Page 79 of The Kings of Kearny

Daniel leaned forward in his seat so fast that whiskey sloshed over the side of his glass. “So why are you staying with Liam?” he demanded. “Introducing him to your fake girlfriend?”

I leaned back in my chair, surprised. Damn, he was good. He’d only pretended to fall for our ruse, had gone right along with it, had done everything in his power to splash it around town, and all along, he knew we were lying. Jakob had tried to play him, and he’d played us right back. I wouldn’t underestimate him again.

“I’m staying with him because he forced my hand,” Jakob said. “And there’s nothing fake about Krista and me.”

I nearly choked.

Daniel’s gaze swiveled to me, eyes wild, the injured animal Jakob had warned me about a heartbeat away from snapping. “Are you in on it too?”

The door behind us opened with a click. “Enough,” a soft, feminine voice said.

I turned to see Eva King stroll into the room. She had her dark hair twisted up into a top knot, leaving her striking features on full display. Instead of the business attire I was used to seeing her in, she wore a pair of slouchy sweats and a form-hugging T-shirt. Her cat eyes, a little less bloodshot than her husband’s, took in the three of us at a glance.

She shut the door behind her and came over to stand next to Daniel. “Stop being a paranoid bastard. If Jakob were in on it, he wouldn’t be here asking questions. Tell them.”

Daniel stared up at her, a mulish expression on his face.

Eva narrowed her eyes and poked him in the shoulder. “Tell them, or I will.”

Daniel heaved a sigh and leaned back in his chair. “Redding’s a sociopathic little shit who was in my unit about a decade ago. He assaulted a local Afghani girl during a deployment, and I tried to get him court-martialed. His uncle was a senator or a state rep or some shit, and he pulled some strings and got him off on an honorable discharge. I haven’t seen him since, but he made a parting comment all those years ago promising to get back at me, and here we are.”

“What’s he doing at Magnolia?” Jakob asked.

“What do you think?” Daniel said, looking at Jakob like he was an idiot. “Your dad found him and brought him in to fuck me over.”

At that, Eva sank onto the arm of Daniel’s chair and started rubbing his back. “Liam needs to stop doing this,” she said to Jakob.

Jakob looked between her and Daniel. “You’re sure my father is behind it?”

Daniel nodded. “Mike.”

Jakob pulled his cell phone from his pocket and handed it over to Daniel. I caught a glimpse of the screen. Plastered across it was the picture of Redding and Mike.

Daniel just snorted, pulled out his own phone, and handed it to Jakob. I leaned over and watched Jakob thumb through a handful of photos of Redding and Mike that looked like they were taken over the course of several weeks. Jakob was right; Daniel knew about this longer than he did.

“I still think this is too messy for Dad,” Jakob said, handing it back.

“The doctor tip you off?” Eva asked.

I frowned. “You mean Dr. Perez?”

She nodded. “Ordering a hit on an innocent woman isn’t Liam’s style.”

“I think Redding got away from him,” Daniel said. “He’s an entitled little prick with a vendetta against me, and he has no discipline. There’s no way your father could keep him in line for long.”

I closed my eyes for a second and took a deep breath. What a fucking mess.

“I need to go talk to Dad,” Jakob said.

Eva crossed her arms. “You need to tell him to stop meddling. This isn’t good for the club, this isn’t good for Kearny, and it really isn’t good for my family.”

Jakob shook his head. “He’ll never stop meddling. It’s what Dad does. He has it in his head that I need to lead a club, and he’s going to keep trying to make it happen.” He looked at Daniel. “It helps that you’re an asshole and he doesn’t like you.”

Subtlety, thy name is Jakob.

I tensed against Daniel’s reaction, but he just grinned. It wasn’t a nice look.

“Convince him to lay off,” Eva said.

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