Page 96 of Stella
“If I’m supposed to be your wife and part of this club, then you will show me. I’m not going to ask again.”
He takes a breath as he turns to Tag. Silently, Tag hands him an envelope. “I don’t see what you’ll get out of this,” Tag sighs. “It’s as bad as it sounds.”
She opens the envelope and looks through all the different photos of Cash, herself and Caprice. Some of them all together, some just Cash and Caprice, or Deanna and Caprice. It’s twisted and sickening.
She looks up, her face paling. “Cash, what is this?”
“I told you, we don’t know. Callaghan just got the photos today,” Cash says. “He knows about as much as we do.”
“But why would the pictures be sent to him?” I put in. “Why not directly to you?”
Cash runs a hand over his face. “That’s what we’re tryin’ to figure out.”
“None of this is good,” Deanna sounds panicked, and rightly so. “They have pictures of our daughter! At school, for fuck’s sake!”
Cash places his hands on Deanna’s shoulders, and when her eyes don’t meet his, he tips her chin up, so she has no choice but to look at him. “I’m handling it. You trust me, don’t you?”
“Of course I trust you,” she breathes. “But you have to admit that this is pretty freaking scary right now.”
“Breathe, D,” Manny says. “We've got your back.”
“We’ve been through a lot over the last five years,a lot. We’ve survived multiple kidnappings, death threats, stabbings, gunshot wounds, trafficking, cartels, and so much more. Whoever this person is? I’m gonna find them. Do you hear me?” He shakes her ever so slightly, his eyes fierce. “I will find them, and I will end them or anyone who tries to hurt my family or anybody in this club.”
For the most part, Cash is pretty easygoing. I don’t have a bad thing to say about the man because he’s been one of my dad’s best friends since before I was born. My dad doesn’t just hang with anyone, nor join their club, if they’re not a stand-up guy. And I respect that. Sure, Cash can be pretty scary at times himself, make no mistake, but he’s just doing his job to keep this club in order. It’s not an easy task. It’s certainly not a job that doesn’t involve very careful consideration, especially when other people’s lives are at stake.
These photos? They’re downright creepy. And it’s fairly obvious these aren’t just holiday snaps. Clearly it’s a scare tactic, and if so? It’s fucking working. I’ve never seen Deanna so distraught. When it’s your kids — everything else fails by comparison.
“Nothin’ and nobody is gonna get through the walls of this clubhouse,” Tag reiterates. “Or anywhere else for that matter. We’ve got this, no matter what, we’ll be ready for anyone who thinks they can do this fucked up shit.”
Deanna dabs her eyes, but then straightens her spine. She’s the prez’s ol’ lady. Someone we all look up to, and not just the women of the club. “But that’s just the thing. None of you can be everywhere all the time.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Tag says. “We’re already makin’ plans. Not lockdown so much, but extra security. The Nomad brothers, plus Sawyer and all the members on double duty. No stone will be left unturned, even if we have to get information out of Callaghan the old-fashioned way.”
Of course, the club already has a plan in place. I feel my palms sweating a little; while I don’t condone any kind of threat to the club, I kinda live for this kind of thing. The adrenaline. And I can’t say that I feel pity for the idiot who decided to threaten the NOLA Rebels. This person clearly has a death wish.
Then, an idea strikes me. “What if I try with Callaghan?” I blurt.
All eyes turned to face me, Manny’s eyebrows piquing. He knows the truth of what’s been going on, and by the look on his face, he clearly thinks I’ve gone crazy.
“Like question him?” Manny’s voice is an octave higher than usual. “Persuade him with your charms?”
“Well, sorry to say it, but sometimes you guys have a heavy-handed way of going about things,” I say. “And I’ve already gotten information out of people before, without resorting to anything crazy like feeding the alligators.”
“Great idea.” Tag rolls his eyes. “Send H’s kid into the police station to seduce Callaghan, I’m sure he’d be the first one to agree.”
My cheeks flush. “Not seduce him,” I say. “But he might tell me something he won’t tell you.”
“I sincerely doubt that.” Cash shakes his head. “He’s been sniffin’ around this club for years, the last thing we want is him g’ any information out of you, which inevitably is what would end up happening.”
“What do you mean?” I can’t help but sound a little petulant. “I would never tell Callaghan anything to do with this club.” That part is true. Even though we’re sleeping together, I’d never divulge anything to him. I barely know what goes on in this club anyway because prospects get zero say in anything, and we’re the last to know anything. Even ol’ ladies hear about what the club is doing next before us.
“He’s not saying that, are you, Cash?” Manny chimes. “It’s just that he’s a detective, and he has a way of gaining information without you probably even realizing.”
I shake my head. Adamant. “No. I’m not dumb. My dad raised me right. I just have this way of being able to get people tospeak the truth. I want to help. He knows more than he’s letting on.”
“Using your body and flirtin’ with the enemy isn’t a tactic that’s required to be a prospect.” Cash frowns at the very idea. “I won’t subject you to that.’
Little does Cash know, that won’t be a hardship one iota.
