Page 83 of King
I closed the freezer and used the napkin to open the refrigerator, which was empty except for a pizza box and three cans of beer. The two small cabinets were next, and they yielded an ugly surprise.
Baggies. Lots of tiny baggies, some filled with pills and others with white powder. A digital scale. An unopened box of syringes. And the biggest surprise of all? All the baggies were stamped with a goddamned bone. It was the mark of T-Bone,the street rat who’d turned traitor in K-Dog’s crew last fall. That fucking bitch was dealing for him.
Reining in my rage, I carefully closed the cabinet doors, then quietly made my way to the front door. Using the napkin still in my hand, I made sure the lock was engaged, then eased the door closed and quietly left the building.
I fired up my bike and pulled away from the curb, mad as fuck at what I’d just found. I decided against calling a prospect over here to watch out for Star’s return. As much as I wanted to find her so I could pump her for information about Cyn and Pic, I didn’t want any of my men getting caught up in a turf war between T-Bone and K-Dog.
I needed to share this new info with my officers, so instead of going to Ella’s place like I should be doing, I drove back to the clubhouse. I walked in and spotted Trick in the kitchen making a sandwich.
“Officer’s meeting, in ten minutes. Cowboy headed home when we left Fallen Angels, but I’ve already texted him, so he’s on his way here. Any idea where Irish and Bull are?”
“Bull’s still in his office, I think. Irish was playing pool with Misty a little while ago.” He glanced out into the common room, then shrugged. “He’s probably either out back smoking, or he went up to his room. I’ll text him.”
I eyed his sandwich, thinking of the dinner I was probably going to miss. “You hungry, Prez? I can make you one really quick.”
“Nah, man, but thanks. Ella’s got lasagna waiting for me, if we ever get done with this shit tonight. Hopefully she’s not too pissed at me for being late.” I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before I headed to the chapel, stopping at Bull’s office to let him know we were meeting. I sat down and made a call toElla to let her know I was going to be late. When her voice mail picked up, I left her a quick message.
“Hey, sugar. I’m hung up dealing with some club business so go ahead and eat without me. I’m not sure when I’ll get there, but I’ll call if I’m going to be stuck here too late.”
Trick walked in a few minutes later, carrying his half-eaten sandwich and a bottle of water. Bull was next, followed by Irish right behind him, tucking his T-shirt into his jeans as he walked. When Cowboy arrived, I started talking before he even sat down, explaining the shit I’d found at Star’s place. As expected, they didn’t take the news well.
“That bitch was working with T-Bone? Un-fucking-believable,” Trick snarled.
“That may not be the worst of it. Something about this whole thing is bothering me, so hear me out.” The other four nodded, giving me their full attention.
“So we know now that Star was running drugs for that dickweasel, T-Bone. We also know Pic had been runnin’ drugs on the side. Now, we assumed he was doin’ his own thing, but maybe he wasn’t? It’s a hell of a coincidence that Star happens to have a connection to two different suppliers working the same territory. Plus, if Star and Pic were working together with T-Bone, it makes sense that Star would run her mouth to Pic as soon as Cyn called her.”
“And if that’s the case, that means that Star’s the rat we’ve been looking for who was feeding intel to Pic this whole goddamned time,” Cowboy concluded grimly.
I nodded. “That’s the theory I’m working with.”
“Fuck,” Bull muttered, running his hands through his hair. He pulled his laptop closer and started tapping. “I’ll see ifI can hack into her phone records to look for any connection to Pic. It’s probably gonna take me a while,” he warned.
I sat back in my chair and looked at Cowboy. He shook his head and sighed. “Well, hell. I was so damned sure it was Ace.”
I snorted. “I was, too. Who the fuck knows, he may still be involved, so keep your guard up with him, and keep him out of the loop on anything to do with this clusterfuck. I just don’t trust the sonofabitch.”
The other men nodded, and we discussed how to handle Star without getting caught in the crossfire with K-Dog, who was still gunning for T-Bone.
“She’s fired from Fallen Angels for missing her shift without calling off. Then she’s banned from all club property. We completely wash our hands of her, so hopefully that will minimize any blowback on the club if K-Dog finds out about her.” Everyone agreed with my decree, and we decided to wait for Bull’s check on her phone records before making any other plans.
“If we find proof that she and Pic are still in contact, I’ll have to give K-Dog the heads up, so he doesn’t think that Pic was acting on behalf of the MC.” The others nodded reluctantly. “Fuck, that conversation is gonna be a bitch.”
“Trick, we need to talk to the other bunnies. Find out if any of them knew about Star dealin’ for T-Bone. Let’s bring them into my office, one at a time. Start with Misty. She’s been around Star the longest.”
“I’ll go find her.”
“Cowboy, can you head back to the strip club to talk with Bodhi? Have him text her to fire her ass, so we have writtenproof. See if he noticed anything off with her. Find out which employees she might have been friendly with. Ginger hooked her up with her new apartment. Start with her. Make sure he searches the employee lockers after closing tonight, too.”
“Will do. I’ll touch base if there’s anythin’ to report.”
“Irish, unless Bull needs your help, I guess you can go back to doing whatever you were doing when Bull called you.”
Bull laughed, and Irish flipped him off, then shrugged. “I was getting’ ready to do Misty, so I guess I’m shit outta luck.”
I winced. “Sorry, brother. I’ll make my conversation with her as quick as I can, believe me. Ella’s waiting on me, and I’m already late.”
It was almost eight o’clock by the time I made it to Ella’s house. Our talk with the bunnies hadn’t yielded any results. They all denied knowing anything about Star being involved with drugs, or T-Bone. Trick and I both agreed that they seemed to be telling the truth.
I was pissed off, hungry, and mentally exhausted when I walked through the door. Ella was curled up on the couch, reading her Kindle, but she jumped up and gave me a hug when she saw me.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I was beginning to worry. Is everything OK?”
“No, it’s a fuckin’ shitshow at the moment.” I took my boots off and set them by the door, then slipped off my cut to drape it over the chair.
I spotted something shiny on the back of it, and realized it was glitter. I was confused as hell, until I remembered Ginger coming up behind me and trying to hug me at the club. Shit, the last thing I wanted to do tonight was explain to Ella why my cutwas covered in fucking stripper glitter. I folded my cut over so the back was hidden, and hoped she wouldn’t notice.
After I had a quick bite to eat, we headed upstairs. I jumped in the shower, letting the hot water pour over me to soothe my sore muscles. I walked back out of the bathroom ten minutes later to find Ella draped over the bed, wearing nothing but red lace and a smile.
Oh, fuck, yeah. My night just got a hell of a lot better.
