Page 37 of Nikolai (Kansas City Reapers)

“Let’s hear it, then.” Deacon motioned for me to continue. I sighed heavily and nodded.

“Well, word on the street is that this fucker has already come up with an alibi for his whereabouts on the night in question.”

“I hear voices. Am I missing a party?” Sully’s voice boomed from the doorway, followed by a quick knock before he barged into the room.

“Not a party, just a discussion,” Deacon said with a smirk.

“Fantastic. Fill me in. What are we talking about? Maddy and Niko’s sexcapades the other night? ‘Cuz, Bro! What a performance! Honestly, I’m impressed.” Quickly, I shushed the man. His booming voice was always louder than he realized. Hell, there was no way Maddyhadn’theard that comment from her room down the hall. I smacked my forehead in frustration.

“Tryto keep your voice down, Sully. And no, this isn’t about the mistake I made with Maddy.”

“Mistake? Dude, what are you talking about? The brat energy came off of you both in waves the other day. I’m surprised you both didn’t spontaneously combust before that romp-a-roo y’all had.”

“Honestly, it sounded like you were both pretty evenly matched.” He shook his head in confusion. As much as I wanted to believe his words, I could not allow myself to go down that road.

“Sully, it’s over. It should never have begun in the first place.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because this is business. But it’s over now, anyway. I let her know it was a one-time thing, and would not be happening again.”

“And she listened to you?” Sully asked with a chuckle of disbelief.

“Yeah, I find that hard to believe. What did she have to say when you told her?” Deacon chimed in, right as Jax knocked on the door.

“Did I miss the meeting memo?” Jax asked, popping his head in.

“Might as well join.” Deacon shrugged as Jax came in and made himself comfortable on the floor.

“So, what’s the scuttlebutt?” Jax inquired curiously, and Sully was all too willing to inform him of our discussions thus far. After finishing his all-too-animated recap, he turned back to me.

“So, back to what you were saying, Niko. What did she have to say when you told her it was a one-time thing?” Sully repeated Deacon’s previous question.

“She didn’t have anything to say.” I shrugged nonchalantly, evading the truth.

“I find that hard to believe,” Sully scoffed. “Maddy has something to say about just about everything. Speaking of, what’s up with her? She hasn’t come out of her room for more than a shower and food for two days now.”

“Hold up, she seriously had nothing to say?” Deacon asked in confusion, his fingers ceasing their absentminded strumming.

“Nope, she said nothing,” I responded simply.

“Or you didn’t give her a chance to,” Jax muttered under his breath. He’d seen right through my facade and, while I couldn’t fault him, I could still be pissed about it.

“So you just told her it was done, and then wouldn’tlet her get a word in?” Sully asked, a touch of anger marring his normal jovial tone.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I came in here to go over the new information from Quinn,” I sighed heavily with frustration.

“Quinn did some digging and found that the word on the street is that this Alexei Borovsky guy already has an alibi for the night of Maddy’s incident,” Deacon added, filling in Jax and Sully for me.

“Of course he does,” Sully scoffed derisively.

“It’s suspected that Mr. Borovsky is the leader of this Dom Krovi gang, and has been for a while. Historically speaking, many men in similar positions have built a network of cronies that will do their bidding and keep them safe as the kingpin of the whole operation. It’s quite common, and it becomes really difficult to catch men in that position. Often, if they ever get caught, it’s because they violate some lesser law, and they get put away for offenses far less damning than the true nature of their crimes. For example, Al Capone went to prison for tax evasion,” Jax added in that almost robotic way he did when prattling off information. It seemed there was no end to the man’s wealth of knowledge.

“I wish we could just make shit happen, like when we were on active duty,” Sully grumbled.

“No kidding,” Deacon echoed, picking up his guitar once more. It was a comforting diversion for him, I knew, but I had noticed the way he’d become more isolated and reserved these last few days, since Maddy’s arrival. I was worried about him. I made a mental note to check in with him one-on-one later in the day.

“We’d just take him out, stealth style,” Sully said, making superhero-like gestures with his large, bulky arms.

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