Chapter Eighteen #2
Despite myself, I grinned. “Which means you should probably let me go.”
The scowl returned to his face. “Yeah, I should.”
Instead, he leaned in and kissed me again, and this time he kept kissing me, fingers digging into my scalp, teeth nipping at my lips.
It reminded me of our first night together in his apartment, the marble of his kitchen island cold beneath me and him between my legs, burning like a fire, setting me aflame with his touch.
I was the one to break the kiss this time because if he kept it up, we’d never get to Daniel’s, and the entire world would implode around us before we let each other go.
His grip on my neck eased as I pulled away, and he leaned back a little in his seat, enough that I felt like I could form rational thought again.
The air between us still felt charged, heavy and electric, like lightning might strike at any second. We needed something to break the mood.
“How long have you suspected your father?” I asked.
Jakob let me go and straightened in his seat. A little thrill of vindication shot through me to see his cheeks were flushed. He shook his head like he was trying to clear it, then turned forward and shifted the car into first.
“Since I was twelve,” he said, checking his mirrors before pulling back onto the road.
I frowned. Maybe I’d misheard him because of the engine noise. “Since you were twelve?”
He nodded. “I eavesdropped on one of his phone calls to an enforcer and realized what a manipulative bastard he was. After that, I never fully trusted him again.”
Okay, then. “I meant, how long have you suspected his involvement in what’s going on at Magnolia Hills?”
“From the beginning,” he said. “My default is to suspect him anytime anything happens in Kearny.”
“Why?”
“Because he hates Daniel and wants him out,” Jakob said.
I grinned. I’d unraveled at least part of what was going on for myself. Go me!
“When did you start suspecting my dad?” Jakob asked.
“When you told me the van was bugged.”
“And now you think he’s behind everything?”
I hesitated before answering. The way he said that made me wonder what he thought. He didn’t seem totally convinced that it was his dad, just like he didn’t suspect Daniel. Maybe Jakob was a hold-all-judgment-until-the-end kind of guy.
“I don’t know what to think,” I said. “It’s not like you’ve been very forthcoming with me.”
He nodded. “I haven’t. So, tell me your theories.”
My lingering desire for him was drowned beneath a fresh wave of frustration. “Seriously? You’re still withholding, and you expect me to pour out all my half-assed guesses?”
“I don’t want to influence you,” he said.
“It’s part of why I haven’t said shit to you about my suspicions.
” He glanced over at me as we gained speed again.
“I want to hear what you think. You’re smart, and Dad was right about your instincts; they’re good.
You might have picked up on something I missed. ”
Damn it. I must have been starved for affection before meeting him. That must be why his praise made my cheeks heat and my stomach do a stupid little flip.
“I have a few questions for you first,” I said, still hesitant.
“Ask them.”
“Are you actually going to answer me for once?”
A small, evil little grin lifted the corner of his lips. “Maybe.”
“You’re a real pain in the ass sometimes, you know that?”
“Only because I like what happens when I get you riled up like this,” he said, his grin widening into a full-blown smile.
I didn’t know whether to kiss him or punch him. Both seemed equally appealing. Instead, I decided to ask my questions while I had the chance.
“Do you think your dad would go so far as to have my apartment trashed and order someone to attack me in an elevator?”
Jakob didn’t look at me when he answered.
All his focus was on the road as he tore out of the Kings stronghold like someone was chasing us.
“The apartment, yes. By bringing you home, he’d assume things between us were serious and that wrecking your place was a good way to keep me where he wanted me. ”
“Right beneath his thumb,” I said.
He nodded, downshifted, and hit the train tracks crossing back into the good side of town so fast it felt like we went airborne for a few seconds. My teeth rattled in my skull when we hit the other side, and my hip throbbed on impact.
“Mind slowing down a bit?” I ground out.
Jakob looked over, saw my pained expression, and immediately slowed the car to the speed limit.
“Sorry,” he said.
God bless men who aren’t afraid to apologize. That was twice in the span of a few minutes, and both times he sounded like he meant it.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Why did your dad want you home so badly? To keep you away from Magnolia?”
“Most likely.”
“But you don’t think he’d have me or Dr. Perez attacked.”
He shook his head.
“What about Daniel? Do you think he’s involved at all?”
“No,” he said. “If this shit implodes, Daniel will be fucked.”
“How so?”
“He’ll lose the loyalty of the club. You don’t work with the Jokers. Ever. They’re the enemy. If anyone else in the Kings knew what we did, he’d already be out.”
I thought about his words for a few minutes and realized that he hadn’t spoken to anyone but Liam about Redding. At least not in my company.
“You only told your dad about Redding to see his reaction, didn’t you?” I asked.
Jakob nodded.
“Did he give anything away?”
“No,” he said. “But then he usually doesn’t.”
“And you haven’t told anyone else?”
Jakob shook his head.
“What about the bikers who came with you to Magnolia?” I asked.
“They think the Jokers are behind everything.”
“And the woman you have tailing Redding?”
“She has no idea who he is,” he said. “Only that we want him watched.”
“No one else knows about Redding but us and your dad?” I asked, just to clarify.
“I haven’t told anyone else about him.”
I watched him shift through the gears, his large, muscular upper body on full display, his movements quick and sure, almost graceful. It sounded like he’d chosen those words carefully. Jakob might not have told anyone else, but clearly he thought other people knew about Redding.
When I first met Jakob, I thought he was just a large, violent man with irresistible sex appeal.
Turned out there was a brain beneath all that.
I’d suspected it since our first night together, but now I was beginning to wonder just how sharp his mind was.
He wanted to know my suspicions, see if I picked up on anything he’d missed, but I was willing to bet that Jakob Larson was a man who missed nothing.
“Who’s Mike?” I prodded, switching tactics. I remembered the name from that first run-in between Jakob and Daniel. It had been lingering in the back of my mind, bugging me, like a mosquito hovering just on the edge of hearing.
This time Jakob’s grin was warm when he glanced over at me, softened by the approval in his expression. He picked up his phone, unlocked it, and passed it to me. On the screen was a picture of Redding and another man, a big white guy with sandy hair and Slavic features.
“That’s Mike,” Jakob said.
“He works for your father, doesn’t he?”
He cocked a brow and looked over at me. “What makes you say that?”
I shrugged and handed the phone back. “Just a gut feeling.”
“Your gut is good,” he said, setting the phone in a cup holder between us. “He works for my dad. Not many people know who he is. Dad sends him in when he needs something handled and doesn’t want it traced back to the club.”
“Why did Daniel tell you that the thing with him didn’t pan out?” I pressed.
“I have no fucking idea,” Jakob said, frustration creeping into his tone. “Like I said, nothing Daniel King does makes any sense to anyone besides Daniel King.”
“But you have a guess, don’t you?”
He nodded. “I didn’t know Daniel knew who Mike was until that night. Now I think he might have known about Magnolia longer than I have and has been trying to pin it on Dad all along. I think he mentioned Mike because he wanted to see my reaction.”
My brows crept up my forehead. “He thought you were in on it with your father?”
Jakob nodded.
“Does he still?” I asked.
“No idea,” he said.
“Who did you think was watching us that first night?”