Page 33 of A Wrench in the Plan
“That’s Cat’s boyfriend,” I blurted out. “Ex! I meant ex-boyfriend.”
“What?!” B-ry roared as he got to his feet, hands slapping down angrily on the wooden table. “What do you mean,boyfriend?”
“Ex,” I stated again. Judging by the narrowed eyes that looked ready to kill, it hadn’t helped at all. How was I supposed to know she hadn’t told him?! I felt like shit now. “Uh, I mean, I don’t think it was anything serious. She hardly ever saw him and she wasn’t feeling it. She broke up with him a couple of weeks ago.” Give or take a few days. Honestly, it had felt like the past two weeks were the longest in history, so my concept of time might have been a little warped lately. “Chry and I met him twice. Once was just a quick passing, and the other time was only for like five minutes.” Maybe more like twenty.
I hadn’t liked the guy. But he seemed pleasant enough, if not a little possessive over Cat. At the time, I just thought I was being an overprotective friend, but looking back and also knowing that Chry hadn’t liked him, I was starting to think that there was something bigger there that we ignored.
“Wait, you said it was rented two days ago, but they were taken last night or early this morning. Something’s not adding up,” Grass said, grabbing the room’s attention.
Thank fuck for that, because I did not want to talk about this anymore with B-ry. Though, somehow, I just knew this conversation wasn’t over.
“Hmm,” Cable said, looking back at the screen to make sure he’d seen it right. “Yeah. So why would they have a truck ready to go when they had no clue Chry and Cat would be there?”
I turned my head and blinked at LT. His mind was working behind those calm, soulful eyes.
“Is this about Cat or about the club?” Mason, the VP and LT’s dad, asked.
“Or was Cat a way in to get information on the club? Is he one of them?” I jumped in with.
“No clue,” LT said. “I’ll forward this to Seven and see if he recognizes the guy. But it sounds like this guy’s been down here a while now.”
If he’d used Cat to get to the club… I couldn’t go there. Not yet. No matter the case, I was sure he’d taken them. Hehadthem. And I was burning with the urge to get my hands on him. I realized then that above the fear and the worry, there was a pulsing need for revenge bubbling to the surface.
And I wasn’t sure how to handle that.
Sparrow’s phone rang, making me nearly jump out of my seat. Her face pinched tight as she looked at the screen. When her gaze shot to LT’s, I knew who was calling. She was quick to answer and put it on speaker, setting it down gently on the table in front of Prez.
“Yeah,” she clipped out as a greeting.
“You shouldn’t be calling me,” the voice said.
“Agent Palmer,” Row said as a way of clarifying that it really was him. “I’d apologize, but I need something.”
It was hard not to snort at Row’s bold and aggravated tone.
“You told me to get out of your life. I did as you asked. I think this is grossly unethical and highly inappropriate that you’re trying to get in touch with me, especially given how much that guy wanted to kick my ass for talking to you. Let me guess, boyfriend?”
“Still stalking me, I see.”
“Just a hunch, which you confirmed for me. Not that it matters. You’re off my radar, as is your club there, so I see no reason why you would be calling me.”
This weird-as-hell back and forth was really starting to grate on me. There wasn’t time for this. Whatever game Sparrow was playing, it better work out in our favor or I was going to snap.
“My brother is missing,” she said, all snark and bite gone from her tone. “We have reason to believe The Bloody Jokers took him and another one of ours. I need to know where I can find them.”
There was a long pause, followed by the static crackle of a heavy blown-out breath.
“And if I told you I’d been taken off the case permanently?” he came back with.
“I’d tell you that even if you had, you could get me information. I know you, and I know that you wouldn’t have let it go. I bet you’re sitting in your car right now with a file full of The Bloody Jokers’ shit right beside you.”
“I could lose my job for this,” he stated flatly.
“Do you care?” she shot back. Another long pause, and when he didn’t respond, she said, “You owe me. You knew what information that bitch had, and you ruined my life by letting her spill secrets that should have never been spilled by either of you. Not to mention how you lied to me in order to get close to me. To use me.” The look on her face said she knew his game long before he had tried it on her. Leaving me to think that she’dlethim get close to her just to find out what exactly what it was that he’d been after. “This will go a long way to making it right.”
“Sparrow,” he said like he was tired and nearly over it. Or maybe hurt and mending a broken heart. It was hard to tell. Since I didn’t want to think that Row had gone and gotten herself into something with an FBI agent that went that deep, I chose to ignore that last thought. However, the deadly glare Sidekick was giving the phone made it impossible to think that wasn’t it. “Let me see what I can find out.”
Cable raised his finger to get her attention. When he had it, he pointed to the screen.
