Chapter Twelve
Eros
“Who is it?” Janea asked.
Before I could wrap my head around the information Libby had been able to gather the tense silence of the room was interrupted by her sweet voice.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, the pressure a welcome distraction from the throbbing headache pounding my head, then I let out a long, shaky breath. “Someone’s who’s supposed to be dead.”
“Well, she’s not dead,” Libby said. “She’s entrenched in the Vipers.”
Apparently, she had successfully fooled me and her entire family, unless they were all in on it.
“It’s a woman?” Janea asked. “There’s a woman trying to kill me?”
“Yep,” Libby said. “She’s been working with the Vipers for hmm, I think at least ten years.”
“Fuck,” I mumbled.
Janea’s gaze snapped to me. “Who is this woman, Niko?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
She glared at me. “This works both ways. I told you what you wanted to know, now it’s time for you to do the same thing.”
“Not right now, Janea,” I said, trying to push down my rage at being fucked over by that bitch. “You and Libby give us the room.”
Libby hopped off Knox’s lap, then pecked his lips. “Call me if you need me,” she said, and sauntered out of the room
“So, you’re not going to tell me who’s trying to kill me?” Janea asked. “I have a right to know!”
I knew she had the right to know, but right now I needed to wrap my head around the information Libby found. How the fuck was she not dead?
“And I’ll tell you, but right now, I need to talk to my VP because this is fucking club business, Janea! Get the fuck out!”
She rose from the chair, glaring at me. “Fuck you, Eros,” she said as calmly as I’ve ever seen a woman.
I stood up when she walked to the door. “Janea,” I called out to her. “Let me…”
She stuck up her middle finger and then slammed the door behind her.
“Fuck!” I flopped back down in my chair, running my hand through my hair.
“Something going on between you two?” Knox asked with his brow arched.
“Truth is, I don’t fucking know.”
“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit, Prez.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “We fucked…”
Knox chuckled. “Figured that. But there’s something different about her ain’t it?”
I gave him a curious look.
“When I saw how you looked at her the first time, I knew it,” Knox continued, shrugging.
Something was different about her, but I didn’t understand how Knox knew. I’d tried to hide my interest in Janea, not only from her but from the guys because of the situation I had put the club in.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“If it was anyone else, you would have just put a bullet in their head, Eros. You wouldn’t be going through all this trouble despite the information she gave us. We would be burying her beside Crash. When you decided not to kill her, you put her before the club. That’s how I know she’s different.”
“You think I put her before the club?”
He looked at me like I was crazy for even asking the question. I did put her before the club, but it sounded different coming from a brother.
He titled his head and arched his brow before chuckling.
“Of course you did. I’m not busting your balls over it, Eros.
It is what it is. Now that you’ve done it, you just have to show how your decision will benefit the club.
And I think the information she gave you will do that.
But I’m just one brother. All of them need to see it. ”
“This,” I tapped the folder, “can fuck up everything.”
This was a fucking distraction I did not need.
“Who is it?”
“Someone I used to fuck.”
He leaned forward. “No feelings involved?”
“Not for me. It was a long fucking time ago.” I wiped my hand down my face. “We were in the same unit. She was a badass, man. But she wanted more, and I didn’t.”
“Does this seem like something she would do?”
“Fuck, I don’t know, man. The person I knew, no. But when has Libby ever been wrong?”
“Good point,” Knox said, leaning back in his chair. “Did you go to the funeral?”
“Fuck, no. I was on a mission at the time. She’s supposed to be dead. How the fuck did she pull this off?”
“Deep pockets and good fucking connections.”
Dawn Nicks, Nikki Angel, we called her, was one of the most beautiful and talented women I’d ever met. She just wasn’t the one I wanted to give my entire life to. And she couldn’t handle that. So, when I broke things off, she got out of the military, and I re-enlisted.
“How did she die?” Knox asked. “Or how was she supposed to have died?”
“Robbery.” I blew out another long breath. “Broke my fucking heart, man. I cared about the girl, but I wasn’t ready to settle down. It’s why I ended up out here.”
“You think she knows about you being in the Order?”
“I don’t know, but Nikki is a force to be reckon with. We’re going to have a fight on our hands.”
“We’ll be ready,” Knox said.
“Let’s hope so. Let me go get shit straight with my woman.”
“You’re woman, huh?”
I shrugged, causing Knox to laugh.
Fuck, I never thought I would see that face again. I hated myself for the words left unsaid between us. She was no longer the girl I cared for. She was a hired killer, and she was coming after someone I wanted in my life.