Chapter 22

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

“The guy’s an asshole but I think River’s wrong.” Cole said from beside me.

From my place in the driver’s seat I watched Stone Phillips make his way across the parking lot of the rundown apartment building towards his car.

“That was quick,” I noted.

“He’s always quick,” Cole returned.

Cole wasn’t wrong. The last three days we’d been following Phillips he got in, got off, and got out. The getting off part being with one of Zeus’s girls, not his wife.

We sat quietly and waited for Phillips to drive off.

“Hope to fuck this one talks,” Cole clipped.

The last two women hadn’t. They’d flatly denied that Stone Phillips had paid them a visit.

We were out of the car and nearly to the steps that would lead us to the second-floor apartment Phillips had just exited when Cole said, “Cool of Jane to go full-time at Smutties. I know River’s grateful. Means starting next week Letty’s down to only a few hours a day.”

I knew River was grateful. He’d stopped into the office the day after Jane took the job. Relief was written all over the man’s face but still he expressed his gratitude.

“She only has a few weeks left before the baby’s here. It’ll be good for her to relax.”

“Yeah, no doubt.”

* * *

“Not sure ifyou were right about Phillips being in deeper than we thought but he’s providing services,” Cole announced as soon as we hit the conference room and he saw River standing inside the room with Brasco next to him. Wilson, Rhode, Asher, and Reese sat around the table.

Needlessly to say the hooker talked. It had taken some coaxing but she wanted out from under Zeus and once we’d convinced her we could help her disappear she unloaded.

“What’d you get?” Brasco asked.

“Tensions are high between Zeus and Phillips,” I started. “Zeus wants more protection for his routes—those being him bringing drugs down from Canada. Phillips is getting antsy. He knows IA’s sniffing around, putting on the pressure. He wants Zeus to cool his shipments.”

“How’d you get this?”

“Cara Bristol, club name Sparkle,” Cole spat.

“How does a biker bunny know this?”

Cole smiled though he couldn’t hide his disgust.

“She’s a favorite of both Zeus and Phillips. On more than one occasion when they were done with her, thinking she was passed out, the dumbfucks talked. The woman might be a hooker but she’s not dumb. She went home and wrote that shit down in her diary.”

Cole tossed the leatherbound book on the table.

“Dates, what was said, any names mentioned,” he finished.

“Jesus,” Rhode groundout and reached for the book. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I confirmed.

“Why’d he visit her today?” Brasco asked while moving to stand behind Rhode.

“To get his weekly blowjob.” Cole sneered and continued. “Last weekend Phillips was at the compound. She said that him and Zeus got into it worse than normal. Phillips refused a job, Zeus reminded Phillips if he didn’t do the job, his wife would get a visit and see the video. Cara didn’t know what video Zeus was talking about but she saw Phillips get in Zeus’s face.” Cole paused, shook his head, and continued, “The moron threatened to kill Zeus if his wife saw that video.”

“What’d Zeus say to that?” Wilson quizzed.

“He laughed. Phillips didn’t find it funny and left.”

“We might have a problem,” I rejoined. “Cara says that Phillips was agitated today. She’s friends with the other two we talked to, probably the reason she didn’t look all that surprised when we showed up. The other two warned we’d paid them a visit, but both of them told Cara he was rougher than normal and pissed off.”

“You think Phillips is planning on taking out Zeus?” Brasco didn’t sound all that torn up about the prospect of that happening.

“That’d solve a lot of problems,” Reese muttered.

He wasn’t wrong. It’d put Zeus down permanently and Phillips in the joint where he belonged.

I felt no remorse thinking this about my wife’s brother. The world would be a far better place without Zeus in it.

“Where’s Cara now?”

Cole turned his attention to our boss and told him the bad news.

“At a safehouse waiting on you to make some calls to get her out of Idaho.”

“Fuck, seriously?”

“Yep. The woman wants out. She’ll testify to what’s in that book as long as she gets a new identity. Oh and she’s requested a beach.”

Wilson made an angry sound that had River chuckling.

What a difference three days and your wife hiring an employee makes. The man no longer looked like he wanted to rip someone’s head off.

“Want me to make a few calls?” Brasco offered.

“No but thanks. I’ll call my man in Nebraska, have him come pick her up.”

Guess Cara Bristol wasn’t getting a beach.

But she was getting out and if she stayed the course she’d be free to make something good of her life.

“Are you going to talk to Jane about this?” Rhode’s question wasn’t an accusation, he was just curious.

“Fuck no. She has a new job she loves, a new home she’s getting comfortable in, she’s sorting out Patty and when she’s moving in, she’s enjoying getting to know the girls, and for the first time in her life has friends, and she’s shopping for cars online. No reason to bring that asshole into our lives.”

“If Phillips takes him out…” Rhode let that hang.

“Then he does the world a favor.” I shrugged. “I’ll deal with any emotional fallout if Phillips manages to off Zeus. But Jane mourned the loss of her brother a long time ago. Trevor holds a place in her heart; he saved her from being violated by a man from her father’s club. Trevor got a beat down from the club for his efforts. That’s when he turned. I don’t understand it, I don’t want to understand it, but for that single act of protection, he has my gratitude. Now, Zeus, he can rot in hell and take his fucked-up dad with him.”

“Are you shitting me?” Wilson growled.

“Nope. He used to sleep next to her so no one would come into her room in the middle of the night. He stopped her from being raped. So, somewhere deep, deep down, buried under all his bullshit he’s got at least an ounce of good in him and I’m grateful he used it to protect her.”

The men around shifted uncomfortably.

A reminder that even the evilest of men can have a moment of decency.

Trevor Lawrence was piece of shit. I despised him, but I still had to acknowledge the good he’d done.

“Well, fuck me,” Rhode grunted.

That about summed it up.

* * *

I walked in the house,smelled something cooking, and smiled.

When our meeting with River and Brasco ran late, Mia offered to pick up Jane. Actually, offer was a stretch. Mia had come into the conference room and announced she’d called Jane to tell her she was picking her up and waved goodbye.

I’d excused myself to call Jane at work to make sure she was okay with this. What I got was a happy, chatty Jane telling me about her day and how excited she was to spend time with Mia. Selfishly, I wanted her to want to wait for me. But hearing the enthusiasm in her voice soothed a worry I didn’t know I had.

Jane was happy.

She fit in, she was getting close to the women.

And she was excited about something.

I went back to the meeting smiling, uncaring the guys were giving me shit when I rushed through the rest of the brief.

Now I was walking into the house I shared with my wife who was right then in the kitchen with the house phone pressed between her shoulder and her ear and she was bobbing her head up and down while dumping steaming water into the sink.

I leaned against the doorjamb and listened.

Jane barely spared me a glance but she did give me a big, bright smile before she went back to concentrating on what she was doing.

“Yeah, rearrange whatever you want. And I’m sure Davis and I can move it in here or we’ll get rid of it.”

Davis and I.

Fuck yeah, Jane was settling in.

“Perfect. I’m so happy you like it.” Pause. “Great. Call me if you need anything.” Another pause. “Sure thing. Bye.”

Jane finished pouring the water into the sink. Chunks of potatoes came next, then she set the pan into the other side, and took the phone from her shoulder.

“That was Patty,” she chirped.

Jane was chirping excitedly.

Fuck, yeah, she was settling.

“She wanted to know if she could rearrange the living room. Of course I said yes. She had her own bedroom furniture so she doesn’t need mine.”

“If you like your bedroom furniture we’ll replace mine.”

Beautiful green eyes gentled.

“Your master furniture is nicer than mine. But mine’s nicer than what you have in your spare.”

“Then we’ll change out the spare. Is Patty good to wait until the weekend or does she need me to round up the guys and do it tomorrow?”

Jane’s eyes moved over my shoulder.

“Right. I’ll call Cole and Asher and get them to go over there tomorrow after work and move it.”

“Really?”

She still didn’t get it.

But if she did, I wouldn’t be able to remind her, and I seriously liked Jane’s response to my reminders.

I pushed away from the door frame, hooked her around her waist, and hauled her close. When my lips were on hers I muttered, “Yeah, baby, really.”

I felt her grin against my lips, then I kissed my wife.