Page 98 of The Kings of Kearny

“You’re right,” I told him. “I do need to stop doing that. Speaking of which, how’d you know about Nick?”

“I looked through your Facebook friends and did a little digging on all the ones with prior military or law enforcement experience.”

“Yeah, but how’d you know I’d slept with him?”

“We live in a small world. I still have friends in the service, and I asked the right people the right questions.”

“But you didn’t know he’d asked me to work for him?”

Jakob sighed. “No. But I assumed.”

“And yet you still let me into Charley’s. Why? To make an example out of me?”

His laugh was humorless. “I’m not that fucked up. I let you into Charley’s because I saw the way you interacted with club members. You didn’t seem like the kind to rat us out, and I went with my gut.”

“Your gut is good,” I said, parroting his father from the other night.

“Don’t give me too much credit. Half of why I gave you a pass was because I was into you.”

“Into me?” I asked. He could have said, “because I wanted to sleep with you,” but he didn’t. His choice of words made it sound like he’d had a thing for me long before I’d had one for him, that it had been more than just sex for him since the very beginning.

“Yes, into you,” he bit out, sounding like this was a confession he didn’t want to make.

I nearly grinned, feeling that messed-up side of me come to attention. “Aw, you had a crush on me, and it took you three months to work up the courage to ask me out.”

“Stop it.”

“That is adorable, Jakob. I knew you were a softie deep down.”

“If I promise to go deep down on you when we get back, will you shut up?”

“No. You’re never living this down,” I said. “Anything else you want to confess while you’re at it?”

“Your parents came to town about a month ago.”

I wasn’t ready to hear that, and I tripped over my own feet and nearly face-planted onto the sidewalk.“What?”

“I drove them off before they could fuck up you or your Gran’s lives again.”

Jesus Christ. “Okay. That’s enough. I’m not sure how many more plot twists I can survive.”

He laughed. He actually laughed.

“How did you know they would fuck up our lives?” I asked. I couldn’t help myself.

“I saw their arrest history. I saw the child services complaints.”

“Oh,” I said, voice soft, thinking of that nice CS woman asking four-year-old me where my mommy had punched me.

“You seemed like you were doing pretty good, and I know firsthand how parents can wreck your life.” He was obviously talking about Liam.

“Why do you put up with him?” I asked.

“Because it’s better to stay close to him so I know what he’s up to. If I break off ties, he might snap. I might not see the next manipulation coming.”

Well, that explained that then. I felt stupid for ever thinking of him as a victim to his father.

“And because of Mom,” he added in a softer tone.

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