Chapter 1 #3
“Talk inside,” I said as I got out, walking towards the house.
Josie looked like she’d been crying when we walked into the kitchen, the panic obvious in her voice as she spoke. “Is she okay?”
“My friend said she’s fine. One of the other women is sitting with her when they eat so she’s not on her own.
I topped up the commissary account too. I filled out paperwork to be added to her call and visitation list, so hopefully next week I can get in there to speak with her,” I answered, not expecting her to hug me.
I patted her back lightly, eyeing Caden as he joined us.
He looked pissed at me, walking past with his keys in hand.
“I’m going out. I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said, making Josie pull back from me with worry.
“Where are you going?”
“Skeet’s.”
“You spoke to him?” I asked, and he rolled his eyes.
“Yep.” That was all he said before leaving, and Tyler looked ready to combust.
“Hey, where’s Lukas and Jensen?” I asked Tyler, and he winced.
“They’re at Jensen’s. You’re not exactly everyone’s favorite person right now, dude.”
“Why not? I’ve done nothing but fucking help,” I bit out.
“Yeah, but she was hauled out of your bed. I’m the only one who doesn’t really care about that bit,” he answered, glancing at Marco. “Can I crash with you tonight? Josie’s got a meeting later and won’t be back for a few days.”
“No, dude. I’m not a fucking babysitter,” Marco growled, and I shot him a look of warning when Tyler looked ready to throw up at the thought of being left here alone.
I’d watched him enough to know he hated being alone, so if he’d had a disagreement with Caden after Rory was locked up, he was probably having an internal breakdown.
“We have some shit to do, but you can tag along,” I offered, the relief instant on his face.
“Really?”
“Sure.”
Marco gave me a confused look that I ignored, and Josie sighed.
“You’ll keep him safe, right? I don’t need anything happening to the rest of you. I can’t do anything else for Rory right now, so I’ll handle my business trip and get back as soon as I can. Call me if you need me and I’ll cancel it,” she said seriously, and I nodded.
“We will. There’s honestly nothing else we can do for Rory until we can visit her. I’ll keep checking in with my friend to make sure she’s okay,” I promised, earning a pat on the arm before she excused herself to go upstairs.
“We can’t fucking take him with us,” Marco hissed once she was gone.
“We’re only stopping by to see Hendricks for five seconds. He’ll be fine. Right, Ty? You’ll shut the fuck up and behave?” I asked flatly, and Tyler nodded frantically.
“Absolutely. I know how crew shit works, man. I didn’t see or hear shit, and I know nothing.”
“See? He’s fine,” I shrugged. “Besides, I’ll get Hammer and Faris to handle the other thing.”
“Are you sure?” Marco asked.
“Positive. We’ve been awake for almost two days. We need the night off anyway,” I assured him. “Grab what you need, Ty. We’ll wait.”
He darted off to grab his things, and Marco grumbled about us getting rich kids killed the whole time as if he wasn’t happy to have a gaming buddy for the evening.
Since the paparazzi had stopped tailing him, Tyler took his own car to Wet Dreams, and I made Marco go with him, just in case. Anyone could be lurking in the shadows, and Tyler couldn’t exactly defend himself if someone went after him.
My fingers tapped nervously on the steering wheel as I drove in front of them, wondering what Rory was doing. Was she being cornered in the shower block right now? Beaten in her cell?
Was she scared?
I smacked the steering wheel with the palm of my hand, pissed off that something had obviously gone wrong. I knew there was a witness, but I had no idea who just yet.
Marco had stayed at the scene, and I’d never question his loyalty to my orders, so I knew he hadn’t betrayed her by handing evidence over to someone.
What the fuck had gone wrong? We erased everything, making sure the house burned down after to get rid of any traces we’d left behind.
Max was long gone before it went up too, so they hadn’t found remains when the fire trucks arrived to put out the blaze.
I ran through the list of my guys in my head that had been there, but I didn’t second-guess any of them either. Most of them liked her or didn’t give a shit about her enough to want her in trouble.
Was it one of the Psychos? Had someone followed her to get her away from Skeeter?
It was a possibility, but regardless of that, they wouldn’t have gone to the cops.
Someone else was involved, and they were dead when I got my fucking hands on them.
Wet Dreams was close to opening when we arrived, and Archer gave me a dirty look when we walked in with Tyler.
“You on rich boy babysitting duty now?” he grunted, and I rolled my eyes.
“No. He’s a friend.”
“Is he? I’m a little surprised. He knew you were dicking his girl, right? I saw Donovan was arrested from your bed.”
“It’s not what you think. If you saw why she was arrested, you’d understand why I was helping her,” I said dryly, and he let out a low whistle.
“Damn, that bitch actually offed the prick? Well, good for her. What I don’t understand is why you were the one helping her and not Maddox.”
“You and me both,” I grumbled, motioning to the bar. “Go sit over there, Ty. Buy a drink and be nice to Milky. We won’t be long.”
Tyler looked like he wanted to argue, but he thankfully did as he was told and wandered over to sit at the bar.
We walked towards a booth in the corner to sit, and Archer let out an irritated sigh. “Any news on Evans? He’s unusually quiet.”
“Not a thing. Haven’t even heard a peep out of Razor. Makes me paranoid that they’re plotting something,” I answered, and Marco winced.
“Do you think they have something to do with Donovan’s arrest? Get her alone in there and have her handled like some of the girls have been lately? All the crews seemed to have had someone attacked in the women’s prison over the past month or so.”
“It’s possible. Lex said things have been calm in there since the attacks, which makes her nervous too,” I stated, and Archer scowled at me.
“When the fuck did you speak to her?”
“This morning. I went to visit her to talk to her about Rory,” I shrugged, his eyes narrowing.
“Don’t fucking drag her into your bullshit.”
“I’m not, I just asked her to play nicely. She’s not getting involved,” I promised, eyeing Tyler as he talked to Milky while sipping a beer. “I only had one girl in there, and she got released a few days ago, so I can’t organize someone to take Rory into their prison crew.”
“I’ve only got Lex in there right now, and she wouldn’t take her in even if I asked her to. You know she hates her, right? She waved a gun at Myles in here,” Archer tsked. “Why are you making that girl your problem? Leave her with Maddox.”
“I highly doubt that’s an option. Pretty sure he’s turned on her.”
“Do you blame him? I don’t fucking understand why he was sharing his girl with those rich pricks, but I know for a fact that he’d never be okay with you getting close to her. All you did was put a target on her head and label her a backstabbing snake.”
“She called me. I wasn’t going to leave her alone to deal with that mess. Maybe if that fucker ever answered the phone, this wouldn’t have happened,” I bit out, only making him chuckle.
“You’re not fooling anyone, Rivera. You only helped her because it gave you a leg up and made Skeet look like the bad guy.”
“There’s not a lot of people I’d drop everything for to help, but it's ironic those on my list include your girl and Skeet’s.
I wouldn’t have to be so helpful if you guys actually looked after them properly.
Where were you the night Lexi was arrested, huh?
Balls deep in one of your girls? She told me you two were fighting before she took off. ”
He glared at me, pulling out his gun and placing it on the table to show me it was there.
“You need to watch your mouth, Rivera. You don’t know anything.”
“So you weren’t fucking anyone else?”
“It’s none of your business.”
I barked out a laugh, leaning back and crossing my arms. “Why did you marry her if you didn’t want a wife, man? You don’t want her, but no one else can have her either? That it?”
“I’m not discussing this with you,” he answered sharply, and I chuckled.
“That’s why you hate me so much, isn’t it? You know she’s yours, but she won’t let go of me either. I’m the one she can turn to no matter what.”
“Before this turns into a shitfight, can we change the subject?” Marco drawled, flicking his lighter out of boredom.
“I think that’s smart,” Archer grunted, keeping the gun in view. “I hate dealing with you pricks, but I think we can agree it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for trouble together over the Soldiers and Kings. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.”
“I’ll reach out if I hear anything too,” I nodded, getting to my feet. “Always a pleasure seeing you, Hendricks.”
“Bite me, jackass,” he grumbled, watching us leave the booth to grab Tyler before we headed out to our cars.
I wasn’t surprised when Marco said he and Tyler were going to hang out at his place, leaving me to go home by myself to try and sleep.
It was fine by me, I was exhausted and didn’t want to be kept up all night by their gaming.