Page 58 of Reckless At Raleigh High
“Don’t be such a baby. Just go and talk to him for fuck’s sake. Things aren’t as bad as you think they are.”
Tension fizzles in the air as Alex twists, turning a cold scowl on Zander. “Is this seriously why you dragged us out here? To try and play peacemaker between me and Monty?”
“No. That’s just a side note. Aby-the-way. Do with it what you will.”
“Great. I’ll shove it up your ass.”
“Alex.” I thump my head against the headrest, rolling my eyes. “Just get on with it, Zander. I’m starving.”
“All right, all right. Monty was talking to some DEA Agent last night. Some smarmy fucker called Lowell.” Alex sits up in his seat like he’s been electrocuted. He keeps his mouth shut, though, letting Zander speak. “Monty told Lowell that Jacob wasn’t his concern anymore, so long as Caleb went down. He’s obviously got some kind of his own deal going on with the feds. But what he said after Lowell left was surprising. He told Casey, one of the Dreadnaught boys, that there’s an informant in the club. Someone who’s been slipping information to the feds for years. Said he finally had proof and there was gonna be hell to pay.”
Alex frowns. “Informant?”
Halliday pivots, twisting around in her seat to face the boys. This piece of information seems to have piqued her interest. “What kind of informant?”
“A long-standing one,” Zander says. “I asked Casey about it afterwards, and he said back in the day Monty served three years at Washington State for armed robbery. Someone threw him under the bus. Cut themselves a deal and disappeared into thin air. Apparently, Monty’s had his suspicions forever, but last night he seemed pretty sure of himself. Now there’s gonna be some reshuffling at the club ’cause of whatever the DEA told Monty. I hung back at the club house after they closed up for the night and low and behold, Q showed up with—”
“My dad,” Alex says grimly. He looks askance at Zander. “Right? He showed up there with Jack.” He’s resolute, like after all this time the pieces of a complex puzzle are falling into place.
Zander nods. “Q knows your dad’s been informing. I think he’s been supplying him with information to pass on to the DEA that’ll benefit the club, one way or another. He warned Jack that Monty was gonna be coming after him for real this time. Your dad said he wasn’t gonna leave Raleigh with you still in such close proximity to—”
Alex lashes out, smashing his fist sideways into the car door. The sudden movement makes Halliday yelp, jumping out of her seat. Alex shakes, wound extremely tight. I think he’s gonna repeat the action and hit my car again, but he lets out an uneven breath instead, grinding his teeth together as he looks at me. “Sorry,” he says. “That fuckingasshole. You can tell him not to stay here on my account. What does he think’s gonna happen? I’m just gonna drop everything and leave Raleigh with him? He’s fucking delusional.”
Panic grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me. I see it all play out: Alex forgiving his father; life here becoming untenable; Alex showing up on my doorstep in the middle of the night to tell me that he has to go away, that it’s for the best, that I’ll be better off without him…
Not gonna happen, Silver. He’d never do that to you, and you know it.
The thought is upsetting, though. Life was one long nightmare before I met Alex. Yeah, things have been absolutely crazy since I met him. Tragedy has nipped at our heels, dogging our every turn, but at least he’s been there, right by my side. Losing him…well, it doesn’t even bear thinking about.
“He doesn’t just want you to come with him,” Zander says, exhaling as he leans his head against the window next to him. “He wants you to set up a new chapter of the M.C. with him. Be his vice president.”
Alex’s reaction is priceless. His mouth drops open and he lets out a rattle of laughter that bounces around the inside of the car. “No offence, man,” he says. “But I’d rather choke on a dick that join a motorcycle club. I’m done with old men thinking that they can manipulate and use me for own their ends. My life’s my own. I’m not gonna let anyone pull my strings again. Especially not fuckingGiacomo.”
“Figured you’d say that.”
“Why are you even telling us this? Q’s gonna be mad as hell when he finds out you spilled club intel.”
Zander shrugs, pressing his hands to his chest as he straightens out his already creaseless shirt. “Ahhh, y’know. There have been spurious rumors that I’m a bad friend floating around lately. Thought I’d knock that one on the head.”
A loaded, wordless exchanges passes between Zander and Alex.
See. Idohave your back.
Yeah, yeah, all right. You’ve made your point.
I haven’t had any dealings with the Dreadnaughts. However, I’ve seen a couple of the club’s members at the Rock when I’ve hung out there with Alex, and they don’t look like the kind of men you want to cross. Zander could get into very real, serious trouble for telling us what he knows. Like, kneecaps shot out and fingers cut off kind of trouble.
Alex rewards Zander with a grudgingly grateful look. “Thanks, man,” he mumbles.
Zander could use this opportunity to be an asshole. It’d be easy to shoot off some attitude after all the grief Alex has given him. He chooses not to. Rather, he gives Alex a perfunctory smile, slapping him on the shoulder. “While we’re on topic, there is something else.”
“What?”
“Giacomo figured you weren’t gonna be interested in the role he’s picked out for you, so he came up with a plan.”
Alex bristles. “What plan?”
“The most timeless plan there is. You want the guy, then you go target the girl, right? He’s hired someone to go after Silver…and I’ll give you three guesses who he’s picked for the job.”
