Page 153 of Break Out

I stared at him in the dim lamp light. “You heard wrong. No, I don’t have a problem with oatmeal, just when it becomes a color. That’s wrong.”

“I’m taking a lawyer with me, sweetheart. It should be fine.”

“Why aren’t you more certain?”

He blew out a sigh. “All of our chapters were facing similar issues, but not with as much intensity as us. I don’t know that this ‘questioning’ isn’t to figure out if I gave the order to do anything to other Corrupt Chrome chapters.”

“Okay, fine. But your new lawyer better pull their weight.”

He gave me a quick kiss. “They will.”

Chapter 29

Preference

Steel

Outside the Sheriff’s Office, Torque leaned against an electric pole, waiting for me. A light drizzle fell as I crossed the street toward him. I walked past him and in a few feet, he fell in step with me.

“New firm work out, okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, might even like that lawyer better. How did you know when I’d be done?”

“I didn’t.”

I shot him a quick glance. “You’re a little conspicuous standing across the street in the rain.”

He chuckled. “Just started drizzling when you came out. I like overcast days.”

“Besides checking in on the new law firm, is there a reason you’re here?”

“Shark couldn’t get a hold of you. He spent all of last night being questioned about the Corrupt Chrome clubhouse fire.”

“And?”

“They believe his story. Vegas Metro brought in a drug dealer that had double-crossed Corrupt Chrome a few months back.”

Shark had told me about that dealer. The plan was to set him up to take the fall.

“Have we heard from the other chapters?” I asked.

He jerked his head toward a small sandwich shop and I followed him inside. “The other cities are good, but Raleigh and Miami have some issues.”

I nodded. “Heard about those this morning. Axe and Link shared their plans to resolve the issues.”

“Did Axe mention anything about cleaning up?” Torque asked in a low voice, while we stood in line to place our orders.

Axe, the president of the Raleigh chapter, had wanted us to get out of drugs five years ago. At the time, he couldn’t convince anyone else to get on board with giving up drug-running.

The man in front of us paid for his order and moved aside. I ordered bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and coffee for me and Torque, paid, and we wandered to a booth.

When Torque sat down, I said, “Yeah, I heard from Axe. Seems Link wants to clean things up in Miami, too. I almost wonder if they spoke to one another, but as messy as shit was in Florida, I can see Link changing his mind.”

Torque’s face twisted with a strange look. Our order number was called and he slid out of the booth to grab our food.

He returned, unwrapped his sandwich, and locked eyes with me. “Why do you sound like you want to clean things up?”

I lifted a shoulder. “We’ve made money in drugs, but… it’s the riskiest thing we do. The smart thing would be to take that money and bankroll something else. Ideally, something legal.”

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