Chapter 30
THIRTY
KYRA
“Oh, hey, Kyra,” Suzanne greets as I stride in the front doors of the Sheriff’s office, not fazed in the slightest by my unkempt appearance.
“Your father’s just heading out. If it’s important, you might be able to catch him if you’re quick.
” She leans to the side in her seat behind the bulletproof screen and presses the button to let me through.
“Thanks.” I flash her a smile as I walk past the open counter on the officer’s side. “I won’t be long.”
It doesn’t take much to figure out where he is. The ruckus from him barking orders at his deputies carries through the sterile halls, past the two temporary cells across from the desk cubicles, and to my ear as I lengthen my strides.
I swing around the tight corner toward the garages and almost run smack into the back of my father.
He spins, eyes widening. “I thought you’d be at work.”
Because if he doesn’t take time to recover after a traumatic event, why would anyone else, right? “I took the day off.”
His face scrunches, nose giving a little twitch of irritation. “I’m in the middle of something.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
His principal deputy, Keller Frees, grins behind my father’s shoulder.
“What’s going on?” I demand more than I ask. “Why were they here?”
“That’s what I’m about to find out.” Dad huffs out his nose. “But you should really be somewhere indoors where you can stay out of any further trouble. Go back to work, Kyra.”
“Why are they here?” I repeat. He fucking knows. He’s always known more than he lets on.
Dad glances at Keller, who schools his features into one of intense concentration, and then grips me by the shoulder. “Two minutes,” he barks, steering me toward an empty office and then closing the door behind us.
I turn to face him, pinned between the cluttered desk and the exit. “What do you know?”
“Who’s Blue Babylon?” His mouth hardens, arms folded high over his chest.
I step back until the edge of the desk supports me. “What?”
“You heard what I said.”
“Who gave you that name?”
My father tilts his head, studying me like a common criminal.
“I asked Davis why they held you. Asked if it was to do with me because fuck knows that thought had me ready to vomit,” he explains.
“You had me think it was my fault you were put in danger, but all the while it was because you’re a goddamn whore showing yourself on the internet for anyone to see. ”
My heartbeat whooshes in my ears.
He takes a step forward and lowers his voice. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? What it would do to my career? My reputation, if anyone found out?”
Anger blooms from the maelstrom of sickness in my gut. “Of course, this is about you. It’s always about you,” I snap.
“And never about you taking responsibility for your choices,” he counters. “Is it? Do you ever stop to think about how your actions affect anyone other than yourself?”
“I guess if I don’t, I learned that from you.”
Tension crackles between us.
“You’re a goddamn disappointment, Kyra.”
“I’m well aware of that.”
He doesn’t back away, and neither do I.
“You had so much promise, and you threw that away, quitting your schooling to fucking undress for strangers.”
“Undressing for strangers bought my house,” I sneer. “It’s also paying for Mom’s specialist, which I’ve found.”
He twitches as though I slapped him. “Your filthy money isn’t doing a goddamn thing for her.”
“It has to,” I yell. “Because you won’t.”
His nostrils flare, and I ponder if this is indeed the most emotion I’ve ever seen him show in relation to Mom.
“She knows she can ask for help if she needs it.”
“Really?” I scoff, relaxing against the desk again.
“Because she hasn’t so far. Do you know her pain levels are so high that they refuse to prescribe her anything stronger, saying she’ll become addicted if they do?
Do you know she gave up all her club work and social groups?
That she finds purpose in her day by serving you and your needs?
” I shake my head, rage and injustice vibrating through my body.
“It’s sad, Dad. She’s given up every piece of herself to support you, and you won’t do a goddamn thing unless you’re asked. ”
“You’re not changing the subject that easily.” He takes a step back, eyes narrowed. “What you do is illegal, Kyra.”
“Here,” I hiss. “Not where I was living before.”
“Will you do it here?” The question lies unspoken in his words, “Will I have to arrest you?”
“I’m not that reckless.”
“But you’re reckless enough to associate with criminals.”
“And there it is,” I sass. “The real root of your disappointment in me.”
“I wish it were so simple,” he grumbles. “I thought you choosing to see that biker would be hard enough to cover up, but then you threw this Blue Babylon mess into the mix. God damn it, Kyra. What were you thinking?”
“That you’d never know,” I answer honestly. “Isn’t your two minutes up?”
He glances at the wall in the direction of Keller. “I want your things gone by the time I get home tonight.”
“You’re kicking me out when I’m moving out anyway?”
He stays quiet.
“That’s a pathetic power-play, even for you.” I push off the desk and barge past him, jerking the door open before I add. “You can’t stop me from seeing Mom.”
“Not if you ensure that I don’t know about it.” He turns to stare at me over his shoulder. “But then again, you’ve shown you’re not very good at keeping secrets, so…”
“It’s really no mystery why everyone fucking hates you,” I snarl. “Not when your daughter does too.”
I retrace my steps at a brisk pace, waving a stiff goodbye to Suzanne after I punch through the access door.
Fuck him. I won’t feel bad for what went down. Not when it’s been coming for years.
I make it to Theresa’s cafe within minutes, not sure where else I want to go right now.
The keys to my new house are at my parents’ place, but their depressing abode is the last goddamn place I want to be at the minute.
I praise my luck when I find a singular patron inside besides Theresa and Vanessa.
“You look… more lively today,” Theresa calls from where she sips on a coffee at the register, one eyebrow raised. “Not sure we have a spare table for you, though.” Her intrigue turns to a grin.
“Dad’s an asshole.” I pause and stare at the patron, daring them to tell him what I fucking said before returning focus to Theresa. “He won’t tell me what’s going on with the Devil’s Breed, and he just kicked me out of his house.”
“He what?” Vanessa sets dirty dishes on the servery, wiping her hands on her apron when she looks at me. “Why?”
“Because I’m a disappointment.”
Theresa tuts, letting herself out from behind the counter. “Make Kyra and yourself a coffee, Vanessa. And bring cake.” She gestures to the table farthest from the sole patron. “Sit.”
I do as she instructs, flopping over the table when I do, head cradled in my arms. “I’m not even surprised.”
“Doesn’t make it right, though.” The chair scrapes as she settles opposite me. “What was the bully’s justification?”
“Huh?” I lift my head and rest my chin on my arm.
“Why are you such an apparent disappointment?”
I sigh, gaze flicking to where Ness makes our drinks. “He said I’ll ruin his reputation and his career with my choices.”
“Let me guess,” Theresa drones, leaning back to sling an arm over the chair. “Your association with the club, namely Jinx.”
“Among other things.” I sigh, staring at the fliers tacked to the front of the counter. “Being the Sheriff was his career choice, not mine, so why do my life choices have to revolve around his image?”
“Because he’s one of a group of professions who all believe status means everything.” She taps her finger on the table as she lists them out. “Lawyers, cops, judges, even doctors. They all believe a little bit of scandal will topple their pedestal and leave them stranded.”
“To be fair,” I murmur, “it’s a bit more than a little bit of scandal.”
“Color me intrigued.” She leans in as Vanessa arrives with the coffee.
I glance at both women and sigh. Seems half the county already knows, so why not tell them too? “I have—had—an OnlyFans account. It’s why the Devil’s Breed stopped me, not because of Dad.”
Vanessa tilts her head, both eyebrows raised, before turning to retrieve the cakes from the counter.
Theresa sits frozen for a beat, then snorts and erupts with laughter. “Oh, girl, I wish I had been there to see his face.”
“It wasn’t all it was cracked up to be,” I say, bursting her bubble. “He called me a whore.”
Her humor disappears. “He what now?”
“Said I was a whore for undressing for the world.”
The sole patron rises from his table and drops a tip on the surface before smoothly making for the exit.
Theresa waits until the bell over the door chimes behind him, and then looks back at me.
“Do not listen to a word that ignorant asshole has to say.” She almost seems personally offended.
I guess it makes sense given her history as a club bunny.
We’re no different at the heart of it, just operating in different times. “What you do is honest work.”
“Did,” I correct her. “I can’t do it now that I’m here, in Minnesota.”
“Pfft.” She rolls her eyes. “They’d have us in dresses that cover us from wrist to neck again if they had their way.
There are a lot of people who don’t share that opinion of sex workers, Kyra.
Don’t you go thinking you’re a pariah around here because of what you chose to do with your life for a while. ”
“I don’t.” I ease back in my seat to make space on the table when Vanessa returns with the food. “Thank you.”
“Have you spoken to your mom?” Ness takes the seat between Theresa and me.
“Not yet. I couldn’t guarantee if I went back to their house right now, I wouldn’t lose my shit, so I came here instead.”
Both women look tickled pink.
“You can always come here when you need space to regroup,” Ness says.
“I appreciate that.”
Theresa stirs sugar into her brew, the clink of her spoon the only sound between us. In a way, it’s nice. I don’t need a constant stream of affirmations or commiserations. Just to know people are there to support me is enough.
“Did Jinx seem different to you last night?” I ask Vanessa.
She frowns briefly, her hand poised over a slice of cake. “Um, he seemed less grouchy than usual. Does that count?”
I guess.
“Why?”
“No reason.”
Silence falls between the three of us again. Theresa takes a bite of cake while Vanessa sips her coffee. I stare at the offerings before me, yet I can’t bring myself to enjoy them. To sit and relax as though my whole fucking world isn’t imploding.
It’s not my place to say why there’s tension between Jinx and me, but I need advice. I feel out of my depth with him because of the patch he chooses to wear and the burdens placed on him by the club. He doesn’t work a regular nine-to-five; our issues aren’t that… normal.
It feels as though no sooner have I untangled one knot than another forms between us, making our connection difficult.
“I should have done as Mom said and never come back.”
Both women stall their movements.
“Why?” Vanessa asks, as though confused why I would think that way.
I make eye contact with her, then with Theresa, before looking at my hands. “Because then I wouldn’t have reminded myself why loving Jinx is so damn impossible.”