Chapter 23

"What"s going on?" I asked Kim as JJ sped back to their house.

Kim had been on his phone non-stop and I was afraid to look over his shoulder. Would I see more dead body confessions? Something even more sinister?

That they were capable of any of it made me sick, but I couldn"t stop the thoughts from banging against the recesses of my mind.

It wasn"t that they couldn"t do it or that I thought they were immoral or anything like that.

Just that they could be sucked back into the kind of life we wanted to escape. Thinking they could be so greedy, they fell to their lowest looking for handouts and taking advantage of good, innocent people scared the shit out of me.

I didn"t want that life for them, and I sure as hell didn"t want that life for me.

If Joaquin had just let me explain that to him...

My palms were sweaty as I gripped my knees. Kim hadn"t answered me and as a result, I was running through a thousand different scenarios of what a code red could mean.

We pulled up at the house, and Kim bolted from the car, racing inside. He popped back into the doorframe holding out his hand.

"Please, Beasty?" he pleaded. But why? What was he pleading for?

It wasn"t even in question if I would take his hand or not. Together, we sped through the house, finding the other three in the living room with the news on.

No.

The volume was down, but the caption was scrolling across the bottom of the screen.

Valencia, renowned fashion designer, arrested for laundering among other charges.

Wait.

This wasn"t the video footage Kim had been devastated about. This was something different?

Something that didn"t even have anything to do with them?

"What"s going on?"

Lake stood with his back to us as he watched the news. He tensed. That was the only sign that he heard me.

Joaquin sneered from his place on the couch as he swayed back and forth. He was plastered. More than plastered. Whoever had been serving him should have cut him off at least three drinks ago.

Atlas was the only one who seemed mildly unbothered. He slipped his phone back in his pocket as he glanced up at me. He was in the chair, like he didn"t want to be anywhere close to the distillery that was Joaquin.

"This is only the potential for trouble. I told Lake not to send out a code red to Kim." His lips turned down in a frown. "But I"m not sorry you"re back where I can see you."

I..."What do you mean, potential for trouble?"

Kim was pale as he went around me and perched himself on the arm of the couch. He finally looked up at me, acknowledging me for the first time since we left The Hot Spot.

"Valencia was a designer I used to work with." He swallowed hard as he turned back to the TV. "You remember? You were there at one of the shows?"

I did remember. I didn"t remember her name, but I vaguely recognized the glamorous, yet stern woman who flashed across the screen. And how she ran her hands across Kim. I swallowed.

Was that the event where Lake slammed that man into the wall? I couldn"t remember. I"d only gone to a handful of their events over the course of my time with them, and it was all such a blur. I had constantly been overstimulated from so much new stuff.

"What about her?" I took a seat between him and Joaquin.

Making a sound of disgust in the back of his throat, Joaquin got up and walked to the kitchen.

My cheeks burned. Glancing at the others, I waited for their disdain, but it didn"t come. For once, their attention was focused somewhere not on me.

Atlas plucked the dangling remote from Lake"s hand and turned the volume up.

"Valencia Mositano, arrested after whistle blower reported her illegal activities. This comes on the tail end of her most recent fashion week where she wowed the crowds with her edgy designs."

"Give me that." Lake snatched the remote back, turned the volume off, and sat on the coffee table as he started typing furiously on his phone.

"Why is this an issue for you guys?" There was a giant puzzle piece missing, yet I had no idea what shape it was since I couldn"t see the puzzle picture.

It was infuriating and frankly a little scary.

"Because." Lake pocketed his phone, then swung his legs around so he faced me and Kim. "That man…" Lake pointed at the TV where a man"s picture took up the other side of the screen. He was familiar too, but I couldn"t place him. "We know him. He"s been a source of information for us, which in itself isn"t bad. But depending on why he talked–he wouldn"t have willingly–we don"t know what else he would have shared."

"What Lake isn"t saying is, with the current issues going on, this could just pile shit on top of shit," Atlas deadpanned.

It still didn"t make sense. Was I just this stupid, or were they speaking a different language. Then it clicked.

"He has information on you." I scratched my neck, suddenly itchy inside my own skin.

"I wouldn"t call it information, not specifically," Lake tried to argue like there was a difference. There wasn"t, not in things like this. A red rock and a red seashell were different on the surface, but they were both the same color. Red.

Lake"s phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. His other pocket. Since when did he carry two phones? He picked it up on the second ring.

"What?" he barked.

"My, my. You"re so testy." The sound of the man"s voice coming over the line gave me chills. I couldn"t even explain it. The voice was smooth, charming, yet something told me that he was very, very dangerous.

But was he dangerous to us?

"Now isn"t a good time." Lake rubbed his forehead as he closed his eyes. He seemed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

"It"s never a good time. Every day you make me question if this was a good investment for me." The man tutted, but I could almost swear I heard the smile in his words.

"Then you"re welcome to pull out. We"ll pay you back with interest. Honestly, it"s no skin off our backs."

The man snorted. "I heard you"re on your way to making Gio an enemy. Stupid that, since he"s one of the few men I have employed who can watch you without fucking with you."

"He does fuck with us. He"s trying to get Beasty to work with him," Lake growled.

Sighing, the man carried on like Lake hadn"t spoken. "I heard about your new issue. Do you need help taking care of it?"

"Absolutely not," Lake snapped. For a second, I was transported to the conference room of Kim saying those very same words with just as much feeling.

A hum came from the phone. "I hear Ms. Chen is working hard for you? Glad that referral played out well."

Lake just grunted.

When I glanced over, Atlas was watching me so intently, I wasn"t sure he was even paying attention to the phone call.

"Well, there was another reason I was calling. I was going to help you with your fears on the latest scandal to touch your doorstep, but it"s not really your scandal, so I"m not sure you"re going to go for it."

"What is it?" Suspicion coated Lake"s words.

This conversation was painful. Was this how he always talked to this man? It had to be the silent investor. There was no one else Lake would offer to buy out. Not that I knew of.

"There"s a small statue that I want. Need, really. At a museum in DC. Right in your backyard."

The guys exchanged glances as Joaquin wandered back in. More like stumbled with amber liquid sloshing over each side of his glass.

"You"re not even going to ask questions about it?"

"No, Parker, I"m not. You"ll tell me without me stroking your ego." Lake sneered at the phone.

"Fine, fine. There just so happens to be a charity event happening there this weekend. And you know what kind of event it is?" He paused for dramatic effect. "Fashion," he said with so much pizazz it sounded weird in his voice. Then Parker chuckled. "Right up your alley."

"So with our arrests, the recent news–which I don"t know why you think I"d care about that, and issues with Gio"s friends, you want us to help you acquire a piece of art?" Shaking his head, Lake glared at the phone. "What makes you think we"d need to do this for you?"

Atlas sat forward, bracing his elbows on his knees as Joaquin caught himself on the back of Atlas" chair. Next to me, Kim had his arms crossed, curling into himself as he listened, not looking at anyone.

We all held our breath, waiting for Parker to answer. This guy seemed a little crazy. I couldn"t pinpoint what it was, but there was just something about his tone that scared me.

"You don"t know that, do you? But consider this. You may not care about burning bridges, but it never fails to come back and bite you in the ass at some point. All of your actions have consequences. And it would be far better for you if I–and my brothers–were in your corner." A woman called his name in the background and he laughed. "I have to go. Little Love will have my balls if I don"t jump to her every whim."

A distinct click ended the call.

"What does he want you to do?" I felt weird, like my skin was disconnecting from the muscle. I had an idea about what Parker was asking, I wasn"t stupid, but I just needed Lake to say it.

The boys exchanged glances, except for Joaquin. He stared at me with so much contempt, a nasty chill started to shake in my chest.

"We"re not doing it." Lake placed his phone on the table beside him with enough force that it audibly clattered.

Twisting his lips to the side, Kim leveled Lake with a serious stare. "Parker"s a bigger threat than the Pescis," he insisted. "We should at least consider it. It"s not like we couldn"t do it."

"We have Beasty now. Do you want to place her in danger like that?"

"What"s the danger?" Atlas asked. It didn"t sound like a sarcastic question.

"Outside of getting caught by the museum guards and getting arrested for theft? Think about the additional exposure to her. Because of the active arrests on Joaquin and me, there"s a good chance they"d throw us in jail until the court date, and then she"d be less protected. I only trust the guards so much." Lake gripped the lip of the coffee table next to his legs so hard his knuckles turned white.

"We need answers about why her assistant ratted her out. As far as I know, he wasn"t into hard stuff."

"You"re not answering me," I said louder, the tips of my ears starting to burn the longer they ignored me.

"What, Beasty?" Lake snapped as his head swung my way.

I jerked back while Atlas reached forward and shoved Lake"s shoulder. Hard.

"Leave her the fuck alone," Atlas returned with a sneer on his lips.

Joaquin released a peel of laughter as he slapped a hand on Atlas" shoulder. "Don"t take up for this cunt."

I jumped at the insult and my mind went blank.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Kim stood from the couch, placing himself in front of me.

"Me?" Joaquin stood, and so did Atlas and Lake. They all faced off with him, blocking my view, but I didn"t want to see him.

"This bitch," he slurred, "she thinks we"re scum. Pedophiles. She thinks we"re just like Gates." He laughed again, but it broke off into something close to a sob.

I covered my ears with my hands. I didn"t think that. I had never thought that. I wanted to stand up, to take up for myself, but as they started to yell at each other, I couldn"t.

Someone touched my shoulder, but I twisted, getting out of their reach.

This was unsafe. This was bad. I hated confrontation like this. Without allowing myself to think too much about what they were saying, I ran to my room. To their room, in their house, that I was just using.

Tears streamed down my face as I shut the door and locked it.

If I wasn"t there, I could pretend it wasn"t happening. Tomorrow would be a better day. I"d tiptoe down, pretend nothing happened.

Quilliam was out of his little house. He grunted at me as opened the top, and he made little sounds of protest as I picked him up and curled him against my chest. He immediately rolled into a half ball. Not tight like he was afraid, but just enough like he was reading my emotions and didn"t know what was happening.

Holding him, I focused on the warmth of his body and weight in my hands. It helped.

Then knocking started at the door.

"Beasty?" Kim.

But I didn"t answer him. My voice was literally paralyzed.

After a few minutes, he sighed and there was a thump like he dropped his forehead against the wood. "My door is open if you want to come see me." There was nothing happy in his voice. But he wasn"t angry like the others had been.

Fuck, that was rough. Why did that bother me so damn bad?

Sitting here, holding Quilliam, I recognized I should have stood up for myself. Shit, how many times did I get into fights over the years? At least until the guys left, then my perspective started to change.

Why had I changed?

My voice was fucking frozen and I couldn"t talk. I could only get the hell away from that room.

The tears didn"t stop for hours. Not until I had Quilliam back in his enclosure and the covers pulled over me.

The hallway remained silent and no one else came to the door.

I was glad they left me the fuck alone, but I wasn"t. If they wanted me, they would have tried harder to check up on me. Wouldn"t they?

Shit, I didn"t know and that made it all worse.