Page 16 of Keys

“No telling.” I grunted out a noise of disgust because it pissed me off that I hadn’t been able to learn more about her. The stunt I pulled with the bank account blew up in my face so I would have a hard time following that trail. “The only other thing of note was that the bank account she has with the local branch was started at the same time as the name change and emancipation. Typically, to get emancipated you need to prove that you have means by which to care for yourself. The bank account would have been a step toward proving that, but it was opened too close to the court decree.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning: it looks like she didn’t have a financial means prior to that. I attempted to follow the money but got shut out by the new countermeasures the bank put in place.”

“That sounds a lot like you did something dumb and got caught. Please, tell me you didn’t get caught.”

“Caught is such a relative term,” I hedged.

“Quickshot.” My name was a warning.

“She knows I was digging around in her life, and I told her it was because I had to make sure Jamie was safe.”

Sweet nodded. “Good. Give it a bit of a rest then. When she drops her guard again, you need to keep digging and find out whatever the hell she’s hiding. If someone paid her off to disappear, we need to know who and why.”

Something dark twisted deep inside me at the thought of betraying Keys’ trust. I didn’t think there were many people who got to really know her, and I didn’t want to be the one to do so only to end up missing out on her as a result.

“I won’t fuck the information out of her. We’ve already had that conversation.”

“Didn’t repeat the request.” Sweet tossed a file down in front of me. “Now, we have other shit to discuss. This is everything we have on the family that caused all the trouble for the Tallahassee Chapter. I want to make sure there are no loose ends waiting to fuck shit up for this weapons pipeline Tallahassee will be running through here. Get me everything you can on all of them. Track down fourth cousins that might hold a grudge if you need to, and I want it all by the end of the week.”

“I thought we weren’t going to start escorting the line until next month?”

“Yeah, Quick. That’s why we’re doing our homework now.”

I didn’t bother saying another word as I glanced through the file that he’d given me and noted some of the names of the players in our Tallahassee Chapter’s crosshairs. A few had already been scratched off the list - meaning they were dead. There were other bit players who were still on the periphery though. It was my jumping off point as my fingers flew over the keys of my laptop, willing it to give me everything I needed to make our part in the pipeline run as smoothly as possible.

“Did Ghost have anyone on this before?”

“He has you on it now.” Sweet told me before he walked out of the office without so much as looking back. The bastard was damn moody, which probably meant that he and Angel Girl were at one another’s throats again. There was a time when I hoped that they’d be the example of how a couple could be happy while living this lifestyle, but now I wondered if they should even be together. There seemed to be too much history bogging them both down to move forward with anything healthy.

My parents’ relationship, from an outsider’s view looking in, was the example to live by. I knew better though. They had a rough ride together, including infidelity on both of their parts. Granted, my mother’s stepping out on my father was in direct correlation to him doing it to her first. Why they stayed together was beyond me. It seemed like an endless cycle of hurt to me.

They had become an example all right, of exactly what I didn’t want in my life. Still, I had hope that there was something better out there. Sarah Keys came to mind. We both understood the need for knowledge. If only I could figure out why she was so dead set against giving us a try.

I put her out of mind and focused on the work at hand. Making sure that my club was as safe from harm and prosecution as possible had to be my priority. After about three hours of my deep dive into the worst fucking family known to Florida’s history, I finally decided it was time for a break. When I emerged, it was to a raucous in the clubhouse’s gathering space, near the bar. Men were chanting something, though I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was. Then the women’s voices pierced the air with their own version of a chant. That time, I caught the name. Tash.

“That’s about enough!” Spike’s voice rose above the din as I approached and watched the man sling Tash over his shoulder. Whatever had been in the glass she had in her hand spilled down his back, eliciting a growl from the man. “Can’t believe you did that shit,” he was scolding the woman as if he had every right to.

They lost my attention as soon as I heard her laugh though. I turned back in time to see that the men were trying to set Keys up with whatever drink they had Tash chugging. She politely tried to turn them down, even as she laughed at their antics. “Tash might not have been here to work, but I am.” I heard Keys tell them as I drew closer.

“What kind of work are you here to do?” I asked the infuriating woman as I approached.

“The kind where I need to speak to you.” She broke away from the others and waited until she pulled up close to me to speak again. “Is there somewhere private we can go?”

I tipped my head back to my room, which earned me a rather dubious look. “If you’d like we can head to the meeting room, but I think you’d be more comfortable in my space. We have cameras in the rooms that aren’t private for security reasons.”

“Trouble with members?” She asked, and I could see the wheels spinning in her head as she eyed each of the men still lounging around the room.

“Not really, but anytime a new chapter is established, there’s a concern about recruitment happening too fast and not getting shit done properly. Since someone else oversaw all that before Sweet and I got here, we figured better safe than sorry.”

“Probably for the best.” She turned in the direction of the hallway where my room was located, and we moved to head that way amid catcalls from the assholes who were still scattered about. “Little boys never really grow up, do they?”

“Nah. We just get bigger and have to pay bills like everyone else. Otherwise, we’re basically the same as the little shit who pulled your pigtails in kindergarten.”

Sarah chuckled at that, and I ate it up. It wasn’t a rare occurrence for her to laugh. She seemed like a happy woman, quick to laugh, and with a fabulous sense of humor. She just also happened to have steel walls up that kept people at bay. Once we made it to my room, she nodded at the door, and I took the cue to lock it.

“What’s going on?”

---