was a tail gunner of his chapter. I got the president’s number, so we can call and make sure there are no red flags.”
Theo nods. Prospects who were previously members of a different club are always either the best or the worst. I met this guy on Tuesday, though, and he’ll likely be a great addition to the Saints.
“The other?” Theo asks.
“It’s that guy you met last week.”
“Oh, right. Amado. He seemed cool.”
“He’s young.”
“We were both eighteen when we joined.”
“That’s different. Dad was the president.”
“How old is Amado? Twenty? Twenty-one?”
“Twenty, I think,” I say. “Maybe nineteen.”
“It’s young. But old enough if he’s a fit.”
“You’re the boss.”
The night continues, and for a while, it feels good. Normal. We talk about club business and our friends and some new TV show he and June started. I know our problems still exist, but for a while, it doesn’t matter. It’s just me and my brother.