Page 42 of We Are All Sinners

He chuckles, and she takes it as a joke laughing with him, but deep down, he means it.

“We have lunch with Alec at one to discuss some important business in the quarter. Noah, are you going to be able to make the meeting?” Liam asks, looking amused, watching Noah swoon over this girl almost as if he is under a spell.

Liam looks happy and relaxed with his arm draped around Emily’s chair, which is not his usual broody self, looking for his next adrenalin rush.

“Yeah man, wouldn’t miss it.” Noah replies, still smiling at Lily, not bothering to tear his eyes away from her.

“I’m going to go shower and attempt to get a little work done before we have to head out.” I say as I get up and take my coffee cup to the sink. I say bye to the girls and head upstairs.

I’m glad we are getting closer to knowing more about Mark Boudreaux. I know if Evie is going to get past all of the bullshit surrounding her birth parents, she needs to know what happens to them.

I may not be able to hand Mark over to her, but if the Saints are already putting a bounty on his head, it won’t be long before he is caught.

I rush through my shower and get dressed for lunch thinking of all the things I have looked up about Mark and the woman he gave up his daughter for. No one knows her real name for sure. Saints, no doubt, are protecting her.

The question is, who?

I open the email from Alec confirming lunch today at Mamou off Rampart St. at one.

I remember Alec from when we were all kids, but he is a few years younger than us, so we never paid him much attention. He has done well for himself. Not that he had any choice in the matter.

We do what we are brought up to do and become the men they expect us to be, then pass down the torch to future generations as our fathers have to us. The cycle just continues forever.

That’s why this meeting with Alec is so important, not just for my little witch’s sanity, but for the Saints as a whole. Our fathers have tried to make things better since we were all born. They ended the one son in and one son out rule. That’s why none of us have siblings. They refused to ever have to make that choice. That little experiment went on for over ten years. We have to continue changing the Saints way of thinking.

Alec will be answering to us soon enough. We need to make sure we are all on the same page when it comes to the trafficking and the treatment of the women and young girls, whether born or brought into our organization, have to endure.

The times have changed, and so has the mentality of the Saints over the last thirty years. That’s why places like my clubs need to be in every major city the Saints are in. Pets are no longer going to be an option. They are going to need an outlet. This shit ends with us. We all made the pact when we were told we would be expected to produce heirs.

I think about how our fathers tried to bring us up, but it just never stuck. Darius always had his pets on the side, my pops did after mom died, but he treated them very well.

I can honestly say I have never fucked a pet and never would. The pet my pops got me for my twenty first birthday got a thousand dollars from me and put in an uber back home.

When I fuck someone, it’s because they want me to, and because I want to. I would never force any woman to do anything that she wasn’t willing to do.

My mother would come back from the dead and kill me if I even thought about it.

My dad loved my mom, he was faithful up until about a year after she died. His friends had told him to move on, but he didn’t. I finally told him it was okay, and that mom would understand.

The next week he had two blonde women naked in the kitchen. That was Pops from then until he died, always fucking a blonde somewhere inappropriate. He would tell me to fuck for fun until I found the love of my life, then fuck her like your life depends on it.

“I don’t understand why we can’t just tell them to hand over Boudreaux once he is brought in. We are the head of the Saints; we can do whatever we want.” Noah huffs as he turns onto Rampart St., looking for a parking spot close to the restaurant.

“Because our dad isn’t dead, he is thriving, and we haven’t technically taken over anything yet. He wants us to go through Alec, so that’s what we are going to do… For now.” Liam explains, back to being his broody dickhead self.

“Alec knows we are going to be taking over, but he has no idea when, just like us. Right now, he is the one calling all the shots with this whole operation. He has his reasons. He answers to Devereaux, for now. Their line is crumbling and with us coming back to New Orleans, the power shifts again. This meeting is to get as much information on the Devereaux’s and their connections with Boudreaux and the Queen. It’s to figure out if they are in fact part of the sex trafficking ring or not.” I try to help Noah see the bigger picture.

“I get it. It just sucks that we have to go through all the motions.” Noah sighs.

We finally find a parking spot and head into the bougie restaurant. Alec made sure to pick a place that shows his status without being over the top. It’s a nice place, but I prefer more secluded hole in the wall places when conducting Saint business.

He wants everyone to see us together. He likes the influence he will gain from this meeting.

The hostess takes us to a table in the back where a very tall, lean, clean-cut, blonde guy in an impeccable suite sits. He stares at his phone resting in his hand, not paying attention to us walking up to the table.

“Alec, nice to see you again.” Noah startles the poor guy, making him drop his phone.

We watch him scramble to pick it up off the floor before he stands up, putting his hand out to all of us. We shake his hand, exchanging pleasantries, and take our seats.

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