Page 70 of Full Throttle

Shoving down my anger, I continued to dry the beer mugs for Sullie. Tonight, a new band was coming to play in honor of Officer Bryce. All his doctors told his family there was no way he’d recover, but his brother was still holding out hope—as were all of us.

After the meeting at Oasis, I’d said goodbye to a very angry Mina after she dropped me back off here. I came into the bar looking for something to do other than sit up in the loft stewing over everything that had come to light. An hour later, Jer walked in the door.

“You said you told me everything,” I accused calmly, setting down a mug and picking up a new one.

I heard him sigh. “I told you everything I could. Cain’s story is his to tell.”

“You didn’t think that him being ex-Bratva was something I needed to know?” I snapped, whirling to face him. He was standing on the other side of the bar, his arms folded over his chest.

“No, I didn’t,” he confirmed. “I, along with Collin, told you everything we could. Cain’s dealings with Kavi are not normal. He didn’t join willingly—he was forced to.”

I blinked. “What do you mean?”

Jer’s features softened. “Not my story, Nikki,” he reminded me softly.

I bit the inside of my lip, going back to drying the mug. “Right.”

“You really didn’t know?”

I lifted my head once more on a sigh. “The last time I saw Cain, he was nineteen years old and a rising star at The Pit in Detroit,” I lied, my mind racing. The truth? The last time I’d seen Cain was about nine years ago, in New York City.

Something passed over his face, but it was gone in an instant. “I see.”

“Look,” I began. “You wanted me to stay, and I have. You wanted me on the team and—”

“—but I never said I wanted you in the line of fire,” he cut me off, his voice firm.

I didn’t have the strength to argue. It wasn’t him I was mad at. Hell, it wasn’t even Cain I was mad at. I’d just felt blindsided by that information—and betrayed. Turning away, I gave Jer my back as I put up another glass before grabbing another to dry.

Jer muttered underneath his breath as his phone dinged and a second later, he hit me with more information. “When I brought on Cain, I had no idea about his past—none of us did.” He paused. “Collin didn’t know either, but after talking with Cain, he told us that he did it to save his brother.”

That was interesting.

I bit my tongue as Jer’s phone chimed again. Then, he gave it to me. “Cain will be back soon. Maybe then, you and he can have a conversation.”

I turned back around then. “They sure got that done fast, didn’t they?”

Something dark flashed in Jer’s warm eyes as he replied, “Xander is damn good at what he does. That’s why Collin recruited him out of prison.”

Another piece of new information to add to the list. Xander went to prison—that shouldn’t surprise me, not with anger he had. He probably got into some shit. As I got lost in my own thoughts, Sullie came out from the kitchen booming something to his nephew about the Crew.

Xander was in prison.

Cain joined the Bratva for Xander.

Memories flashed before my eyes as I found myself having to lean against the bar for support. That meant that when I saw Cain in New York…he could’ve been Bratva? Nausea slammed into me as beads of sweat broke out across my forehead, anxiety taking over as I tried to piece together the puzzle I’d been trying to solve since I was sixteen.

“Nikki?”

Blinking, I set the glass on the bar top with a clunk before bracing my hands against it, dropping my head. “I’m so fucking stupid,” I whispered to myself.

A heavy hand gently landed on my shoulder as a deep voice softly boomed, “Nikki?”

“I’m alright,” I assured the men as I brought my head up, doing my best to appear okay. “Just tired. I promise, I’m okay,” I tried to stress as Sullie turned me to face him. His thick brows were drawn together as concern flickered in his eyes like a candle in the night.

“What’s going on?”

“Headache,” I mustered, waving him off.

---