Page 51 of Live Love Steal
“Alibi covered, what other trouble did you get into?” Wolf asked.
Like any of this was my fault? Well… aside from trying to do something nice for Isobel, which shouldn’t count because if Whoosh had just taken the right car, none of this would have snowballed like it did.
Jackson tapped on his fingers. “Whoosh’ll get credit for one kill, you the other. Good work, except next time, maybe dispose of, or make the bodies disappear, okay? There was a dumpster right there.”
That’s what he was most concerned with?
Wolf was a bit more circumspect. “You got an alibi. Whoosh will have been here all night. Bear, would you pass that along?”
Bear nodded.
“Is our dealer good?”
Our? Both Wolf and I stared at Jackson. It was his decision we stay in the drug trafficking business even after the club had enough businesses and assets to keep going without it.
“What? Do you forget who I am?”
Christ. Sometimes, I forgot he was Wolf’s Boss now and ran the region. It was still too new. And him being here bossing people around wasn’t any different than before, so many of us still called him Boss. He was just a bit higher of one. “He’s good. Threatened to kill Whoosh for not having his product, but I fixed that.”
“Excellent. One of the gang members saw you and Whoosh, right?”
I nodded. That was a problem.
“Bear? We need to return his ID to him.” Jackson winked as he said it.
If it wasn’t so deadly serious, I’d laugh. Bear and visits usually didn’t go well.
“Take Griz with you,” Wolf ordered.
And with that, there likely would be no witnesses left. I breathed a little easier, except for one thing.
“And Isobel?”
“She’s gold in my book,” Bear grunted.
“I thought you two hated each other?” Wolf had picked up on their bickering earlier.
“She’s ballsy enough to poke a bear, and can sip whiskey with him while doing it. If Sketch hadn’t fucked her first, I might consider making a play.”
If he did, he was a dead man.
He pointed a finger at me. “You got it bad, sucker.”
I sent him a non-verbal “fuck you” with my middle finger.
Jackson clapped his hands together. “Done and dusted. Time to party.” It was always time to party with him. Bear led the parade out the door. Jackson lingered for a moment when he saw Isobel sitting with Smoke. He bent slightly at the waist and held out his hand as he introduced himself. “Name’s Jackson, yours?”
As if he didn’t know.
“Isobel.” She shot me a look of panic. I sent her a slight nod, indicating he was mostly harmless. She held out a hand to shake his. Of course, he turned it over and kissed the back of it. My fists curled. If that son of a bitch…
He grinned at her, then helped her up from the couch. “Sketch over there has good taste.” He dropped her hand and exited with Bear in tow.
Wolf hesitated just long enough to acknowledge Isobel. “One drink at the bar before you two leave. I want to make sure everyone sees you.”
After he left, Isobel looked at me with desperation in her eyes and one hand over her stomach. “No more whiskey, please?”
“No whiskey. I promise.”
