Page 42 of Lake
“I would think so.” I could tell there was more to his story. I’d seen it before and while I didn’t really care to know, I also knew that it ran deeper than this club. “Either you are not that great at your job or there is nothing there to find.”
He didn’t seem to like my response.
“Maybe you should step away and look at it with new eyes. Sometimes the fight is worse than the situation. And in my short life, I’ve come to realize that sometimes it’s easier to win the war with collected enemies on your side. It just depends on which one you see as the bigger evil.”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment and I could tell that my words were rolling around in his head. This wasn’t something I wanted to get in between and I sure as hell didn’t want to know anything about it.
“Now, if you aren’t going to arrest me, I would like you to kindly fuck off.”
I was out of patience and didn’t want this fuckwad around me anymore. Sure it wasn’t smart mouthing off to a man with a badge like that but I had a feeling he wasn’t going to arrest me.
“Have a good night, Ms. Atwater,” he said reaching for the handle. The pause was just a power move. Jackass just had to have the last word. “You’d do well to move your vehicle. I wouldn’t want to get another call.”
I let him go. My balls were big enough that I didn’t need to bark like a tiny dog.
He got in his car and drove off without even waiting for me to move. That alone told me he didn’t care what I did after he made his exit.
I seriously wondered how he knew I was there though.
Had someone called?
I looked around and saw no signs of life. The building I was parked in front of looked like it had some sort of thick, frosted coating on all the windows and the main door looked more like a rear fire exit. While the metal door looked newer than the buildings around it had, it also didn’t have the wear of a door that was used often.
Shrugging, I turned my attention back to the street.
There wasn’t anything here, I felt it. So with a sigh, I started the SUV up and drove away. I circled the block a few times but still came up empty.
The sun wouldn’t be up for hours but I wasn’t ready to head back to the MC clubhouse just yet. I had a lot to think about and sort out.
I found my way to a small diner and took a seat at a booth in the back. I ordered a coffee, of course, and two scrambled eggs. I wasn’t a huge egg fan, but they were one of the cheaper things on the menu and I couldn’t argue that I needed the protein.
I wasn’t the healthiest eater. Most of the time I had to do it quickly or while I was trying to do a million other things. And while I knew how to cook the basics, I rarely took the time.
I supposed I should have slowed down. I was so busy trying to keep the business afloat. And yeah, maybe I wanted to make my dad proud even if he wasn’t around to see it.
I didn’t want to think about what I could be missing with Lake and his club. I really didn’t. But I also wasn’t stupid and I was far too wise to fall for all of their charms.
What could I do but look at what I’d seen so far?
Which wasn’t anything that set me on edge or made me think there was shady illegal shit going on. I’d seen their paperwork for the garage. And while I wasn’t sure if it was a club owned business or something that just happened to be right there in front of their clubhouse and employed mostly club members from what I’d seen, I hadn’t noticed anything that stuck out as shady.
I mean, come on. I knew what a front was and I didn’t get the vibe that the garage was that. As far as I could tell, it was a legitimate business. But then again, I didn’t really dig into it.
Those receipts were real. And the customers too. I was sure the work that Ky did brought in a pretty penny, as well.
Ugh, why did my brain have to go there?
Whatever, it wasn’t like I planned to stick around any longer than I had to. I was here for a job. Not to make friends. Not to get into the club shit they had going on. Maybe one day, I would look back on this as just one of many adventures.
But for now, I was stuck and I feared that meant that if the asshole detective wanted to make my life hell, then he would.
Why did it seem like everything had gone wrong in the matter of a couple of days?
I sat in the diner a little longer and around midnight I felt like I’d overstayed my welcome. I looked out to the the night sky through the big windows that surrounded the diner. Dark gray clouds began to roll in. The rain began to sprinkle its gloom on the world around me only solidifying my mood.
I drove back to the clubhouse knowing full well that I couldn’t keep the detective’s visit all to myself. I had no clue why, but I felt like they needed to know that he was out there— that was, if they already didn’t.
But did I really need to warn them?
