Page 72 of Deadly Aloha
“What about your renter?” I asked Bacon. “What do you know about him? Someone could have paid him to watch us.”
Bacon didn’t shift uncomfortably or blink excessively, nothing to give away any irritation at my question. But it was there. Minute, but I saw it in the man’s eyes. “It’s not him.”
I didn’t budge. “How do you know?”
“Because I do,” he said shortly. Still, I waited. Bacon’s jaw ticked. “I know because if someone had approached him to try tobribe him into doing, well,anything,they would be dead and we wouldn’t be having this issue.”
I frowned, because that was not the answer I expected. “Who the fuck is your renter?”
“That’s my business and it has nothing to do with the club. Either you trust me or you don’t,” Bacon added before I could argue.
I didn’t like the ultimatum, but I had to admit it was my curiosity that was driving my questions and not a suspicion. Bacon wasn’t usually so tight lipped. The fact that he was about whoever his renter was made me want to know more, but he was right that it wasn’t club business.
I caught Neo’s eye from across the room. They nodded, indicating that they would include the renter in their deep dive.
Bacon must have seen the look, but he just chuckled. “Good luck.”
I had to bring this meeting back to the more-pressing topic at hand. “I gave Neo the name of the Bloody Scorpions’ contact in the Black Market Railroad. As much as we all want answers regarding Kahoku, finding Nishi still needs to be our priority.”
Tangaloa’s phone rang. Mine was found with a bullet through the center of the screen like it had been executed. Neo claimed it would take them a few days to get me a new one. Personally, I thought they were just punishing me for destroying another phone.
Tangaloa listened to whomever was on the other end for a minute before saying, “Thanks. Hurry back.” He hung up and looked to me. “They found blood on Rory’s boat. A lot of it. They don’t think he survived, but there wasn’t a body.”
I nodded. “I didn’t think it was him. He wouldn’t have had the balls.”
“Or do anything to endanger Lu?” Tangaloa added, though it sounded more like a question.
“She rejected him,” I said with pride. “Some take something like that personally.”
“More personally than you chopping off his hand?” Mako murmured to my left.
I shrugged nonchalantly. “He could have taken his own finger. I was kind enough to even give him the choice after what he did.”
Some of the men wouldn’t meet my gaze, but I didn’t care. I stood by my decision. Rory had only been allowed into the club out of deference to Aaleah. I tried being nice, and look how it turned out. It was humbling, in a way. Finally learning I wasn’t good at something.
“I still want Rory found,” I told Tangaloa, rolling my shoulders. I wasn’t sitting down because of my back. Lu had shoved some ibuprofen down my throat this morning—quite literally. She was disappointed in my gag reflex, and then she showed me how to deep throat like a good girl. I was impatiently waiting for my next dose.
When no one had anything else, I dismissed the meeting. Tangaloa hung back, and Bacon neared when I signaled for him to stay too.
“What is it?” I asked Tangaloa once we were alone.
Tangaloa put an elbow on the mantel over the fireplace, rubbing his chin with his hand. “Neo filled me in on why Pua’s been staying with you.”
I quickly lifted my eyebrows as I rested my ass against the back of the couch. I’d rather tear my dick off and feed it to some chickens than admit that my hip was bothering me from standing. Maybe I could get away with asking Bacon and Holly to babysit so Lu and I could take a naked nap.
“I don’t know what Kalea is up to, but I sent the twins to find her.”
Tangaloa nodded, his expression tense. “Have you considered that yesterday wasn’t about you at all? That it was about her?”
I hadn’t, and it would take a lot of convincing to get me to. Kalea wasn’t the one staying at my house and she had no connection to the Bloody Scorpions. And it wasn’t that far of a reach to say that Tangaloa had some pent up anger towards my sister that he was projecting onto this situation.
“Why would you say that?” Bacon asked. He knew that Tangaloa had been married to my sister, but I wasn’t sure if he knew all the details as to why the marriage had ended.
“The guy Neo saw her with at the motel. He could have been the one to pay the Bloody Scorpions.”
“For what reason?” I asked, doubt in my voice and on my face. “Your past with her is clouding your judgement in this, brother.”
Tangaloa let out a sound of frustration as he stood up fully. “I am not! Kalea goes off the reservation, and three days later, your house gets shot up? That doesn’t sound like a coincidence to me!”
