Page 50 of Sins

“Will you grab me my phone too? It’s on Dad’s desk,” she called.

“Yeah,” I tossed over my shoulder. “I just found your dark secret.” Candy wrappers half-filled the drawer, and I had to fish around through a sea of Twix bars before I finally found what I needed. “I think you have a sugar problem.”

I headed to Cameron’s office for her phone. “Damn door, it always sticks,” I growled, in a hurry to get back to Calli. Three good pulls, and I made it inside. “There you are.” I unplugged the phone and headed back down the hallway. “Cameron really needs a new door,” I complained as I reached to unzip my pants. As I rounded the corner, the phone dropped out of my hand.

“Calli!” I cupped my mouth and ran to her. Her throat gaped from a deep cut straight across from ear to ear. In shock, I stared, numb. Then I noticed a drawing on her arm, and a cold feeling washed over me. I recognized the mark of the Potens.

“What the hell!” Oh, my God! My mind spun and fired off in so many directions at once, but the biggest one was I needed to get out of there.

I stepped back and slipped in her blood. I tossed the stuff I held, grabbed my bag, and raced blindly out the front door. Before I got far, I was grabbed from behind, and I caught a glimpse of Morgan as his fist met my face.

I blacked out cold.

Words pushedtheir way through my head as I lay there, but I could barely make sense of them.

“How did you guys know he was at the office?”

“We were following him,” a man’s voice answered. “Have been for a few days now.” I gave up trying and slipped back into the comfort of the darkness.

Cold water hit me, and my mouth opened wide as I gasped desperately for air. My mind scrambled to understand what was happening. I was shot from the hell I had been in to the hell I now found myself in. It looked like a basement of a bar. Boxes of whiskey lined the walls, and as my vision cleared, my stomach dropped when I saw the Devil himself in front of me. I swallowed hard and blinked at Trigger’s stare. I looked around and realized the other members of the Devil’s Reach, as well as Grim and Jesse, all stood around me. Then I spotted Knox, who looked totally wrung out and pissed.

Shit.

Then it hit me. “I didn’t kill her,” I stammered through my fear. “One minute she was alive, and the next…” Tears came then, but I didn’t care. “I really cared for her. I’d never hurt her.”

“Seems real convenient that you just so happened to be there the moment she got killed,” Knox hissed from where he leaned against a pillar.

“It looks bad,” I agreed. “It really does, I know. It’s just that given everything that’s been happening lately, I needed to get away from the hotel. Cameron and I, we’re butting heads, and I…” I stopped and tried to pull myself together. “I loved her, Knox, just like you did.”

“If you loved her so much, why’d you run?” He raised a brow in that way you know shit isn’t going to end well. Grim did the same thing.

“It was a Potens kill.” I watched their faces, but nothing showed. “Meaning a hired hit.” I waited, and still nothing. “Meaning if they knew I was there, I’d be dead, too. I couldn’t risk it.”

Grim, who had been silent until then suddenly stepped up and grabbed a fistful of my hair and stared down at me. “Arms up,” he ordered, and I obeyed. I knew what he wanted to see. The tattoo. He pulled out his switchblade and cut a slit down the sleeves of my dress shirt. Then he used the point of his knife to pull apart the fabric to check. I had one tattoo that was a quote fromCatch-22.It read,Anything worth dying for…is certainly worth living for. Grim shook his head at Trigger.

“I had the chance to join them,” I confessed. “My cellmate, Kurt,” I glanced at Grim, “would have loved nothing more than to recruit me to the Potens. That was his job there, to bring people in. But I had zero desire to join any kind of group.” I stopped myself there; I didn’t need to run the risk of aggravating Trigger. “Kurt saw potential in me anyway and helped me get out of jail early. I just had to agree to work for a hot-shot lawyer, and by that, I mean Cameron. I had to keep an eye on him for them.”

“You went to jail for murder,” Morgan grunted. “You don’t get off somethin’ like that.”

“No?” I pushed my glasses up my nose. “I’ve seen miracles happen with the MC world when they’re put behind bars, so let’s not pretend money doesn’t mean something in that system.”

“Morgan?” Trigger said.

“Records are sealed on the murder,” Morgan said over his shoulder, “but I’m still working on it.”

Allen had done a good job to make sure he was in no way connected to the dead body in my kitchen. I had no doubt he’d managed to get the record of the whole thing wiped or at least sealed up tight. He’d been a sorry excuse as an MC President, but he’d had power, at least until, from what I heard, Trigger murdered him. His own father.

“That’s where I met Calli,” I went on. “It sure beat working in construction.” I glanced at Brick and knew it was time. “I found him, your brother.”

Brick turned to me, and something raw raced over his face. “Where?”

“Here, Vegas. It took some digging, but he’s here if you want to meet him.”

Brick looked across the room, and that was when I saw Minnie next to Tess. Christ, I hadn’t even seen them until now.

“You get one chance,” Trigger warned, and I swallowed hard as his huge body suddenly loomed over me. “Let’s go.”

“There’s just one thing, Brick.” I squeezed one eye shut, and I felt the pain of Morgan’s punch. “I have to warn you about something.”

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