“I hope you’re right.”
“I am,” he answered confidently. “Lynch and I have been brothers for a long time. He’s a good man. It might take some time, but he’ll understand.” He lowered his mouth to my ear and chuckled. “And if he doesn’t, I’ll kick his ass.”
“Well, hopefully, it won’t come to that.”
“It won’t.”
He ran the warm cloth across my shoulders, letting the hot water cascade down my back. “I think Shotgun seems pretty cool.”
“You think Shotgun is cool?” he scoffed with a chuckle. “Of all the guys, Shotgun is the one you should— Never mind.”
“No, what were you going to say?” I pushed.
“Nothing... Seriously.” Jared leaned down and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Now, I have a very important question for you.”
“Okay?”
“What do you want to eat?” He dropped the washcloth into the water, then got out of the tub and grabbed a towel. “I’m starving.”
“I’m starving too.” I watched him dry off and wrap the towel around his waist. “I’m good with whatever.”
“Okay. You finish up here, and I’ll go see what I can come up with.”
“Sounds good to me.” When he turned and started towards the door, I called out to him, “Jared?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for today. I really enjoyed it.”
“It’s not over yet.”
He winked, then slipped out of the bathroom, leaving me alone in the tub. I leaned back and took a moment to just reflect on things. I had no idea how Billy’s plan would play out, but for the first time in a very long while, I had hope. It was the one thing that gave me the strength to face the present, and I had a feeling I’d need all the strength I could muster to face what was to come. Thankfully, Jared would be at my side, and with him, I could do just about anything.
Menace
“I know you both are eager to get home, but I think it’s best for you to stay here... at least for a few more days.”
“Any particular reason why?”
“Many reasons.” Billy walked over to the kitchen counter and poured himself some coffee. He was wearing his usual khakis and button-down shirt, but they were wrinkled to shit like he’d slept in them, although I knew otherwise due to his red eyes, which he could barely keep open. “We just need time to let the dust settle a bit.”
“What dust?” When he didn’t immediately respond, I pushed, “Come on, Billy. You’re gonna have to give me a little something here.”
“We need time for the district attorney in California to receive Parker’s message. Once he has it in his hands, he’ll be able to make the connection to her suicide.”
“How’s he going to do that?”
“It shouldn’t be difficult. He merely has to look at the Kentucky postmark on the envelope, and then it won’t take much to link it to the accident that occurred there last night.”
“What kind of accident?”
“A young woman drove her car off a mountain cliff.” He took a sip of his coffee. “It was unfortunate at best. The car caught fire on impact, so the remains will be difficult to identify.”
“So, they’ll use the medical records I uploaded to confirm that it was Parker.”
“Exactly.” Billy walked over and picked up his duffle bag, then continued down the hall. “It’s the beginning of the end, my friend… The beginning of the end.”
He said nothing more as he entered his bedroom and closed the door. For the first time since this whole matter started, I felt pretty good, so I decided to call Viper and fill him in on everything that had taken place. Knowing Parker was still in the bedroom, I grabbed my phone from my pocket and headed out to the front porch. Viper was pleased to hear that, so far, everything Billy had put into play seemed to be going well. “Any idea when you two will be coming back?”
“Billy wants us to hole up here for a few more days just to be sure the incident went as planned.”
“I see.”
Something about the tone of Viper’s voice concerned me. “Why? Is everything okay there?”
“Not sure yet.” He cleared his throat, then continued, “But we’ll handle it. Stay vigilant and get back here as soon as you can.”
“You sure? I can head back now if—”
“Stay put like Billy told ya. I’ve got it covered.”
I didn’t like not being there when my brothers needed me, but unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Besides, I knew Viper would do whatever was needed to protect his club. “Just let me know if you change your mind.”
“I won’t. Hang tight, and hopefully, we’ll see you soon.”
“Yeah, sure, Prez.”
I didn’t have a good feeling as I ended the call. When curiosity got the best of me, I went inside and turned on my laptop. Seconds later, I was studying the surveillance feed from Stilettos. While I spent most of my time at the club on the east side of town, we had two separate strip clubs and were considering the possibility of opening a third. I was sitting at the kitchen table and looking through the footage from the night before when Parker came up behind me. “Whatcha doing?”
“Just checking things out at the club.”
“Everything okay?”
“As far as I can tell.”
A smile crossed her face as she leaned down and pointed to Country on the screen. He was in the back of the bar, towering over some chick, and it was clear from the way he was smiling, he was hitting on her. Parker giggled as she said, “Looks like Country is up to his old tricks.”
“Yeah, I’m not surprised.” I glanced up at her. “You know, now that I think about it, you never mentioned that you thought he was scary.”
“What?”
“Last night.” I crossed my arms with a suspicious expression. “As I recall, you thought Widow, Hawk, and Viper were oh-so scary, but you didn’t say anything about Country.”
“No, I guess I didn’t. Why do you ask? You worried about him?”
“Nope. Just making a point.”
“Mm-hmm,” she mumbled with her eyebrow cocked high. “Well, if you must know, you’re right. I’ve never thought of Country as scary, but I have no doubt he could be if he was provoked. Thankfully, he’s never felt that need with me.”
“He best not be feeling any kind of need where you’re concerned.”
Before she could respond, the front door swung open, and a young brunette stepped inside the house with an overnight bag in one hand and a backpack slung over her shoulder. She was wearing a pair of ripped jeans with a black off-the-shoulder top, and her hair was pulled back in a fancy braid. The chick was a looker, which made me wonder what the hell she was doing at Billy’s. She was about to continue into the kitchen but stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed Parker and me at the table. “Oh, hey.”
“Hey.” Seeming unfazed by the girl’s unexpected arrival, Parker took a step towards her and smiled. “You must be Kiersten.”