J narrowed his eyes on me. “Why are you telling us this now, Griff? There’s gotta be a reason to explain why, after three years, you suddenly come clean.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Years ago, my cousin who is a cop asked me to help him investigate the double murder of Leon Bond and his girlfriend. I was close to my cousin back then and helped him - ”
Nash cut me off. “Fuck, that is one fucked-up family to get involved with, brother.”
Brother.
I nodded. “It was, but I didn’t realise it at the time. I mean, no one assumed his crazy brother, Jeffrey, would turn out to be the killer. In the course of my investigation, I witnessed Jeffrey kill another guy who knew he was the murderer. And that was one of the key parts of the case, which means they want to call me as a witness in the trial.”
“Hasn’t that trial been put on hold?” Nash asked.
“It’s about to be announced that it’s going ahead soon,” I replied.
“And that’s why you’re telling us all this now,” J muttered. “And on top of all this, you’re from a family of cops?”
My frustration grew. “Yes, but I walked away from that, J. I have no ties to any of them, and I haven’t for years.”
“Once a fucking cop, always a fucking cop,” J spat, his eyes full of anger.
My tightly controlled anger snapped. “I was never a fucking cop, J. And after the things I’ve seen cops do, I have very little respect for the badge, if any. You have a right to be angry with me for not being honest about who I really am, but don’t lump me with them,” I roared.
J pushed his chair back, and stood again. “I’ll fucking do whatever the fuck I want, Griff. It seems that’s what you do. What the fuck else have you lied to us about?”
I stood also. “My life’s an open book now, J. Ask me whatever the fuck you want to know.”
Scott’s chair scraped as he shoved it back and stood. “We all need to settle down and figure out where we go from here.” His jaw clenched, and his eyes flashed his anger.
J glared at me, and took a step backwards. It looked like he was about to walk out, however his phone rang at that moment, distracting him. He jabbed at it to end the call, but a moment later, it rang again. Scowling, he answered it. “Madison, I’m kinda in the middle of something.” He listened to what she said, and his free hand raked through his hair as he roared out, “Fuck! Close the fucking shop and wait there. I’ll be there soon.”
Before he’d ended the call, Nash’s and Scott’s phones rang, and I watched as they appeared to have similar conversations as J just had.
When they ended their calls, I said, “We’ve got a problem, haven’t we?” My gut knotted with worry. This wasn’t going to be good.
Scott nodded. “Yeah, brother, we do.” He turned his gaze to J and Nash, and said, “I take it Bond’s family just paid a visit to Velvet and Madison.”
J’s anger rolled off him now, and he threw me a glare before answering Scott. “Yes. They threatened that if Griff testified, they would come after her.”
Fuck.
“Same,” Nash said, his eyes blazing with anger.
Scott’s phone rang again, and he had a heated discussion with someone who I presumed wasn’t Harlow from the way he was speaking. When he ended the call, he eyed me. “That was one of Bond’s men. He told me they don’t want a problem with Storm; they just want you. They want me to deliver you to them today.”
Everyone began throwing in their two cent’s, and I took the opportunity to call Sophia. I had to make sure she was okay.
“Hey, handsome,” she greeted me, and I let go of the breath I’d been holding.
“You okay?” I asked, not wanting to worry her, but needing to make sure.
“Yes. Why?”
“Are you at work, Sophia?”
“Griff, you’re worrying me. You sound tense. And yes, I’m at work.”
I blew out a breath. “Good. Nothing to worry about, sweetheart. I was just checking in on you.”
“Mmmm…I’m not convinced. You would tell me if I needed to worry about you, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah, I would. I’ll call you later, but I’ve gotta go now,” I said as I ended the call.
The noise in the room was deafening as everyone’s voice grew louder the more they talked. “Enough!” I yelled.
All eyes came to me again, the noise quieting.
Looking around the room, at the men I’d called family for three years, I said, “There’s nothing else I can say about the way in which I joined the club – it can’t be changed now – but I will tell you this…I would lay my life down for Storm, for each and every one of you. I would do anything it took to protect all of you. If you look back over the years, my loyalty can’t be questioned. Assuming you still want me in the club, I have a plan to deal with Bond’s family. I’ve spent hours researching them and doing surveillance on them, and my plan is good to go – today, if need be. I just need to know whether you stand with me on this.”
“First, we need to make sure the girls are all safe,” J said, his angry glare at me softening a little.
“I agree,” Scott said. “How many of us do you need for your plan?” he asked me.
“We’ll need two teams of at least six in each, more would be better.”
Scott nodded, and began barking orders as to who was to go where. Once he had everyone separated into teams, he sent one team out to keep an eye on the girls. He had directed two men to each – he wasn’t taking any chances here.