Page 8 of Lies Beneath Secrets

“Yep,” Knox says in agreement. Gabby picks this moment to walk into the kitchen where we’re sitting. “Well, hello there,” Knox says to her. She yawns and comes over to my side, wrapping her little arms around me as best she can, and I pull her up onto my lap. My heart melts in that moment and somewhere down deep, I know we’ll figure shit out.

CHAPTERSIX

Con

“Any clue what this is about?” I ask, pulling out a chair to take a seat at the table. King called a meeting an hour ago and told us all to get to the clubhouse. It’s been a week since I’ve been here. While being here every day isn’t mandatory, when someone is gone for a while, it gets noticed.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Rage shrugs, pulling out a chair next to me.

“Got us a problem.” Len meets my eyes, standing to the right of where our president should be, but for right now, it’s King.

“What kind of problem?” I ask but don’t get an answer before King walks into the room, tossing his phone into the box on the table, along with everyone else’s. Brucie then reaches over the table and closes the box with a sharp clap.

“Where the fuck have you been?” King looks right at me before he sits down.

“I’ve had business to attend to.”

“That business involve going to the beauty salon?” Len jeers, getting laughs from around the table.

“Man can’t get a haircut without getting harassed?” I defend myself. “I just got custody of my daughter. Been trying to figure life out.” King pauses for a moment at my explanation, eyeing me skeptically.

“Huh, never would have pegged you for the dad type,” King finally says, then sits down. “Well then, take all the time you need, Con.” I nod in response, wondering why he would give me such leniency. “We have two jobs coming up that will need three men and a spotter. The cargo belongs to the Flatliners. It needs to get there in one piece, no issues.” I only halfheartedly listen to the conversation at the table. I went on a job right before Boe was killed, and I most likely need to get my ass on another one but I just can’t bring myself to take one right now. Things have been going okay with Gabby so far, and she hasn’t had a meltdown like the one she did at the store again, although she does get a bit cranky in the middle of the day for some reason. That’s when I take her for a drive. Knocks her right out.

“Got one more thing to deal with.” Len stands up from the table, pulling my attention his way. “That woman you told me to find, King? I found her.” I drag my gaze from Len over to King, who’s now staring right at me.

“What woman?” I ask, not breaking eye contact with King.

“That pretty little waitress that works at the diner. You remember her, don’t you, Con?” Len snarks.

“Lots of pretty little waitresses in diners, Len. Be more specific.” I keep my tone level and look over to the asshole standing next to King. Two peas in a pod, they are.

“That’s enough. Len, sit the fuck down.” King waves off Len, who keeps that stupid grin on his face but does as he’s told. His dark, thinning hair only covers the back of his head, leaving a very large bald circle on top. Damn thing shines like a diamond. The mustache above his lip barely hides the fact he has two missing teeth he lost in a bar fight three years ago. It only adds to his sparkling personality. “You see that girl from the other night, Con?” King asks pointedly.

“I don’t know. It could have been her. I didn’t really get a good look at her face that night. It was dark.” I shrug. It’s the truth too. If Knox hadn’t shown me that picture he stole from her apartment, I wouldn’t have known it was her.

“Lauren Blakely. 404 Lindin Lane, Apartment 7,” Len spouts off her name and address. It sparks something inside me, causing the urge to jump across the table and knock a few more teeth out. I keep myself rooted to my chair, knowing that he’s only trying to get a reaction from me.

“Fine.” King waves off Len. “Con, since we’re in this damn mess because of you, I’m leaving you in charge of her.”

“In what mess? And in charge of her how?” I gape.

“She’s got two cop friends that come into that diner every day. I think she’s fucking one of them,” Len divulges. “Only takes one good fuck, and women spill their secrets.”

“Sounds like you watch her enough to have it all under control,” I argue. No way do I need to figure out how to take care of my daughter and babysit some woman.

“I asked you to do it, Con. Figure it out. The woman is your responsibility. She talks about us to anyone, you find out, and you take care of it.” King stands up from the table. “Now, I’m acting president, but we still need to vote on it. Law declares we get two weeks to decide and bring anyone to the table that opposes. Since shit went down the way it did, I’m saying we get this done now. We need a president now more than ever and to put all this behind us.” I glance over at Knox, who remains expressionless as he always is at these meetings. “Let’s vote!” King smacks the table, and each member casts their vote aloud. There isn’t any surprise that in the end, the vote lands on King unanimously. What does surprise me is when he stands up and passes over the VP patch to Knox.

“This is for you. Enforcer will be Len from now on.” There’s no question in King’s declaration.

“Thanks, Prez,” Knox says as he stands from the table and removes his cut, then pulls his knife from his boot. He slowly slides the blade under his enforcer patch, cutting away the thread that holds it in place. Len’s gap-toothed mouth smiles wide when Knox slides over the patch without a word.

“Thank you, Prez,” Len says to King.

“Good. Enough of that shit.” He smacks down the gavel and stands. “Let’s fucking party, boys.” Cheers erupt around the room, and it quickly empties out, leaving Knox and me behind.

“Didn’t see that one coming,” Knox breaks the silence, then stands to grab his phone from the now open box. I do the same and notice I have a voicemail. Swiping across the screen, I examine the phone a little. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” I lie and try to find the spot on the phone labeledvoicemail.

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