Chapter 16 Matthew
MATTHEW
“Well, you know it’s serious when Matthew clears his schedule from court and calls us all in,” Johnny says, sitting on the edge of his desk.
“Shit, too bad we couldn’t get Luke and Trent here. They’d have loved this, eaten it up with a spoon, when they heard that Matthew finally bypassed his weird-as-fuck rule that he made up this past year.” Jagger reclines in a seat, fingers at his lips and a cat-got-the-canary smile on his face.
“It is funny that the man who held on the longest sure did fall the fastest,” Asher pipes in.
“Anybody else care to join in?” I ask the room.
“Nah, you get it now,” Tysen eludes. He went crazy when he wasn’t able to find Macie for a while. Now he doesn’t let her out of his sight—they live together, work together, and more or less breathe together.
“Same goes for me, man,” Crew tosses out on the other side of the room.
“Besides, I’ve got my own shit going on.
Now, where’s Jude?” He’s the last one we're waiting on, and he also has all the information to give us. I called him this morning after seeing Letty off, asking her to keep me up to date on where she’s working, even though I’ve got the same tracking device on her that all the other guys do on their women.
Fuck, I’m pretty sure the women in this group track their women more than the men do.
“He’s right here. Sorry, I got another piece of information, and I’m not coming to the table empty-handed.
The problem was that it didn’t download in time.
Between my woman and my sister, the Internet is slower than I’m used to, an issue I’ll be fixing this afternoon.
” Jude walks through the door with a laptop beneath his arm and a cigarette tucked behind his ear.
I’m sure there’s also a package of candy in his cargo-style shorts.
“You’re slacking,” Jagger jokes.
“Fuck off. I’m here now, and that’s all that matters.” Jude doesn’t mess around when it comes to digging for information. He’s all in, working for hours, and doesn’t rest until everything comes together.
“I’ll agree to that. Thanks for working on this,” I tell Jude.
“Told you I would have done it last year, but I get it. We all gotta move at our own pace,” Jude responds.
“Yeah, but maybe not as slow as a turtle,” Jagger starts again.
“You really wanna go there?” I arch an eyebrow at him.
Johnny chooses to remain silent since it took his wife coming back to him and asking for a divorce to get his shit together, but Jagger held a grudge against Lyric for issues he didn’t know about until her parents passed away, leaving a home for her to look after and bringing the past into the future.
“Message received, loud and clear.” Jagger stands up, goes to the fridge, and grabs a drink. “Anyone want anything?” he asks.
“Gatorade,” Jude replies while setting up his laptop. His bag of candy is sitting on the wooden desk, and he’s clicking away.
“Water,” I state.
“A fucking lobotomy, if there’s one in there,” Crew remarks. Apparently, shit isn’t all that great at work. When I called to see if he’d meet us at Undercover Lovers, he was more than happy to take a sick day.
“Sorry, we’re all out of scalpels with Luke being at work,” Johnny says on a chuckle.
“Alright, so I did some digging. Don’t worry, I made sure it was all through backdoor avenues, leaving no trace.
” He glances up from his laptop, and we all move to sit around the round table while Jude continues, “Figured out the stepdad is dead, and the reason Letty felt like she was being followed is because she was. Dalton Chiles, a private investigator, has been looking for her, but not for the reason she thinks. There’s been an inheritance left in her name.
With her using an alias, it’s taken longer than it usually would.
I’ve gotta hand it to her, the lack of a social media footprint has been in her favor.
” Jude turns the laptop around, going through a series of images of the investigator.
“He doesn’t look familiar to me, and the penthouse is pretty well locked up, so getting around the security would be hard.
Until now, I haven’t been around Letty as much, trying to keep my distance.
” Jagger snorts, and I cut my eyes across the table at him.
He throws his arms up in defeat. Fucker thinks he’s a funny guy.
“Where do we go from here?” Asher asks.
“Well, I’m going to give the information to Matthew and let him handle how he tells Letty.” Jude does me a solid. I’d like to get this out of the way, close an open door that shouldn’t be left swinging open.
“The guys her stepdad owed, where are they?” That’s what has me in a fucking mess. The group knows about her slashed tires, and soon, I’ll have to tell Letty about them. But not until we know who did the damage first.
“No sign of them. They aren’t looking for her. They got their pound of flesh in the form of taking out Joshua, took what was of value to pay off his debt, and went back into whatever hidey hole they came out of. I also have tabs on them, and they’ll remain until you tell me otherwise.”
“That’s a fucking relief. Safe to assume the goon squad, as Letty calls them, dabble in some not-so-friendly shit?” I ask.
“She really calls them the goon squad?” Tys asks with laughter in his voice.
“Yeah, she does.” I shake my head.
“Your woman’s a total goof. Macie and her together, that’s gonna spell nothing but trouble. When you add in the others, we’re gonna have our hands full,” Tysen surmises.
“Shit, adding another one will only add a little bit of spice to life.” That comes from Johnny, as if he isn’t as crazy as the women in our group.
His nephew, well, more like his adopted son, has a drum set and electric guitar and will more than likely own a full setup before too long.
Sebastian has made noise about starting a band, and I can only imagine what Johnny does next.
“When are you bringing her around?” Jagger asks.
“The goon squad, as Letty calls them, are more along the lines of book sharks but tend to dabble in the drug trade as well. Which we all know can be a domino effect into darker shit,” Jude interrupts the conversation with an answer that sets my teeth on edge.
The need to drive to whatever house she’s cleaning, demand she come home, and keep her locked in the penthouse for all of fucking time almost overwhelms me.
“Fuck, man,” Crew says what I’m thinking.
“That’s about the size of it. As far as bringing her around, that’ll happen as soon as I convince her to quit working and go back to school to get her teaching degree she was after.
Though, Letty missed her calling, because she’d put Tys’ mom to shame, and that’s not me being a dick, either.
She can cook a damn fine meal, plus bake.
” I look at Tysen, and he has a grin on his face.
“Those are big shoes to fill,” Asher says with a smile.
“At least she can actually work in a kitchen. How many times did this guy almost burn the meat on the grill? I thought he’d live on takeout forever,” Jagger repeats similar words I said to Letty not long ago.
“Alright, well, here’s the plan. Matthew talks to Letty, they reach out to the private investigator, or bypass him altogether, because my last search just came back, and I found the attorney he’s working with.
They get that squared away soon. Then, on the next available Sunday, we do things at my house.
Pretty sure it’s been my turn for a while, and Rory likes having all the littles to hang out with.
” Jude rolls his head from side to side, cracking his neck in doing so.
“Works for me. Hate to cut this short, but Lennie is at home with the girls. It’s my day off, and she needs time out of the house.
Being a nursing facility isn’t easy, and while she loves being a mother, it’s not her only identity.
” Asher stands up and makes his rounds of shaking our hands, clapping someone on the back, and the likes.
“I guess it’s that time. Macie is at home napping, and with us about to be grounded for the remainder of her pregnancy, it means Operation Get-the-Nursery in order.” Tysen stands up, and Jagger does the same.
“I’ve got to get to a jobsite to give an estimate. Let me know if you need anything. We’re all there for you and your woman, no matter what,” Jag says.
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” I tell him, shaking his hand.
“And with that, I’m off, too. Foxy is training a new bartender during the day, and there’s nothing better than watching her work behind the bar.
Plus, I might stop by and get some more ink from Zane.
” I’m pretty sure Jude doesn’t have much more room on his body for another tattoo, but maybe there are places I don’t know about.
And I’m not willing to ask, think, or learn, either.
“Thanks for taking care of everything. Appreciate it a whole fuck of a lot.” I stand up to hug Jude, clapping him on the back.
“Anytime, you know that. We all have each other’s back, and that’s how it’ll always be,” he reciprocates my sentiments.
“What about you. You heading out?” I ask Crew.
“Fuck no. I’m not going back to work. Not now, maybe not ever at this rate. Jesus,” he says with a grumble.
“You two got two options: stay here and lock up or get the hell out. I’m heading home to my wife while Seb is still in school. We’ve got a matter of months before our alone time is limited.” Johnny grabs his phone, wallet, and keys from his desk.
“Come on, I’ll take you out to lunch,” I offer Crew, and he nods in acceptance.
“Sounds good to me. Have fun, Johnny. Give my love to Winnie and Seb,” Crew replies.
“Thanks for holding the meeting here. It would have looked bad to have my secretary clear my schedule only for a pile of vehicles to pile in and use my office.” Not to mention my secretary would have my ass with how loud it’d be while she answers phones and dodges clients.
“Bud, I’d give you the keys if you’d take them.” Johnny has offered it to all of us.
“Thanks, but no thanks.” His liquor license and me being an attorney means too much bad shit could happen that could ruin both our careers.
“Yeah, I hear you.” We move out of Johnny’s office, Crew and I heading one way and Johnny the other.
We’ll probably end up at Twisted Oak, a favorite of all of ours.
The only downfall is that Letty is at work, the wrong job, the one I won’t be able to see her at, and it won’t be till later this evening until I lay my eyes on her. A moment that can’t come soon enough.