Tyrant Chapter 15 #3
Lakelyn and I asked to meet with Crypto, Cobra, and River at our house at noon.
Yeah, I referred to it as our house. It was the truth.
She was making it into a home rather than a place where I slept and found peace.
I would’ve asked to meet sooner, but it was the weekend, and everyone deserved to sleep in and enjoy themselves.
It allowed me to spend more time with my old lady.
We discussed when we’d be able to get their stuff from Kearney.
She’d gotten hold of her landlord early yesterday.
He’d been less than pleasant but changed his tune after I adjusted his attitude over the phone and told him he didn’t want to be pissy with my club.
Thankfully, he hadn’t thrown out their stuff.
It was true she was over a month behind on rent, even after he used her deposit, but he had put their things in storage.
I thought he likely did it in case she came looking for the stuff.
I had no doubt he would’ve made her pay to get their things back.
I’d asked if he called the cops when they disappeared.
I was curious. The asshole said no. He assumed they skipped town.
I asked him why they would do that and leave their things behind.
He had no answer. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box.
I informed him we’d be retrieving them, and we’d better not find anything missing or damaged.
I assured him it would happen by the end of the month.
I told Lakelyn that even if we weren’t finished with the Jacquots, although I hoped we would be, the plan was still to get their things.
If the Jacquots were watching their apartment and made a move or followed us, all the better.
We’d be prepared for them no matter what.
She was still nervous about them hurting or killing us.
She still didn’t understand the enormity of the Kings of Anarchy and how many men we could call upon if necessary.
She had refreshments, as she called them, ready for the meeting.
No surprise, River and Cobra were the first to arrive.
She’d barely offered them a drink when Crypto came through the door.
At least all of them gave a brief hard knock before entering.
She swiftly had them served. We sat at the kitchen table.
It had seating for six. Crypto brought his tablet with him as expected.
“I know you’ve been waiting, and I think we’ve got all we’ll get this way. First, I have to say River was a huge help. He knows his stuff. After he goes to college, he’ll be unstoppable,” Crypto said, then fist-bumped her brother, who appeared proud yet embarrassed.
“Good work,” I told River. He gave me a nod.
“So, what did you find?” Cobra asked before I could. He knew I was out of patience with the Jacquots.
“Well, they’ve been buzzing about this upcoming delivery with us on the seventh.
They don’t come out and say they’re setting us up.
They demand that everything go off without a hitch and that this will appease us.
Jean-Baptiste responded that as long as it appeased us long enough to get to the next shipment, that was all he cared about.
Hugo assured him the family would be ideally placed after the second shipment and not to worry.
I may be reading between the lines too much, Pres, but I feel like they’ll hit us hard on the second one. Arturo didn’t lie,” Crypto said.
My gut was telling me the same thing. However, I wanted to know about the danger to Lakelyn and River. “And what about these two? Was there any mention of them?” I asked.
“Sorta. There were messages and emails between Hugo and Jean-Baptiste. It was about a contract being put out to find their package. It seems JB was pissed that, despite offering such a good rate, no one had located their missing boat. He said he had plans and needed his boat to be able to make the trip he wanted to take. It was for a secluded month-long vacation and involved a gorgeous lake. Hugo assured him it was only a matter of time. JB snapped back that he’d waited longer than he ever had in his life, and he was pissed that he hadn’t been allowed to retrieve the boat sooner.
Hugo has increased the contract amount and expanded the search area.
I don’t think there’s any doubt he was referring to Lakelyn. ”
I agreed, and while it was not news, it still angered me.
“What about River? Was there mention of him?” Lakelyn asked.
“Yeah. Hugo told his son the lake would be smoother if the river didn’t become bumpy. JB said that he would make sure the river wouldn’t ruin anything. He then suggested it be rerouted. I took that to mean get rid of me,” River answered.
“Sounds like you got this rather easily, so what took so long to tell me?” I asked.
“This wasn’t hidden, though they took their time responding to each other.
What did take time was digging into Jean-Baptiste.
You mentioned, Lakelyn, how you’d heard rumors about how he is with women.
I wanted to know more. You were right. Ole JB has been using and discarding women since he was a teenager.
And if there was a problem, his daddy took care of it.
They either intimidated, bribed, or, in a couple of cases, we think they had the person who complained killed.
And while most women got well away from him, two others he took intense interest in were never heard from again.
We don’t know if he sold them or killed them.
They’ve not cropped up anywhere that we could find.
I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to hear that,” Crypto told my woman.
“It doesn’t surprise me. Jean-Baptiste is a creepy man, no matter whether I knew that or not.” She shivered.
“How much exposure did you have to him? Did your dad introduce you? You said he had kept asking you out, and you refused. How long did that go on?” I asked.
“No, Dad didn’t introduce us per se. We were visiting him one evening, and Hugo and Jean-Baptiste stopped by.
We could tell it made our dad nervous. We had no idea what he was doing for them then.
Dad introduced us to them, stating they were his boss and his boss’s oldest son.
They’d been pleasant and said they hadn’t meant to disturb us.
We took a short walk so they could talk.
When we returned, the Jacquots were gone.
Dad assured us it wasn’t anything bad, and we finished making dinner,” Lakelyn explained.
“So, was that the only time you saw them?” Cobra asked.
She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t even a week later when I saw Jean-Baptiste again. I was out shopping and ran into him. He said he was shopping, but I didn’t buy it.”
“Why not?” Crypto asked.
“He didn’t strike me as a man to go grocery shopping.
He’d expect his cook or a lackey to do it.
He had a few things in the cart. They didn’t go together.
I got the impression he’d thrown random stuff in it to make it appear like he was shopping.
He asked how I was and apologized for intruding on our family dinner that night.
I assured him it hadn’t hurt at all. He asked if I had plans that weekend.
He wanted to take me to dinner to make up for it.
I told him it wasn’t necessary. When he pushed, I lied and said I was away visiting a friend for the entire weekend.
He hadn’t been happy, but he pretended not to be upset.
He said he hoped to see me again and that I’d say yes next time.
“I thought it was slightly pushy, but I thought nothing of it after he left. Why did I lie rather than say no outright? I don’t know. It was instinct. I told River about it when I got home. He agreed that it was best.”
“Did he ever try to contact you, River?” I asked.
“As a matter of fact, he did. It was later, after she turned him down the second time. He tried to get me to hang out with him. JB said Dad talked about my sister and me all the time and that he wanted to get to know us. I had a feeling about him, so I put him off with excuses that school was crazy then. It was heading into finals and graduation.”
“How did you meet the next time?” Cobra asked her.
“It was about a week after the grocery store. He showed up at my work. He came in carrying a huge bouquet. When I asked him what he was doing there and how he found me, he claimed Dad had told him where I worked, which was possible. He poured on the charm, and by the end of the visit, which I had to cut short because my next client was coming in, he asked me out again. That time, I told him I didn’t feel comfortable going out with someone my dad worked for.
He told me that it was his father, not him, who my dad worked for.
I protested, but had to cut him off because my client was there.
I saw the anger more that time, though he quickly hid it.
“Over the next two months, he either showed up unexpectedly where I was, or he called me asking the same thing. I felt hunted, so I broke down and told our dad what he was doing. I asked him to speak to him. I should’ve known he wouldn’t.
He appeared shaken when I told him, though he assured me Jean-Baptiste was a good guy and that I should go out with him.
Later, I asked if he had spoken to Jean-Baptiste, and Dad said yes.
He was confident that there would be no more requests.
“When I didn’t hear anything more from him, and there were no run-ins, I thought it was over. That was two weeks before Dad came to tell us we needed to run and hide. I get that by saying no, I made Jean-Baptiste feel challenged, but why ask in the first place?”
“Really? Babe, have you not looked in the mirror? You’re beautiful, sexy, and plain hot. And that’s not taking into account your sassiness and brains. Of course, he wanted to go out with you and to get you into his bed,” Crypto informed her.