Page 82 of The Kings of Kearny

Jakob chuckled and shot me a look. “You sure you don’t want me to turn this car around?”

“No,” I said, an image of Jakob pummeling Daniel with his fists flashing in front of my eyes. “Too many witnesses.”

“Good point.”

“How much worse is the conversation with your dad going to be?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “Depends on what your definition of worse is.”

“Should I be worried?”

He nodded. “With my dad, you should always be worried.”

Great.

I settled back into my seat, drumming my fingers over my thigh. Anxiety crept into my mind, mixed with a healthy dose of fear. Even if the conversation with Liam went better than the one we just had with Daniel, and even if he agreed with Jakob’s terms of cease-fire between him and Daniel, there was still Redding and the Jokers to contend with. I’d been in Kearny long enough to witness how the Kings doled out retribution. Weakness was anathema to motorcycle clubs. The Jokers had made their hold on Kearny look weak. There’d be hell to pay for that. And with the Jokers’ presence at Magnolia Hills, so close to Kearny, I worried the violence would spill over into our town.

The men would want to make a show of power. They’d want to declare their dominance. Maybe beat on their chests and roar over the corpses of their enemies for good measure. But what if there was another way? One that didn’t involve violence. One where no one but Redding got hurt.

A plan was forming in the back of my mind, but if I went through with it, I might lose Jakob before I ever really had him.

Chapter Twenty

Ihad plenty of timeto stew over my plan after returning to the Larsons’ house. Jakob wanted to speak to his parents together, let his mom know what his dad had been up to because he thought she could help talk some sense into Liam. It seemed like a discussion that should be reserved for family. They didn’t need me acting as an unwilling voyeur to their drama, and between everything I’d learned this morning and the showdown with Daniel, my nerves were shot to hell. I needed a break.

Gran and I sat in the living room together, watching one of her favorite movies,Steel Magnolias. Molly was sprawled out on the floor in front of us, half on top of Gran’s feet. Jakob, Liam, and Jennifer were holed up together in Liam’s office, far across the house.

I knew things were bad when I heard Jennifer yell, “You didwhat?”

I snagged the remote from Gran and turned the volume up a couple of clicks.

Guess Jennifer hadn’t been in on Liam’s plans after all. I’d wondered on the drive back if she’d known what he was up to but kept my thoughts to myself. Jakob had plenty of shit to deal with without questioning his mom too, and I didn’t know Jennifer well enough to voice that assumption. The only reason I’d gone there was that after this morning, I questioned everyone around me but Gran.

Who was telling the truth? Who was lying? Who was still trying to play us?

I even questioned what happened at Daniel’s house. Had he been serious about Redding holding a vendetta against him? Or had it just been more lies, meant to distract Jakob away from him and instead place the blame for everything on Liam?

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