Page 157 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

Just as everyone was gearing up to pepper him with more questions, Crew lifted his hand again to silence them. “Explain. From the beginning. Don’t leave anything out.”

“I…uh… went to a motel a couple of months back…”

“Did you hire a hooker?” Rez asked.

“No, asshole, I didn’t hire a damn hooker. I just happened to be in the area.”

“You just said you wereatthe motel.”

Damn.“Yes, I was at the motel?—”

“Why?”

“Will you let the man finish, Rez?” Crew shouted. “Holy fuck.”

“Continue,” Rez encouraged with a smirk.

“When I was leaving, I spotted someone who looked like T-Bone. It turns out I was right. To make certain it was him and to see what the fucker was up to, I went back to do some surveillance.”

Crew frowned. “Why are you only telling us this now?”

“Because I wanted to make sure it was him first.” Nox would leave out the detail that he definitely knew it was T-Bone by the second night of spying on the former prospect.

“Isn’t anyone else dying to know why the fuck Nox was at a motel?” Rez complained loudly.

“Are you that fucking dense?” Decker asked. “To keep Aaliyah a secret.”

“So, why is T-Bag staying at a motel?” Finn asked next.

“Because he lost his room at the Uniontown church?” Torres suggested.

Nox continued, “That could be one reason, even though I didn’t see him wearing his colors once. However… someone else showed up who was.”

The room went still again as they waited.

“Saint.”

“Are those two having a relationship?” Finn wiggled his eyebrows.

“It’s a relationship, all right, but not a sexual one.” Not in the sense Finn was thinking. “At least not with each other.”

“Explain,” Crew repeated, his expression turning darker.

Nox glanced over at Decker. “Sadie must have been a lucrative side hustle for T-Bag, because I saw several different women being ‘helped’ in and out of the motel room during my watch.”

Decker roared, “That fucking motherfucker,” and slammed his hand so hard on the desk where he sat, his mug jumped and caused coffee to spill over the rim.

“Too bad he survived that night in the…” Finn ate the rest of those words.

Only four of them knew about ambushing T-Bone and taking him out to a field to squeeze him for information on Sadie’s whereabouts.

Nox and Finn’s eyes met.

Even Crew didn’t know all the details and the four of them wanted to keep it that way. It was safer for everyone not involved, in case it ever came to light. The concept was simple: one couldn’t answer questions if they didn’t know the answers.

“Okay, so now what?” Finn asked.

“So, if he’s no longer a part of the club, then he’s no longer a part of the investigation,” Crew announced.

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