Four
FOUR
CHAOS
Jinx returns with Theresa in tow to clean the table, blocking my view of the new girl as she settles onto a bench outside the cafe.
“Sorry, boys.” Theresa nudges Fang to get his arm off the surface before liberally applying floral-scented cleaner across the timber. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen your pretty faces.”
Bet she hasn’t missed us one fucking bit, either.
“What brings you over this side of the hill?”
“Business.” I lean back, folding my arms as she wipes the area before me.
Her wrinkled gaze lifts to mine. “Like that, huh?”
“You know how it is.”
I might not have stopped in to get a coffee or a bite to eat here for a while, but I know the aging woman before me well. Her fucking tits and ass were some of the first I laid eyes on in my teenage years. Sure, she can make a mean grilled sub now, but she was a demon around a pole in my early days.
My father probably funded half this fucking business with the bills he’d shove in her sparkly panties.
“I sure do know,” Theresa says with a hitch of one eyebrow. “Pot of coffee?”
“Kentucky. How we like it,” Fang croons, glancing up from his phone to blind her with his panty-dropping grin.
“Of course.” She ruffles his hair and heads back to the counter to make the club special—a liter pot of black coffee spiked with half a flask of bourbon.
I shift focus to where Jinx spreads the pages of the sale agreement out on the newly cleaned table. “Thoughts?”
He sighs. “Give me a minute to get through some of it, yeah?”
Fang shrugs. “I think the place seems good. Those small buildings out back will be good for storage.”
By storage, he means the cars that come in hot and leave a version of their former selves with owners keen not to ask any questions in trade for a cheap ride.
“Think the fields will be any use?”
He shrugs. “They’ll need a few rounds of fertilizer before we can plant anything since they’ve been barren for a while. But first glance seems promising.”
I shift my gaze slightly over his left shoulder. The girl from behind the counter picks at a muffin, popping tiny crumbs of the fluffy baked goods into her mouth. Her attention seems fixed on the paved sidewalk. Distracted. Dead.
“There’s no mention of any caveats on land use,” Jinx states. “You’ll probably want to check that with Marianna.”
“Or you could.” I lean forward and rest my elbows on the table, picking at the edge of my painted nails.
He fixes me with a hard stare. “Guess you won’t be using your history to any advantage to get a better deal then?”
One side of my lips curl. It’s as close to a smile as he’s gonna get. “Got no plans to revisit that hell.”
Fang sets his phone on the table and raises his hands. “Hey. Even I have no plans to go there.”
He’s the biggest manwhore in the club, and yet, somehow, he’s managed to avoid the honey trap that is Marianna: the Homecoming Queen.
Fucker is smarter than we give him credit for. Then again, maybe not.
The new girl lifts a hand to flick her wayward bangs out of her eyes.
It was a given that Jinx would try his luck. Knew a pretty alt girl like her would be too much of a temptation for the perpetually single fucker the second I laid eyes on the rebel. What I didn’t expect was to feel a stab of frustration when he leaned on that goddamn service door, ensuring his muscled arms popped and gave her his best bedroom eyes.
She doesn’t need his emotionally closed-off ass using her for a quick thrill.
She needs… fuck, something else. That needling thought has me watching her as she grips fluttering pages between her hands. What do you need, sugar? What is it you want out of life?
“You hear me?” Jinx snaps.
“You saying something worth listening to?”
He gives me an unamused glare and gently shakes his head. “Fuck you.”
“What you got?” I smirk, leaning a little his way to show I’m interested.
Fuck knows what has me so goddamn grouchy today, but there it is. Can’t do much about my mood, but ride it out and hope for a better tomorrow.
“There’s a wide strip where the farm borders the river, which is government land. It’s earmarked for conservation measures. Might need to check if that’ll limit our access to water for irrigation.”
Of course. Conservation measures, my ass. Could guarantee a ranger hasn’t stepped foot on that land in decades, but if I were to put a pipeline to the farmland, there’d be a fucker standing on the porch within a week demanding payment for the privilege.
“Make a note of it. Darko can make some inquiries.”
“Sure.” He scribbles in the margin as Theresa returns with the pot and three mugs.
“You boys need anything else?”
I nod toward her new hire. “How long she been here?”
The older woman turns as though needing to check who I’m talking about. “It’s her first month.” She turns back, settling a hard stare at me. “Why?”
“Curious.”
“Well, you can keep your curiosity in your pants where it fucking belongs.” Cafe momma sets her hands on her hips. “She’s had a hard life, and she doesn’t need you assholes adding to it.”
“How?” Call me intrigued.
“How what? Will you add to it?” She snorts a laugh. “Don’t think I need to explain that.”
“I meant, how has it been hard?”
Fang slings one arm over the back of his chair, twisting to look at the subject of our conversation. “She looks upset.”
“Well, aren’t you a keen observer,” Theresa quips. “I don’t know what she came from, Chaos. And I don’t ask—much. All I know is that girl has some demons in her closet she’d rather forget about, and if I can give her a shot at a future where she gets to do that, then I will. Now.” She hitches an eyebrow. “You boys hungry? I can whip together something hot if you like.”
“We’re good.” I drum my fingers against the tabletop.
“Speak for yourself,” Jinx gripes, turning to Theresa. “I’d like a turkey sub if you’ve got one.”
“Can do you a chicken?”
“Sold.” He smiles at her and then returns to the papers before him.
I don’t miss her subtle attempt at reading what they say.
“You’ll find out when you need to.”
She jolts at my quiet threat, backing away from the table. “Chicken sub coming right up. You want anything, Fang?”
“I’m good.” He waves her off before lifting his phone. He drops the device the second she’s out of earshot and leans closer. “What’s with the questions?”
“Take it you didn’t see her this morning, then?”
“Who?”
“The waitress.”
He twists to take in the dark-haired newcomer again. “Think you would have known if I had.”
The melancholy girl folds the papers and shoves them in her pocket, returning to her idle mutilation of the muffin.
“We rode past her on the road to the farm,” I explain.
“We did?” Jinx sets his pen down to join the chat.
“She was walking along the goddamn grass.” I sigh, rolling my eyes as I slouch back in the seat. “Where’s your fucking situational awareness? No wonder the brothers have so many near misses—you’re all off with the fucking fairies while you’re riding.”
“The dust was my fucking issue,” Jinx snaps. “But you wouldn’t know much about that riding up front, would you?”
“I did my time in back,” I chide. It's not my fault if he had no ambition for the head spot at the table. “Tell me you assholes at least saw the cottage not far from the farmhouse.”
“Yeah. I saw that.” Fang nods. “Hard not to notice it, what with its cute little picket fence and all.”
“You think she came from there?” Jinx glances over his shoulder as the girl re-enters the cafe, his brow pulled into a frown.
“Not anywhere else she could have come from.”
“Could be an issue.” Fang’s mouth slowly curls into a grin. “Happy to sacrifice myself for the cause and do a little recon.”
“You’ll stay the fuck away.” My hands fist atop my thighs. I force them out flat and draw a deep breath to calm myself the fuck down. What the hell was that all about?
His eyebrows shoot up. “Okay.”
“Don’t care what she thinks of us,” I clarify. “We don’t need some bitch who’ll call the cops every time we’re making too much noise, is all.”
“We’ve dealt with much bigger problems than her,” Jinx states, lifting his pen again as he drops his focus back to the sale agreement. “If she becomes a problem, we’ll have her run off within a week. Girl doesn’t look like she’d have the courage to stand up to a spider, let alone a fucking outlaw club.”
Fang reaches for the coffee pot, laughing. “Damn straight.”
I fold my arms over my chest and study the issue at hand as she ties her apron off, shoulders rising with a deep breath. Not sure what the fuck these assholes are looking at, but what I see is a woman who’s already faced down a fucking army of spiders and now pays the price for it.
She circles her left hand around her right wrist, rubbing at the flesh before absently plucking at the hair tie circling her arm. Her painted lips are parted, and her gaze is vacant as she stares at the cloth atop the counter.
Whatever her secret, it doesn’t appear as far in the rearview as Theresa would make out.
The woman is haunted by shadows she can’t outrun.
Question is, what does the darkness hide?