Page 145 of Break Out

Hearing Simone’s soft ‘Hey, honey,’ gutted me. Hell, it gutted Volt and Jackie, too. I thought Jackie would lose her shit and give it away that we were all in the same room, but she kept quiet.

I hated that Knuckles had the upper hand in setting the meet times.

Torque’s cell rang. “Durham, whatchugot?”

His eyes widened and a huge smile spread across his face. “Fuck, yeah! That’s great news!”

Volt’s dead-eyed stare was laced with cynicism.

I twisted my hands up at Torque.

He lowered his phone and put it on speaker. “Kendall, sweetheart. Tell Steel all that for us.”

“Durham had me give a private lap dance to a man named Flip. He asked how my day was going, and I said fine except for the asshole who parked a huge box truck behind my car in the parking lot. I’d wanted to grab lunch on my break, and I couldn’t because of it.”

“Yeah,” I drawled, not seeing the connection.

“He apologized because he said he drove that huge truck and needed to keep it out of sight from the main road.”

Torque grinned. “They got a shipment… how else are they gonna haul that shit?”

I nodded. “Where is Flip now, Kendall?”

Durham answered. “I led him to another room like you instructed earlier.”

He’d said that to keep Kendall from knowing exactly what was going on. “Good man. What about his buddies?”

Kendall answered. “Pump and Scar got a dance from Tessa. Before I led Flip to the back, I heard their other friend say he had to leave… something about ‘the less he knew the better’.”

“Kendall, you deserve a bonus,” Torque said.

“Promises, promises,” she muttered.

“This time he means it,” Durham said. “Go get ready for your next set.”

We heard the phone jostle and then Durham’s voice was no longer on speaker. “I got those assholes tied up in the back, but I’d rather get them inside that box truck, Prez.”

I nodded. “Yeah, but you’re better off with them in the back. Inside that truck, they could bang around and get attention before we’re ready to move.”

Volt waved a hand over the bar where we were seated. “I hate to interrupt, but how is this good news?”

I held a finger up. “I’ll answer in a minute. Durham, you got your CDL still, right?”

“Sure do.”

Torque tapped the bar with his finger. “If Croc’s there, he’s closing. You gotta drive that truck down to the river at ten.”

I lifted my chin. “But keep close tabs on their phones. I don’t know if Knuckles or one of his men are checking in with them regularly. If so, text back, don’t answer any calls.”

“Got it, Prez.”

Torque grabbed his phone off the bar.

I turned to Volt. “That’s great news because we’ll have three fewer Chrome members to deal with, and it’ll make it easier to get the drop on Knuckles if my men are posing as his men.”

“You’re gonna hold them at your strip club the whole time?” Blood asked.

“He doesn’t need to tell you what he’s gonna do with them,” Torque said.

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