Page 45 of Hyde

Heading down the hallway with the plan to head out the backdoor, I’m thwarted when Flint opens the door to Jasper’s office and blocks my path.

“We’d like a word with you,” he says, waving me inside. My jaw drops since I’ve never been in this office before. I look around it in awe until I sink into the chair that Jasper indicates.

“Once they’re finished,” Jasper says, briefly looking at a monitor that’s sitting off to his right. “I’ll approve Hyde’s request to take you as his Ol’ Lady—if that’s what you want?”

“Of course I do!” I instantly reply, then grimace at the tone of voice I used with him.

Flint clicks his tongue once, reminding me that my attitude might fly with my parents—on rare occasions—but not here.

“A few years back, Ruth referred to you as an ‘old soul’. Since I considered your mother to be one when she was your age, I never viewed you in any other light,” Jasper says, leveling me with the look he usually reserves for his children. “Now, we’re going to have to put that to the test.”

After delivering that, rather incomplete thought, he sits back in his chair. I have no idea what he’s trying to get at, or wants me to say, so I look at Flint, wondering if he’ll give me a hint.

“Put what to the test?” I ask after a moment of waiting for either of them to continue.

“We need you to keep your eyes and ears open,” Jasper finally continues. “Vector didn’t tell anyone you were being shipped out there. Neither did Flint, your parents, nor I. That leaves Parkstelling someone where he was heading, and whoever it was, they decided to talk to the Navaja.”

“When he flies, doesn’t he have to tell someone where he’s going?” I ask him, figuring that the cartel hacked some system.

“Yes. And the flight plan that he filed had him arriving a couple hundred miles past where you did land. And their minions were waiting for you,” Flint answers my question this time. “We’re just asking that you pay attention to anyone with extra money, or who’s nosing around. If something seems off to you, let Hyde know and we’ll look into it.”

“I thought everything was alright now? That it was safe for me to come back?”

“We have an understanding with the Navaja, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t looking to expand into new territories. They promised us your safety in exchange for the bag you found. By the time the meeting took place, Trinity had already fessed up to lying about you so they didn’t really care about anything other than recovering as much as they could.”

With those few sentences, Jasper tells me more about club business than I have ever heard in my life. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask why they’re sharing so much with me, but I don’t. They don’t seem to think my part in this is over.

I don’t know what exactly is going on, but Joe’s my Old Man now—I’ll discuss it with him.

“Is Trinity still alive?” I pause, trying to figure out how to ask a question they probably don’t want to answer.

“Yes, but we don’t have a clear answer about her connection to them,” Jasper says, while his eyes study me, cataloging my reaction to his words.

Without hesitation, I tilt my head to the side and blurt out my thoughts on the topic, “I love Molly. I really do, but isn’t there a modern-day version of Siberia that we can send Trinity to?”

“I think Siberia is still the ‘Siberian’ option. And, no,” Jasper replies with a smirk.

I can’t keep in the grunt that escapes me, but as Jasper’s eyes have floated back to the monitor I can’t see, I understand that our meeting is about over.

“Tabby should be arriving any moment and the front door will be unlocked,” Jasper tells me as Flint circles around the desk to look at screen. “So you don’t have to bother sneaking out of the back.”

Taking that as the dismissal it is, I stand up and reach for the door, eager to get back to Joe.

“And take it easy on your mom,” Flint calls out. “She’s always had your back.”

The words I so carelessly flung at my mom hit me hard. I nod once, not turning around as I race to get back to Joe.

Hyde

My brothers and I used to sit around, laughing and bullshitting about made-up scenarios regarding what would happen to any poor idiot who dared to ask Gunner’s daughter out; let alonesticking their hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. In short, I have no doubt about what’s about to happen.

Watching Xander carry his sister off, I can’t help but smile. I was almost right when I said he’d be taller than me the next time I saw him. Granted, I’ve still got an inch or so on him, but I’m sure he’ll be taller than me by the time he’s his sister’s age.

I turn from seeing the door close behind my Ol’ Lady and her family, to catch Gunner’s fist connecting with my cheek bone.

“How doyoulike sucker punches?” he growls at me.

The fact that I’m still on my feet tells me that he didn’t put his full force behind the blow. Rounding on him, I put my arms up, knowing how screwed I’ll be when he stops pulling punches.

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