“Don’t know much about Myla, but Maggie’s always down for causing chaos. Pretty sure she thrives on driving me crazy.”
“Autumn’s the same. I’m surprised she didn’t hatch an escape plan sooner, actually.” Kenton chuckles.
“Thank god Maxim is teething, Myla’s been locked in our room.” Kai mutters as Justin comes back into the office.
“Meeting’s set, tomorrow at two, he’s meeting us here.”
“Good,” I nod, rubbing my jaw.
“Now we need to talk about Lane,” Justin adds, taking a seat across from me once more.
“He still downstairs?” I ask, and he nods.
“Yep, and I don’t think this will surprise you, but I ran his phone record. He’s been keeping in contact with one of Paulie’s guys.”
“Fuck,” I clip, standing from my chair and turning to the window behind me. Looking down at the club floor, I see that Lane and Aye are sitting at the bar.
“I don’t know what they are talking about when they do talk, but the calls are constant—one a night over the last two months. I also watched the tape again,” he says quietly, and I turn to face him. “In one clip, he acted like he was pushing someone off of Maggie at the bar. That’s when he slipped the substance he used in her drink.”
“It’s taking everything in me not to fucking kill him,” I whisper.
“He’s our in,” Justin says, and I let out a breath.
“He’s going to get us where we need to be with Paulie, so when we take him out, it’s not expected. We are going to use him as a pawn and play him at his own game.
“He’s sleeping down the hall from my woman,” I remind him quietly.
“He can’t make a move without one of us knowing about it.”
“I want this shit done,” I growl. I’m so fucking frustrated by this situation, and knowing my suspicions about Lane are justified, the anger and betrayal I’ve been feeling is choking me.
“I’m not happy that he knows where the women are, Justin,” Kai breaks in, and Justin pulls his eyes off me to look at Kai, who’s still standing with his arms crossed over his chest.
“You have Zack, Pika, and Teo at the house, a security system that rivals the Pentagon’s, and enough guns to start a small war. The girls are safe, and if I thought for one second they weren’t, I would have you move them to Dino’s,” Justin says, holding his gaze.
“How do you know Dino?” Kia asks, raising a brow.
“Been here off and on over the last few months working with Aedan. I know more than I want to,” Justin answers, making me wonder what the fuck he’s been up to and why he’s working with Aedan to begin with. Justin doesn’t do work for just anyone, and I can’t imagine him helping out a drug dealer. That isn’t his style. He wants the world to be a better place.
“How close are you with Aedan?” Kai asks, studying him.
“Wouldn’t trust him with my lift, but right now, he’s an ally,” he replies immediately, and Kai studies him for a moment more before nodding and taking a step back.
“Let’s head back to the house. Myla’s been with Maxim the last few days without a break,” Kai says, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
“Works for me. I need to make sure Autumn hasn’t escaped out the window, or found a way to talk Myla or Maggie into helping her dig a hole back to Tennessee,” Kenton interjects, standing from his chair as I roll my shoulder and press the palm of my hand into it as I stand.
“You good, man?” Kenton asks, watching me.
“Yeah,” I mutter, dropping my arm to my side.
“If you need to step back, we’ll understand,” Kai assures, and my gaze goes to him.
“Not fucking happening. The bullet that hit me could have hit Maggie. I could have let all this shit go before. Now—fuck no. I’m in until this mess is cleaned up and Paulie is six feet under, preferably buried with Lane next to him,” I tell him, and he jerks his head once in agreement then heads for the door.
As soon as we reach the club floor, Aye slides off his barstool. “Are we heading back to the house?” he asks while tucking his gun into the back of his jeans.
“We are. I’ll fill you in on what’s going down when we get there,” Kai tells him, and he nods following him out.
“I’ll ride with you,” Justin tells Lane as we step outside. “We need to stop so I can pick up my bike before we head back to the house.”
“Sure,” Lane replies with a nod, following him across the lot.
“It’ll be over soon,” Kenton says, and I pull my eyes from Lane’s back and look at him as I move to the passenger side door of the Suburban, opening it up and settling myself inside.
“Yeah,” I rumble, slamming the door closed.
“Soon,” he repeats.
“Not soon enough.” I pull out my cell and reply to a text from Ace, letting him know my lawyer will be in contact tomorrow with the contracts for the club.
“I didn’t want to come back,” he mutters, backing out of the parking space, and my eyes move to him. “I sure as fuck didn’t want Autumn to be here, but I knew I couldn’t leave her in Tennessee and risk someone going after her there.”
“I wanted to send Maggie away, but didn’t for the same reason,” I agree, shoving my cell into my pocket.
“Never thought I’d see the day you’d crash and burn over a woman.” He laughs, pulling out onto the main road. “I don’t know anyone who thought you’d settle.”
“I didn’t plan for her.” I run my hands down my face.
“You deserve to have that. To have her,” he says quietly, stopping at a red light and looks at me. “I’m glad for you, man.”
I jerk up my chin, and he shakes his head then pulls off when the light changes to green.
*
“I THOUGHT WE were meeting alone,” Aedan says, taking a seat on the couch in my office with his eyes moving from Kai to Justin. “You know I don’t like surprises,” he informs him, raising a brow.
“I have a feeling you’re gonna like this one,” Justin says, sitting on the edge of the coffee table across from him. Having never met Aedan, I didn’t expect to see a thirty-something man dressed like a biker walk into my club. Most made men in Vegas dress just like what they are, men of money and power. Aedan, in jeans, a white shirt, and black motorcycle boots, doesn’t look like he fits in with any of them.
“That’s doubtful,” he mutters then waves his hand around. “Let’s get this over with. I have shit to do.”
“First, what’s your relationship with Paulie?” Kai asks from the middle of the room, where he planted himself with his arms crossed over his chest as soon as we all settled in.
“Not sure why that’s any of your fucking business, Hawaii,” Aedan replies, looking at Kai, his body alert.
Kai looks at Justin for a moment before moving his eyes back to Aedan. “Ok, let’s do this. I know Paulie’s been making moves to take you out,” he says, and Aedan’s glare moves to Justin.
“You tell him that shit?” he asks, sitting forward, pinning Justin in place with his gaze.