Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Dezi shot me a look that suggested I should know exactly why.
“Funny thing,” he started. “I get a good read on people. They don’t notice it. It’s easy to write me off. Goofy guy who likes donuts.”
“Anyone who has ever seen you in a bar fight wouldn’t call you goofy.”
He ignored that.
“But it’s good I’m underestimated because no one knows I’m clocking them.”
Shit.
“And I was clocking you at that party. You and that girl dressed like a thief in a children’s movie that was shaking like a shopping cart with a bad wheel.”
Oh, he was really clocking us.
“Had some suspicions about it, so I drove off but circled back. Imagine my surprise when she came bolting out of the gate like her ass was on fire. So, I said to myself: That shit’s weird. Decided to figure out how weird. Imagine my shock when I saw this…”
I hadn’t noticed the tablet sitting on the bed beside him until he reached for it.
I knew what that was.
That was the tablet with the app that Junior had built to connect to the closed-circuit security system the Rivers brothers’ security experts installed in the club.
Fuck.
There was no bullshitting myself out of this one as he turned the tablet to face me then hit play on the paused video.
Then there I was, checking out the hot chick as she asked for me.
“This is my favorite part,” Dezi said as he dug in his pocket for a candy bar, then nipped it open with his teeth.
Carmen pulled the gun.
“And now some random hot guy is gonna come in looking for donuts. And you’re gonna protect the gunwoman from being found out.” He paused the video. “So I guess my question is… why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you protect her from being found out? Do you know her? Some random hookup where you didn’t make her come and she’s holding a grudge?”
To that, I snorted. “No.”
“You sure? ‘Cause that’s the face of a woman with a lot of pent-up anger.”
“I’m not denying that. But I don’t know why or what I did to deserve that.” I exhaled hard. “Who else knows about this?”
“No one.”
“Why not?”
“Way I see it, a man keeps something like this from the people who care about him, he must have some reason. Not my place to kick this up to the boss man. Not unless it becomes necessary.”
“I appreciate that.”
“You know what you’re doing?”
“Does anyone?”
“You make contact?”
“Yeah.”
“She try to kill you again?”
“No.”
“Think she’s gonna?”
“No.”
“Alright. Well, this is me saying that I know what’s going on. And I’ll let you handle it your way, but if I sense shit went sideways, this video is finding its way in front of Fallon.”
“I understand. I’m working on this.”
“If you need backup, you know where to find me.”
“I appreciate that. I appreciate all of this,” I told him.
To that, Dezi shrugged. “Who hasn’t nearly gotten themselves killed over a woman?”
He got up, taking the tablet with him.
“The food’s here, by the way.”
With that, he was gone.
Alone, I dropped down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as I dragged my hands down my face.
“Fuck,” I sighed.
It was bad enough that my brother was suspicious about what I was up to. It was a whole other thing to have someone like Dezi, who I wasn’t particularly close to, know almost as much as I did about the situation.
That said, I did trust Dezi.
He was someone who never played by the rules, so he wouldn’t see it as disloyal to the club that I wasn’t letting everyone in on what was going on.
I needed to go back.
I had to get Carmen to fess up to what she thought I’d done. Then decide where to go from there.
Best case, she was completely mistaken about the whole situation, and the two of us could just move on with our lives.
Worst case, I did do what she thought I did. And I’d have to find some way to understand that anything I’d done in my life was necessary, that I only hurt or killed people who were trying to do the same to me. Unfortunate? Yes. But everyone had a right to fight back when they were provoked.
I folded up and made my way out to the kitchen on aching legs to grab a plate of carbs and fat that I’d more than earned after that run.
A headache was pounding in my temples even after I was hydrated and fed.
When the girls started to show up and the music grew loud, I took myself up to the glass room for some quiet.
I meant to spend some time trying to figure out what I might be able to say to make Carmen talk to me.
But I passed out and dreamt of her instead.
Her on her hands and knees, ass up.
Her on my lap, bouncing around as she drove herself to the edge.