Page 36 of My Temptation

“Where was his cousin?”

Mila smiled, and I watched Jax for any indication he didn’t want Beth to know that Striker had detained Rick Skinner while we searched, but there wasn’t any.

I wasn’t surprised when Striker spoke. “He was there. I got them in. I persuaded him to talk, but Kyle found the information first. We still needed a way to find the bunker. He eventually cooperated and told us where the map was hidden.”

Her eyes widened, and she lowered her voice while staring at Striker. Then she asked the one question that proved she knew him well. “Is he alive?”

We all laughed, and Striker grinned when he replied. “He’s fine. Police picked him up for questioning after we finished, but that’s all.”

She nodded and turned to face Cam again when he spoke, but she visibly relaxed when she saw the grin on his face. “What happened after you woke up?”

“He was on the phone. I pretended to be asleep when he would look back at me for a while because I was trying to get a good look around.” She shrugged. “I have no idea why, but it felt important.”

“Always smart to know your surroundings,” Brody stated.

“Well, one of the times, he caught me. Then he spent a while trying to get me to tell him where the safe deposit box was. I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about, but that seemed to aggravate him. He became, umm…” She hesitated before finishing. “A little more physical then.”

“How?” Jax encouraged her.

“He slapped me, and at one point, he lifted me from the floor by my neck.” I noticed she shifted her body so she wasn’t looking at Striker and we all knew why. This would be hard for him to hear knowing he hadn’t been there to protect her. “Then he called someone again and told him to find Davies.”

“Who’s Davies?”

“Danny’s attorney.”

“He’s dead,” Kyle stated matter-of-factly.

“I told him that, and he didn’t believe me.” She shook her head. “I told him to look up the obituaries on his phone.”

“Did he?” Brody asked.

“Yeah, and when he saw I was right, he got really angry.”

“What did he do?”

She rubbed her temple. “He beat me up a little, I think. I can’t remember the exact order of things, but I know he kicked me in the side.”

Jax sat forward and leaned his elbows on the table. “Then what happened?”

She didn’t speak for a moment, and Jax looked over her head at Striker before giving her his attention again. “I know this is hard, Beth, but it’s important we know.”

“Why?” she asked softly.

“Because Skinner wasn’t the only player,” Cam explained. “There’s another one. The one responsible for poisoning you is still out there.”

Beth nodded. “I think that’s who he was talking to on the phone.”

“Good,” Cam said. “IT has that phone and is unlocking it as we speak.”

“I could’ve done that.” Kyle shrugged. “A hell of a lot faster.”

“And illegally,” Cam reminded him.

Kyle smirked. “I’m still faster.”

Cam exhaled heavily and faced Beth again, but I couldn’t contain my grin. Kyle was not afraid to use his skills or to brag about them. “Can you go on?”

She glanced over her shoulder at Striker before facing Cam again. “He told me I was going to pay for Danny’s lies and forced me to my knees. He said he always made the girls look him in the eye when they paid their dues, and I would too. He also told me that Danny refused to let anyone touch me, which I thought was odd. Then he said he was going to have some fun before he sliced me up. I knew he wasn’t kidding because the girls used to tell me stories about what they heard, and his weapon of choice was usually a knife.”

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