Page 80 of Property of Chaos

“Sure.” She heads for the door, bopping Jinx on the head as she passes.

He watches her leave before turning to me with a sly smile. “You know she’s gonna be a ball-breaker when she patches in.”

“She ain’t doing that.” I nod toward the stack of paperwork as I push to my feet. “Tell Fang to come find me as soon as he has details about Taylor. You seen Darko around lately?”

“He’s at the strip club.” Jinx stands with a sigh, tucking the paperwork under his arm. “He’s about as distracted as you are of late.”

“Not much else he can be doing.”

“Except this.” He lifts the documents briefly.

“And then what would you do with yourself, huh?” I bop his head, same as Selena, as I pass him heading for the door.

He catches a lock at the back of my head and tugs.

It’s the same petty shit we did as kids, and it twangs something in my heart that yearns for the safety of nostalgia. When everything made sense. And what didn’t wasn’t our problem.

“Where you going now?” The hesitation is evident in his voice.

He doesn’t know if I’ll tell him the truth, which worries him. “To see Andy about the barn.” Because if I’m keeping secrets, then who else is too? And if we’re all lying to one another, the fucking foundation of our club crumbles.

Same as it threatened to do when our fathers sat at the table.

“You seen your old man lately?” I ask as we cross through the main hangout.

“Why?”

I shrug. “Curious, is all. Talking about Mongrel made me realize you haven’t said anything about him for a while.”

“Because you’ve been too busy to share a drink and shoot the shit with me.” He hitches an eyebrow, hesitating outside the office door. “But yeah, I saw him last week. He asked how you were doing.”

“What did you say?”

“Said you were the same pig-headed asshole as always.”

I smile, nodding. “Bet you did.”

“He said I should kick your ass and remind you whose bitch you are.”

“Did he now?” I hitch an eyebrow.

Mongrel was always one for fists over words, but beatdowns between brothers went by the wayside in the nineties once the club realized they caused more harm than good. The original thought was that any brother seen placing himself above his peers would be swiftly brought down to earth and reminded that he was no more special than anyone else who wore the patch. But after years of infighting and secrecy, the heads at the table figured the acts of violence had the opposite effect on the club, inciting distrust and jealousy between men—a divide between those who’d been publicly humiliated and those who hadn’t.

“You think I’m getting too big for my boots?” I fold my arms and tilt my head to study his reaction.

Jinx wets his lips—the first tell I don’t like—and looks away.“Nah, man.”Liar.He shifts his attention back to me. “You need to be honest about where you are, is all.”

“You know where Highway is right now?” I test.

Jinx flexes his jaw. “Nope.”

“Crow?”

“Some idea, but not for sure.”

“Thought so.” I spin and head for my bike, already over his bullshit for another day.

Different strokes for different folks.

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