Chapter 28 #2
“Maybe it’s just a simple process of elimination. If one of the hotel rooms had kid shit in it and one didn’t, it wouldn’t take much to figure out which one was which.”
Havoc groans. “I hope that’s all it is, because if not—”
I cut him off. “Then this stalker knows Tina intimately, and chances are if he knows Tina that way, he knows Lil and Legs the same way.”
I grit my teeth at the thought.
“Wait, are you saying you think the stalker could be one of us?” Capone asks in shock.
“It wouldn’t be the first time one of the brothers turned on the club,” I point out. “Plus, I could identify Legs’s underwear easily.”
“Same with Amity,” G admits while Havoc nods.
“I can’t believe this shit,” Circus hisses. “No way would any of our current brothers pull this shit.”
Havoc stares at him for a beat before crossing his arms. “You willing to bet their lives on that?”
When I walk into Au later, I’m not surprised to see Legs sitting in one of the chairs, flicking through a book while Powers deals with a customer. I look at him. He gives me a nod, conveying that everything’s been fine, before I walk over to Legs and drop down into a crouch next to her.
“Good book?”
“It’s giving me inspiration, that’s for sure.”
I flip it over so I can see the title and laugh. It’s called How to Kill Men and Get Away with It.
“Let me guess, she’s your favorite author?”
“She’s a new-to-me author, but the sequel to this is called I Bet You’d Look Good in a Coffin, so I’m already half in love with her.”
“Should I start sleeping with one eye open?”
“It might be wise,” she admits, making me grin. “You tell Havoc what’s been going on?” she asks, making my grin slip.
“Let’s talk upstairs.” I stand up and hold out my hand for her, which she takes. I pull her up and look over at Powers before pointing upstairs. When he nods, I walk Legs up to the apartment and lead her over to the sofa.
She puts her book on the table and turns toward me as I sit beside her. “So, you might be on to something.”
“The other girls are having issues?”
“Tina and maybe Kiki.”
“Dammit. I hoped to be wrong this time. Do you have any idea who it could be?”
I hesitate, not wanting to share with her our thoughts.
I could tell her it was club business and she won’t push it, but it feels wrong to start out now with lies between us.
I’ve booby-trapped our relationship from the get-go making it impossible for us to make it through without getting hurt.
I’ll be damned if I let us get this far just to throw it away this close to the finish line.
“We have a hunch that whoever it is might know you girls intimately.”
She frowns before clearing her expression completely. “Are you saying you think it’s a club brother?”
“I’m saying we haven’t ruled it out.”
She leans back and bites her lip. “Alright, it’s possible. I take it you’ve told the girls to keep their eyes open?”
I nod, surprised that she’s so calm about it, especially when she was so close to being free, and now she’s been dragged right back into it all.
“I don’t want to overstep, but it might be worth sharing with Amity and Nevaeh, too. They’re not targets now, but if you make the club girls harder to get...”
“He might change his target.” I pull out my phone and fire off a text to G.
“Good point. In the interest of being honest, Amity asked if you might be up for a visit. I told her to give you today to settle in and text tomorrow. I know things have been…off a little since you left, but they miss you. From what I can gather, they felt you pull away, so they decided to give you space, and everything fell apart a little after that.”
She sighs and leans back, closing her eyes.
“I guess I did pull back, but it was never because of them. It’s just that I know the Raven Souls MC is all about loyalty, and that would make them loyal to you over me first. I’m not trying to sound like a bitch when I say this, but I needed people in my corner that were only about me.
That sounds selfish, I know, but the last thing I wanted was for people to either report back to you or whisper in my ear to forgive you.
It would have wrecked the friendships we had together. ”
“Is that really what you think?”
“I’m not saying I’m right. My thoughts and feelings were a jumbled mess since all this went down. I’m saying nobody came to visit me. I’m assuming the only reason you started stalking me was because Lil told you where I lived?”
Before I can confirm or deny it, she continues.
“She was the only person I told, so I knew it would be her. The fact that she told you means she’d have told the women too, if they asked, but they obviously didn’t.
They sure never asked me. They never asked to meet for coffee, dinner, or even a movie.
They text general stuff like how are you and what have you been up to, and it just felt…
like a courtesy. Like we’d suddenly become work acquaintances or something.
It felt stilted and uncomfortable, and I ran out of things to say. All I did was work, puke, and sleep.”
I don’t know what to say to that.
“Maybe they were worried they’d let something slip, and now I’m not part of the club life. They have to be extra careful around a civilian, or maybe I’m completely overreacting. I genuinely don’t know, Midas, because my feelings are extreme right now.”
I think about Lil pulling me aside to talk to me and realize there is some truth to what she’s saying. Lil might have Legs’s back more than she realizes, but she did let things slip, and Legs probably wouldn’t have wanted me to know.
“Do you want me to text Amity and tell her to leave it for a while?”
She sighs and shakes her head. “No. Friendships are tricky, and I won’t throw away the ones I have because things have gotten hard. We’ll work it out. It’s just different now. I’m different now. I think that’s why I’m going to miss Del so much.”
“Because she’s loyal to you, not me,” I state, and again, I know she’s right.
Neither Amity nor Nevaeh would openly betray Legs, but if they were given an order by their men as VP or president, would they cave?
It’s tricky, and I don’t sense that Legs is mad at them for it.
Sad, maybe, but not mad. I guess she expected it.
“Alright, enough of this shit, what do you want to do tonight?”
She opens her eyes and looks over at me. “What do you mean?”
“Well, operation date Legs until she loves me again is now in full effect, so what do you want to do? Sky’s the limit.”