by Ali Parker
I’d just created. I was the one who’d pushed Ryder to act, and I was the one who’d made the plans for the Kadia takedown. Had they not all listened to me, we wouldn’t be in this position.
Ryder’s knee was bouncing anxiously. “We’re going to have to spread the word to the rest of the members to once again be vigilant and be aware. The Hand is easy to spot, but we all know he’s worked with others before. I wouldn’t put it past him to team up to take us down.”
“Maybe we should be considering the same thing,” Caleb muttered.
Ryder glanced up at him. There was fury in his dark stare. “We can handle this on our own.”
Caleb shrugged. “I was just saying.”
“Well, don’t,” Ryder growled.
We all shut up about it after that. Clearly, the boss was in no mood for this shit. Then, he looked at me after a few minutes of tense silence and asked, “Have any of your old contacts reached out yet?”
I shook my head. Ryder had asked me to apply more pressure to my old contacts about The Hand and where we might be able to find him now that he knew we were after him. If we were going to make another move, we would have to do it quickly. The more time we gave him to plan was detrimental to us. We had to act quickly.
“Nobody is willing to share any information about him,” I told Ryder.
“Push them harder.”
“I’ll try.”
Sabian cleared his throat. “Don’t give me shit for saying this, Ryder, but this is the time where we have to stick together. Any cracks in the foundations and everything will come falling down around us.”
Ryder pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “I know.”
“We want him as bad as you, boss,” Jax added.
Axel got to his feet. “We need to put him down. My babies and Ellie are at risk because of this asshole. We’d be fools to think he won’t try to use our families against us. He saw how riled up we got over Hyde. He knows our weaknesses. We need to find his.”
“If he has any,” Sabian muttered.
Ryder blew out a sigh. “He’ll have them. He’s only human.”
“He’s insane,” Sabian said. “He’s totally off his rocker. The only thing that matters to him is keeping his own head on his shoulders. He doesn’t give a fuck about anybody else because he doesn’t have the capacity to care about anyone but himself. He’s a psychopath.”
“Maybe,” Ryder said.
Jax shook his head. “Not maybe. He is. I’m sure of it.”
I scratched the back of my neck. “Great. We’re after a killer who’s hell-bent on putting us in the ground, and there’s not a damn thing that will slow him down.”
The sliding patio door opened, and we all looked up as Dani stepped out. She was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved black button-up. She had her belt on with her detective’s badge pinned to it, and her gun was on her hip. She turned to face us and stopped when she realized we were all staring at her. “Oh. Hello, everyone.”
We all muttered weak greetings in return.
Dani walked over to where Ryder was sitting at the head of the table and stood behind his chair. She placed her hands on his shoulders and began rubbing gently. It was as she looked down at him without his knowing that I realized something was wrong.
“Dani?”
She looked up at me.
“What’s up?” I asked.
Ryder twisted around in his chair to look at her. She chewed the inside of her cheek. “There’s something I have to tell you, and you’re not going to like it.”
Ryder took her by the hand and guided her around him. He nodded for her to take the open seat beside him. She sank slowly into it, and the way she moved with such care had me nervous. Ryder rested his hand on her knee. “What is it, baby?”
Dani looked around at all of us.
I put my hands on the armrests of my chair and made to stand up. “Maybe we should go.”
Dani shook her head. “No. Sit. This will concern all of you. It will just be hard for Ryder to hear.”
Ryder’s jaw was tight. “Tell me.”
She looked him in the eyes. “I pulled video surveillance on the club while I was at work today and ran some facial recognition. I was hoping to get more information or a name on The Hand. But the scans pulled up someone else’s information who was at the club that night.”
“Whose?” Ryder pressed.
Dani sighed. “Jason’s.”
This tidbit of information was like the pin being pulled from the grenade. I looked around at the others at the table, and they all looked back at me. Jason? At Kadia? What the fuck was going on?
Ryder hadn’t said anything or moved an inch. “So he’s alive. This should be good news, shouldn’t it?”
Dani nodded. “It is good news that we know he’s alive after months of not knowing where he was. But …” She trailed off. Then, she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, gathering her detective persona around herself like a protective shield. “He was selling Zandra, Johnny. He was getting his supply from The Hand. It’s all on the tapes.”
“That little fucker,” Ryder hissed.
I leaned back in my chair, reeling under this new information. “You’re sure about this, Dani? Jason hasn’t shown his face in nearly five months, and all of a sudden, he pops up at Kadia the same night The Hand is out of prison? And he’s selling? This just doesn’t add up.”
“I know,” Dani said weakly. “But I know what I saw. It was him. I know this is shitty news and not what you wanted to hear, but I have a lead.”
Ryder perked up at this. “Who?”
“Jason was on the dance floor trying to chat up two girls. By the looks of things, he tried to get them to take some pills from him. They shooed him away, and he went back to The Hand. I watched the tapes to see what went down when you all went outside. The same girls in the alley are the ones he tried to sell the drugs to. They might be able to tell you more about him. What state he was in if nothing else.”
Ryder looked instantly at me.
I held my hands up. “Don’t look at me, man.”
“You drove them home,” he said simply.
“Yeah. So?”
Ryder tipped his head to the side. “So you know where they live.”
“Don’t get shit confused, Ryder. Those girls don’t want to see my face ever again.”
Ryder shook his head. “I don’t give a fuck what they want or don’t want. You drive over there and ask them about Jason.”
I turned to Dani and gave her an imploring look. “Dani, can’t you go talk to them? They’ll respond better to a female detective.”
“Sorry, Derek, but no. I don’t think they would. Me showing up would only involve the law, and I know you guys don’t want that. If you want to handle this on your own, you’re going to have to do as Ryder says and go talk to these girls. Do you think there’s any chance they’ll open up to you?”
I frowned. Penny would rip a strip off me as soon as she saw me standing at her front door. But Evelyn might be willing to cooperate. I sighed. “There’s a chance. Yeah.”
Ryder nodded at the patio door. “Then, get the hell out of here and go talk to them. And don’t come back until you know more about my nephew.”
I groaned and stood. Dani gave me an apologetic smile as I walked to the patio door. None of the others said a word. The mood was too tense for any smart-ass remarks on my behalf.
I got in my truck in Ryder’s driveway and pulled out onto the street.
There was no way these girls were going to be okay with me showing up at their place after I had explicitly told them they never had to see me again. I was going back on my word, and it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours yet.
My apprehension was jumbled with eagerness.
I couldn’t deny I was glad to have an excuse to see Evelyn again. She’d been on my mind all day, which was incredibly frustrating because I should have been focusing all my thoughts on The Hand and how to
bring him down. But I couldn’t. I wanted to daydream about her long brown hair and bright green eyes. I wanted to wonder what her lips would feel like on mine or wrapped around my cock.
I shook my head at myself. “You have more important things to think about then getting sucked off by a pretty girl.”
A really pretty girl with nerves of steel.
The drive to the apartment flew by, and I found myself standing at the front doors of the building with my hands in my pockets. I read the plaque outside the building with unit numbers and names and found one labeled “P. Gardener.” I buzzed, and an elderly woman answered. I apologized for ringing the wrong unit and continued scrolling the list until I found another initial that might stand for Penny. It read “P Fields.” I buzzed that one, and a familiar female voice said, “Hello?”
I hadn’t thought this through. I had no idea what to say to get them to let me up. There was probably nothing I could say. If they were smart, which I suspected they were, they would be on high alert from the night before and would not be letting anyone up to their apartment. So I kept my mouth shut and didn’t say a damn thing.
“Hello?” Penny asked again. She sounded a little annoyed this time. “Hello? Oh, fuck this. Stupid kids playing—” She cut off midsentence, and I assumed she had hung up.
Then, I stood around like an idiot waiting for someone to let me in.
Which I knew was going to take a long ass time because I wasn’t the sort of guy anyone wanted to let into a building based on how I looked. I looked mean. It helped me on the streets but not so much in situations like this.
If I was patient enough, some dumb asshole was bound to let me in. Then, I would knock on unit 312 and scare the hell out of two girls who had already been dragged through enough shit and try to convince them to talk to me about the stupid kid who had tried to sell them drugs.
Damn it all straight to hell.
Chapter 10
Evelyn
Penny and I had plans to spend Sunday night doing the absolute opposite of what we had done Saturday night, sit in our PJs with a rom-com and chocolate mint ice cream.
I was feeling a bit nervous about my first day at my new job the next afternoon. Penny had tried to talk me out of being such a worrywart but to no avail. I was a stress case in all new situations, and I had accepted my fate a long time ago. I was bound for a restless night of tossing and turning on her couch and a case of the runs in the morning.
It happened when I was nervous. It happens to a lot of people. It’s not weird. I swear.
Penny reached for the remote to turn the volume down on the television. “I don’t want my nosy neighbors asking me how we enjoyed the film. I swear they intentionally eavesdrop on me. No good, meddling middle-aged couple. They have to find something better to do with their time.”
I chuckled as I savored a mouthful of ice cream. “Maybe they just think you’re super interesting.”
“I work at a bank and live by myself. Well, sort of by myself. There is literally nothing interesting about me.”
“Maybe they want to add a third to their bedroom activities.”
“Ew! Gross!” Penny cried, but she slapped my knee playfully and gave me a wry grin as she started laughing.
I snorted as I laughed, which only made us laugh harder. Soon, we were wheezing and clutching our sides as we tried to catch our breath. It felt good to laugh this hard after the events of the previous night.
When I’d woken up in the morning, I’d been relieved. My dreams had been of the bald man who’d held the knife to my throat, and Derek hadn’t been there to put an end to it. I’d been alone and terrified, and he’d whispered the same things in my ear that he did in the alley.
Those lips of yours are begging to be used.
You’d look so good bent over my knee.
I like a good girl like you.
You smell like flowers and sex.
The morning had been welcomed, and I wasn’t a morning person. Penny and I had spent the afternoon doing everything we could to keep ourselves distracted. We went grocery shopping, which was more nerve-racking than it should have been, and hurried back home to lock ourselves in the apartment where we were safe and alone.
I was thankful to be staying with Penny. I couldn’t fathom what it would be like to have to be alone after everything that went down at Kadia. It was inconceivable. Terrifying.
“Pass the ice cream, will you?” Penny asked, nudging me in the shin with her toes.
I passed her the carton and pulled my blanket up under my chin as I sank deeper into the sofa cushions. We watched the movie quietly for another fifteen minutes or so and continued to pass the carton back and forth.
Penny was passing it back to me for the hundredth time when there was a knock on her door.
We both froze, one of each of our hands on the ice cream carton, and looked at each other.
“Are you expecting someone?” I whispered.
Penny shook her head and mouthed the word “no.”
“Do any of your neighbors like to randomly stop by?”
Again, she shook her head.
I swallowed. “Should we check through the peephole?”
That, apparently, was the right suggestion. We both untangled ourselves from our blankets and padded silently on bare feet through the living room and kitchen and down the short hall to the front door.
“You look,” Penny whispered.
“It’s your house,” I said defensively. I didn’t want to look. I was scared shitless. What if it was the big bald guy? What if he somehow found out where we lived, and he had come back for more, to fulfill some of the things he’d whispered to me. I shivered.
Penny wrung her hands anxiously. “I don’t want to.”
“Ugh.” I groaned, shoving her aside and moving in front of the door. “Fine.” I pressed my eye to the little glass hole in the middle of the door and looked.
And there he was. The bearded guy from the night before who’d driven us home. Derek.
“Well?” Penny hissed beside me, making me jump.
“It’s Derek,” I whispered.
“What the fuck? I thought he said we never had to see him again? What’s he playing at?”
“I don’t know, Penny. I have the same information as you. Should we open the door?”
“No!”
“But what if—?”
“No!” she spat again. “I don’t want to confirm that I live here. I don’t want him thinking he can show up whenever he damn well pleases and just be let in. Hell, no! I want him as far away from us as possible. And you,” she jabbed a finger at me, “should want the same things, you lunatic!”
We both leaped back from the door when Derek’s voice came from the hallway. “Uh. I can hear you guys.”
“Sorry,” I called.
Penny shot me a dark look. “Shh.”
Derek spoke up again. “I know I shouldn’t be here, but I have to ask you some questions. I swear I’ll be out of your hair in five minutes. We can talk through the door if you want.”
“See?” I said.
“See what?” Penny growled.
“He’s being polite and respectful of our boundaries.”
Penny blinked at me. “Respectful of our boundaries? The man is standing in the hallway outside my front door uninvited. And it begs the question, how the hell did he get in the building?”
“An old guy with an argyle sweater let me in,” Derek called.
I reached for the door handle. Penny beat me to it and shook her head. “No. Evie. Please. This is insane!”
“Go wait in your room, then.”
Penny let out a loud groan and closed her eyes. Then, she unlocked the handle and the deadbolt and yanked the door open with enough force that it created a small gale of wind that blew our hair back. She planted both hands on her hips and glared daggers at Derek, who looked very unassuming and nonthreatening in my opinion. “Okay. You have five minutes, buddy. Start talking.”
Der
ek looked from Penny to me. There was a glint of amusement in his eyes. “I wanted to talk to you both about a guy who approached you while you were dancing.”
“A lot of guys approached us,” Penny said hotly.
Derek nodded. “Naturally. You were the best-looking girls in the club. But I’m talking about one guy specifically. Brown hair. Kind of wiry. Rough around the edges.”
“Not ringing any bells,” Penny said.
Derek sighed. “He offered you both Zandra.”
I cocked my head to the side in confusion. “Zandra?”
Derek nodded. “Yes. It’s a pill and a sex drug. Dangerous shit.”
I bit my bottom lip and felt Penny’s stare wander over to me. Derek was watching me too. “Yeah. I remember him. He was young.”
“Yeah, he is.” Derek tucked his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “He’s a stupid kid who’s in over his head, and I’ve been trying to find him for months. This is the first we’ve seen of him, and I need to know what he said to the pair of you.”
I frowned. “I’m sorry. He didn’t say anything. He asked us if we wanted to have a good time and tried to get us to take the pill. Penny, with all her charms as you’ve witnessed firsthand, told him off. And he left. That was it.”
Penny crossed her arms and nodded in affirmation. “That’s right. Tucked his tail between his legs and left like a good boy. Unlike some people.”
Derek flashed her a wicked smile. “Careful, Penny. I’m starting to like you.”
Penny threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “You’re on your own, Evie. I’m going to finish watching the movie. Scream if he tries anything.”
“He won’t,” I said.
Penny marched off, and I heard her drop down onto the sofa with a huff. I leaned against the open door with one shoulder and crossed my arms. I was suddenly aware of the fact that he was seeing me in my PJs, my oversized, bright pink, mermaid patterned PJs. The horror.
