26. Been Better
Chapter 26
Been Better
Simone
“Bet she’s over there praying. She’s had her eyes closed a long-ass time,” Mug said.
My eyes had been closed for a long time, but not because I was praying… more because I was doing my best to tune out their lewd conversations about a woman named Farah, and I couldn’t stomach watching them sitting around eating. Not because it was making me hungry, but because they were so damned disgusting, chewing with their mouths open.
Bleh.
They’d ordered a pizza, which was delivered ten minutes ago. Little did they know, pizza was the only kind of food I wasn’t craving these days – besides coffee. Pizza gave me heartburn now that I was pregnant. My doctor assured me that would pass once the baby was born.
Hopefully we’d make it out of this alive.
Once I knew my peanut was healthy and safe, I was going to find out if we were having a boy or a girl.
Surprises be damned.
“She needs to be praying her daddy and Steel come up with the fuckin’ money. Either of them stiff me, and she’s dead,” Knuckles said.
“Thought you told Volt, you’d get Doc here to examine her,” Sledge said.
Knuckles shook his head. “He’s back in Savannah.”
“I can examine her, since you said Farah’s off-limits even though you’re through with her,” Mug said.
I willed myself not to frown or grimace as his words made my stomach roil. The light in the room changed and I opened my eyes.
Sledge had moved to the small window and closed the ratty curtains. “Fuckin’ sun is finally setting.”
If the sun was setting, then it had to be closing in on seven-thirty. Thinking about the time made my stomach growl.
I couldn’t believe I’d been gone for at least eight hours. Steel knew I was gone… what was the hold-up? Hell, Dad knew I’d been taken, but he had a four-hour drive.
“You want me to take your back when you meet Manuel?” Sledge asked.
Knuckles aimed a sour look at Mug. “No. Can’t trust this fucker with her any more than I can trust you with the blow.”
Well, that was nice of him… sort of.
“You should have somebody at your back,” Sledge said.
Knuckles shot an annoyed look at Sledge. “You’re right, and Flip’s gonna do that for me. Spoke to him before I got here. He’s at the strip club and he’s gonna meet me by the river. Make sure Manuel doesn’t have a bunch of men with him.”
My phone rang and I jolted.
Knuckles grinned. “Looks like Daddy wants a chat.” He picked up my phone. “Hello, Volt. Got my cash?”
He hadn’t put it on speaker, and I wished I could hear what Dad had to say. The way Knuckles cocked his head to the side, I knew he didn’t trust Dad.
“You got over three million that fast? Like you said, that kind of money can’t be wired, and it’s only been six hours since I called you.”
Knuckles shook his head. “It’ll have to be at midnight.”
The thought of being here for another four hours didn’t make me happy, but at least I knew Dad was on the way.
Knuckles paused.
“You want to meet at eleven, well, too fuckin’ bad. If you want your daughter back in one piece, we do this shit my way.”
I hoped Dad wasn’t fucking with Knuckles because putting together a million dollars was hard. Three-point-five times as much?
Yeah, that didn’t happen in a day’s time.
Sledge shook his head. “They can’t have the cash already.”
Knuckles shrugged. “He says their strip club had cash on hand and so did a bunch of brothers. Either way, we’re gonna find out.”
“I think we should call Steel. Makes no sense that the Riot can get twice as much money together and we haven’t heard shit from him,” Mug said, staring at me.
He hadn’t made me that nervous when Josie was here. But now, his undivided attention creeped me the fuck out.
Knuckles nodded. “Putting the pressure on the Pussy Lancers is always fun.”
I despised listening to him call Steel’s club names.
For some reason, this call he put on speaker phone.
Steel’s voice filled the room. “What do you want Knuckles?”
Knuckles shook his head. “That’s no way to talk to me – unless you don’t care about your woman.”
“Goddammit, I’m getting your money together as we speak,” he said.
“Good. Have it by midnight. The Riot was able to get their cash together. You should be able to do the same.”
Steel let out a growly sigh. “Fuckin’ hell, Knuckles. This is between me and you, let Simone go.”
Knuckles laughed. “You aren’t calling the shots here, asshole. Get the fuckin’ money and meet me at the Riverfront at midnight.”
“Are you gonna have Simone there? Put her on the line. I want proof she’s all right.”
Knuckles hesitated, then crossed the room and put the phone near my chin.
“Hi, honey,” I said, wishing Knuckles, Sledge, and Mug weren’t in the room.
“Goddammit,” Steel breathed out. “Are you okay?”
My lips tipped up. “Been better.”
“Hang tight, Simone.”
“That’s enough. Have my money at midnight, or Simone pays the price,” Knuckles said, stalking to the other side of the room and tucking his phone in his back pocket.
Part of me wondered if I was better off not knowing how I would pay the price, but the other part of me started listing all the ways he could make me suffer.
My stomach growled again.
Unfortunately, Mug heard it and laughed. “Should I offer her some crumbs?”
Knuckles glowered at him. “No. Ignore her, and stop staring, for fuck’s sake.” He pulled his cell from his back pocket just before it rang. “Manuel, is there a problem?”
Dread welled in my belly when suddenly Knuckles stood straighter. He arched his back and I heard a pop and realized I’d worried for nothing.
“Yes, we have a truck, our road captain is driving it in for the meet.”
He held the phone to his ear for a long moment, then I heard the faint double beep. Holding the phone away from his face, he frowned. “That asshole. Always has to have the last word.”
I suspected Knuckles was the exact same way.
Sledge and Mug shared a look that said I was right.