Page 36 of Savage

Oh wait, yes I can, it was me…last week.

“He has one of Mick’s key cards.”

There, that was the truth. No bullshit. Alessio had done his part in finding out who the head of the snake was after ID’ing the dealers in the alley. Mick Shaughnessy. This also conveniently allowed me to leave out the part where I stalked and met Cooper as Lachlan last week and then had sex with him in my Libertine garb.

“Mick? The dealer we’re after? How?” King demanded, and I was close to telling him that I was about to find out before I was summoned down here. But considering the tension in the air, I held back.

“I don’t know yet. I’m assuming he picked it up that night in the alley.”

“That explains one thing.” King drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “But not how he ended up here.”

Fuck.Couldn’t he just let that part go?

“He called me.”

“Oh, this just gets better and better.” Benoit swiveled in his seat to face me, a cheeky smile curving his lips. “How didthatcome about?”

“A quick internet search?” Theo snorted, knowing full well it wasn’t easy to find our numbers. “What did he type in?Masked Manhattan Hero?”

“He didn’t meet me in Manhattan, and I’m not a fucking hero.”

“Then how did he get your number?” King’s question was direct and left no room for me to skirt the edges this time.

“I gave it to him.” When King didn’t respond, I knew that was my cue to continue. Seemed I wasn’t getting out of this without confessingallmy secrets. “I wanted to make sure he was okay after what happened?—”

“Since when?” Lucien said, shaking his head. “Aren’t you usually the one who says less is more when it comes to targets?”

“He wasn’t a target.”

“Okay, even worse. Some innocent guy stumbles onto a drug deal and now you’re, what? Feeling guilty about laying out those fuckers in front of him?”

“I didn’t say that.” Even though I’d been thinking it. It was obvious Cooper had been affected by what he saw. His paranoia was at an all-time high, but then again it was clear now thatsomeone other than me was following him. “Look, he had a gun pointed at his head, saw things he shouldn’t have, and I wanted to make sure he didn’t do something stupid, like go to the cops.”

“And did he?” Shep asked.

“No. Because I gave him an alternative.”

“You.”

“That’s right. I’m in security, remember? The two guys that are assigned to trail you, they’re mine. But maybe I’ll have them look the other way if you keep acting like an uptight prick.”

King turned to his right, leveling Shep with ashut itlook before turning his attention back to me. “Continue.”

“I found a way to introduce myself as Lachlan, told him I was in security, and that if he ever needed me to call.” I left out that I’d done it mostly to see him again rather than thinking he might actually need my skills. “Something that proved favorable, I’d say, since we now have this.”

I pulled the key card from my wallet and handed it to Alessio, who inspected it. If anyone could pull any kind info off that thing, it was him.

“One of Mick’s guys must’ve tossed Cooper’s place looking for this,” I said. “It’s got to be important.”

“I agree, but that doesn’t mean I like the way you went about it. You brought a journalist into our midst. To a place where all of our secrets are locked up tight. If that ever were to be breached?—”

“It won’t be.”

“—I don’t need to tell you how catastrophic that would be. There’s a reason your brothers are pissed off with you right now.”

I glanced around the table at the men staring me down. All of us were guarding secrets, and had vowed to keep those secrets and uphold the bonds that Libertine asked of us when webecame heads of the organization. We’d essentially signed our lives over, and in return got to live the life of Kings.

By day, we ran with the elite, untouchable and more connected than anyone could ever imagine. But by night, we reveled in the darkness of our secrets, pulling strings that made the city bow to our whims.

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