Chapter 37
thirty-seven
COLE
I rode back to The Clutch in a dark storm of emotion. My feelings about my father, and Errol, and Finn’s father, had long been wrapped up in barbed wire. It was all spiky and complicated, and I never allowed myself to focus on it too closely.
But that privilege was at an end.
I parked outside the bar. It was closed. A rare occurrence. The owner getting arrested for murder definitely warranted a day off work.
I opened up and went inside, heading to the little bedroom between the kitchen and the bar that served as a place to crash when I was too tired to go home.
Entering, I immediately began hunting for the listening device. It took a few minutes to find it lying in a gap between the wall and the baseboard.
I pulled it out and examined it. A shiny little pen.
I slipped it into my pocket and headed out of the room, and toward my office.
I unlocked the door and went inside, just as a sound came from the bar.
Was someone else here? I unlocked my top drawer and pulled the burner phone out, pressing the only number I had on there, quickly putting it on speaker when it connected and slipping it into the front pocket of my cut.
“Stay quiet, I’m about to get you a confession for murder, maybe. I hope,” I murmured out loud, then sat down behind my desk, slipping my other hand underneath and placing it on the gun taped there.
I waited in tense silence as footsteps echoed down the hall and into the shop.
“Cole? Thank God, you’re back. I was so worried.” Errol stepped into my office.
My heart hardened into stone at the sight of him.
“Were you?”
Errol nodded. “Your father was worried sick, and I was too.”
I shrugged. “Your concern is noted. What can I do for you?”
Errol sat across from me. “I don’t need anything. I was just worried. Who do you think did this, if it wasn’t us?”
I shook my head, my finger lingering on the trigger of the gun. He could be dead in seconds, and I’d never have to hear him speak again. The temptation was nearly overwhelming.
“I’m sure the perp will make themselves known. They usually can’t keep it to themselves for long.”
Errol nodded. “You know, Gage told me Grant Elwick was The Lion, can you believe that?” He laughed, but it was fake as fuck.
I let out a long sigh. There was no way Gage had said a thing to Errol. He knew because he was neck deep in it.
“What’s wrong?”
I shrugged. “I’m just tired. I’m so fucking tired of all of it. Why did you kill Elwick? Was it to get rid of the debt? Why try and pin it on me?”
Errol froze for a long moment, and then sighed, echoing my previous one. He relaxed farther back into the chair, his face taking on an amused look.
“Isn’t it more poetic if you end up serving time, just like your dad?”
Even though I’d known he was going to confirm it, the proof of his betrayal stung.
“So, you admit it?”
Errol nodded. “Why deny it? Being a weak Pres isn’t a good look. All the men will have to know eventually who seized power and how.”
“All this, for all this?” I jerked my head around at the run-down office and auto shop beyond.
Errol grunted. “We all have dreams, and you’ve been living mine for too long. You never even wanted any of this, and yet, here you are, too fucking persistent to die.”
“You’re right, I don’t want this. None of this is my dream,” I told him bluntly.
He frowned at me. “Then that only pisses me off more.”
“Did you kill Grant?”
“Not personally. Teddy did it.”
“Teddy?” I scrambled to figure out Errol’s angle. “You want to join the Iron Vultures?”
“Not join. Coexist. With Grant gone, the Hounds can be the key suppliers of the area. We have all The Lion’s contacts. We can make those deals ourselves. The Iron Vultures will be our best clients.”
“And Teddy and his father will happily just go along with that.”
“They won’t have a choice. Right now, no one wants to work with them.”
“Because Teddy is an unhinged psycho.”
“Everyone has their faults. Like you… you’re so self-righteous and uptight. It’s like you’re not even a Hound. You don’t act like your old man at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if you weren’t even his.”
“Now, now, Errol, save the compliments for later,” I said dryly.
Errol chuckled and pulled his phone from his pocket. I adjusted my grip on the gun. In my pocket, on the burner phone, was Agent Sánchez, my contact at the FBI.
“Funny. You’ve always been funny, Cole. I’m sad to have to take power this way. I’d always thought maybe you’d get bored of this life and go off traveling, like you always wanted to, but that hasn’t happened. Now, there’s no alternative.”
“If you think I’m going to let you shoot me down like a dog somewhere, you’re mistaken,” I said coolly, and cocked the gun under the table.
Errol clearly heard the threat of the gun but only nodded.
“I knew you wouldn’t. You don’t have it in you to go down without a fight.
But you see, your little girlfriend—Isabelle, isn’t it?
She’s with Teddy, and I’m worried what might happen to her if you make a fuss and don’t come with me.
” He held up his phone, and I could make out the photo well enough to know that I couldn’t end Errol right here and now.
The back of my truck, the truck my Goldilocks was driving.
Someone was following her, if they didn’t already have her.
Errol could be bluffing but that was a risk I couldn’t take.
I stared at Errol, emotions I hadn’t known I was capable of feeling coursing through me.
“Put your phone on the desk,” Errol continued, confident he had my attention now. I complied, setting my regular cell down on the table, while the burner phone felt like a heavy weight in my pocket. Was he going to search me, or just trust that I only had one phone?
“What do you say, Cole? I think you’ll come with me,” Errol said smugly. A heavy feeling of finality settled over me.
I released the gun and hoped the burner phone was picking everything up.
“Let’s go. Take me to her.”