Page 51 of In the Light of Sin

“Everyones got more dick in their personality than their pants ‘round here.” Tyrant stood up, still rubbing the place where Darrell hit him. Flashing a smile in my direction. “Except me, of course.”

“Fuck off, Tyrant.” Sarge snapped at him, sending him away with grumbled words I couldn’t quite make out. I looked over to Nyla, who was chatting with Oakley and Claudia—of course, V not being too far from his muse’s side. Nyla’s eyes left mine as I shot her a sheepish grin, everyone in the clubhouse knowing what Sarge and I had just done.

Her smile let me know there were no hard feelings, but she put her thumb and pinky to her ear, resembling a phone silently telling me to call her later or tomorrow. Mitchell would probably occupy her like Sarge did me just now.

My chest bubbled, a feeling I’d long forgotten consuming me as I looked around the room.

This… this was family.

Jordyn flashed past my mind. The way we grew up, my mistakes, the way I ruined her life…

I didn’t deserve this family. But I also didn’t deserve the way she was treating me, regardless of what she said.

Maybe it’s time I start being Joslyn Monroe again.

Not the girlhetook away.

Chapter 13: Sarge

“Jordyn still hasn’t done shit they said she would.” It’s been a month since the stakeout, and things have leveled out into a routine of hypervigilance and establishing our roots to take Diamond Ridge back under our control.

“Well yeah,” Grim drawled, “Husk, V, and Sarge killed the people jabberin’ about it. They know that we knew.”

“But now they gotta think of somethin’ else.” Husk crossed his arms. “Can’t get rid of us without a foolproof plan.”

“Didn’t exactly need a plan for V almost gettin’ ya guys fucked.” Tyrant wasn’t wrong. V fucked our operation, giving me a new scar in the process. And, of course, he had no response from the corner he always sat in during these meetings. Still blankly looking on with no care or thought in his deranged head, polishing the stained blood on his wooden slugger. It’s never coming off. Even if it did, it would be replaced by someone else’s blood soon.

“We’ll go back to that later. We have other things to discuss.” He looked to Law, who had his reading glasses on, looking at the pile of papers in front of him. “How’s our property buying going?”

“Bought four strips so far. Renovations and tenants pending. Leases at the shelters renewed.”

“I want the abandoned building on Peony.” All of our heads swiveled to V, some jaws almost hitting the floor. His black surgical mask darkened his soulless eyes as they looked uncaringly at us. He wasn’t going to repeat what he said, instead putting his bat on his lap, lightly tapping the heavy barrel of it on his thighs. He was the only brother to match me in body composition. It wasn’t easy to get to our size orbeour size.

“What do you want it for?” Prez’s eyebrow was cocked, asking a question we were all thinking but wouldn’t get an answer for. V didn’t tell us shit about himself. But, it was a simple enough request, I thought, since we were buying out as much property as possible. Prez sighed, shaking his head and turning to Law. “Any trouble with buying that strip of buildings?”

Law shook his head, his pointed glare still directed at V. My gut feeling told me that whatever he wanted with that busted-up building on the corner of Peony Street had something to do with Oakley. Everything the fucker did revolved around her.

“Got somethin’ for ya to do. “ Prez’s attention turned to me. “Take Joslyn to her parents’ house and see if there’s anything there. Jordyn still lives there, yeah?” I nodded my head, grip tightening on my bicep, thinking about Joslyn’s bitch of a twin. “No doubt she’s bringing some of them over. Some of them might be dumb enough to leave some evidence.”

“Or they’re smart enough to plant it,” Husk muttered his two cents. It wasn’t a bad idea. The Bloods weren’t the sharpest out there… but their ties with the Flock might’ve come with someone who was. They could be playing chess in our checkers game.

I didn’t want to risk it, but I could tell she’s been feeling a bit of a longing to go back to her parents’ place. They may be dead, but their comforting energy will always reside there. I kept my parents’ place after they passed for the same reason. “Don’t wanna risk her.”

“Her folks place is the only place we haven’t done a thorough search on. She’d be the one to know if anything was misplaced or added. We need her to go check it out.”

“You’ve been needing her for a lot of this shit,” I pointed out. He was quick to throw her out as bait for the Bloods. “What gives?”

His expression was unwavering as his eyes narrowed, flashing with an emotion I knew was anger at my defiance of his command, that I would blindly follow for the thrill of the fight before she consumed every damn part of me.

He wasn’t fully convinced she was one of us.

“You still don’t trust her,” I growled, the chair falling as I stood up, slamming the palms of my hands against the desk, rattling everything on the cheap table. “She’s your daughter’s best friend.”

“That means nothing.” He didn’t deny my claim, pissing me off even more. “The only reason Grim started up with Nyla was because of information. He wasn’t even supposed to go after Nyla; he was supposed to get with Joslyn. She could be doin’ the same. She still hasn’t let go of that bitch of a sister. Who’s to say she’s not feeding information to her?”

“She wouldn’t do that.” I was trying to contain myself, my words escaping through gritted teeth. Her heart was too good to cause anyone but herself harm. “That wire at that fuckin’ party wasn’t good enough?”

“We didn’t get any useful information out of it. Jordyn sabotaged that. How could Joslyn be dumb enough to take off the wire at the fuckin’ party!”

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