Page 30 of Hallow’s Eve
He captured me in his arms and held me to him. I cried for a good five minutes, getting his shirt all wet. “Eve, I’m so sorry. I would’ve never… If you really are Fighting Cock’s daughter…”
“What? Are your friends going to kill me?”
“No. But we need to keep you away from Leviathan.”
“Y’all don’t have to worry about me. I’ll never fool with bikers ever again.” I dried my eyes on the towel.
Hallow took my shoulders and bent to look at me. “It’s not that simple, Eve. I’ve told my president you’re my girl and now you are, like it or not.”
“Just like you fucked me against my will, right?”
Hallow took offense to that even though he’d just been apologizing. “You’ll get a tattoo. Pretty simple, and tattoos can be removed now.”
“I ain’t getting no tattoo.”
“Okay, then, but my ass is on the line now. I saved your hide back there.”
“Is that all you have to say to me after what just happened?”
Hallow steered his eyes away. “Get dressed. I can’t get ahold of Dimple or Riff. They’re probably out at the pig farm disposing of Sadist.”
“Disposing of him?”
“Burying him. He’s dead.”
“Don’t he have family that’ll miss him.”
“Doesn’t matter if he does. You never saw him, you hear?”
Dropping the towel, I stepped into the jeans and tugged on the shirt in front of him. Steph’s shoes were a bit too big, so I tied them extra tight. “What about Ford? Y’all going to kill him for what he did to Grady?” I didn’t mention the fact that he and Jasper tried to kidnap me. I didn’t want to think about what they had planned to do with me.
“Yeah, we’ll kill him, but Kingpin wants to talk to him first. I do too. I want to know what him and his friend planned to do to you and how many other girls they’ve lifted from Bootsies.”
“What?”
“Asking around, one thing everyone agreed on was that turnover was mighty high. Celie said the other bars didn’t have that much of a problem. She assumed someone working with you was harassing the girls and they weren’t reporting it. She suspected Louis because of his criminal past.”
“I didn’t know he had one.”
“Just possession, and I’ve known cops to plant drugs in cars, apartments.”
“Why…?”
“Why did I quit the force? Made detective in Columbus, Ohio and at my age, that was something. You and I have something in common. When I was thirteen, my parents were murdered, both of them. The killer was never found. My uncle and aunt raised me after that. I spent so much time wanting to avenge my parents’ death, but no one knew who killed them. I decided to become a detective and find out. The goal kept me on the straight and narrow path in Cleveland when all my friends turned to drugs or crime. Went to OSU, got a degree and joined the force. Took the exam after three years. Then, I messed up. A guy ran a red light, that’s all. That shit was below my pay grade, even. Well, I didn’t pull the trigger, but my partner did. Shot right into the cabin of the car, three times.”
“For running a red light?”
“Jerry said our perp looked a lot like someone who held up a bank the week before. And that he had a gun. It was late at night. I didn’t see one. We didn’t find one.”
“I’m sure that kind of thing happens lots with police, right? You’re just doing your job and shit happens.”
“Too often. Our suspect was black. He had two kids in his car, two young boys. We killed a man for running a red light. And I could’ve stopped it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, but I got a bad feeling when Jerry walked up to that window. He was already on edge.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?”
