Page 65 of Blue-Eyed Jacks
“Not my fucking idea,” Smoke grumbled.
The hooker, Tina, talked over him.“Shock’s been trying to pay us for info on you about Kate.”
“Trying or succeeding?”
Her eyes hit the floor.Just like I thought.
“And?”
She rallied.“And sending the rest of them home before laying down the law was a mistake.”
I motioned for Smoke to let her go.There were red marks on her upper arm.Luckily, they faded quickly, otherwise I might have lost track of the conversation.“Sweetheart, Shock’s going to find out sooner or later.It wasn’t a mistake.If I wanted to hide Kate, I would have.”
Her mouth softened.“What about the other girl?”
My eyes flicked to Smoke’s.He wasn’t the right man for this.I needed Wolf or someone brutal standing behind her.But apparently, Smoke saw enough in that quick glance to grab her by both arms and demanded.“What other girl?”
He squeezed her biceps until she winced.
I repeated his words, “What other girl?”Mine was kinder, good cop, bad cop, except of the two, I wasn’t the good cop at all.
“Is she Shock’s daughter?”
I laughed.My brothers laughed.Smoke let go of Tina and waited as I got it out of my system.Finally, I wiped the moisture gathered at the corner of my eye.“Tina, you can tell Shock yourself that the other girl is my daughter.Mine.No doubt whatsoever.And if he wants to come fuck with what’s mine, or what he lost?He’s a dead man.Got it?”
Her face blanched slightly.“Are you serious?”
“Everybody keeps asking me that.And I’ll tell you what I told them.Yeah.I’m one hundred percent serious about this.She’s mine.Her mother’s mine.”
Tina’s eyes dropped again but flickered up with a tilt I could read a mile away.“But is she on board with this?Or is she just using you like she used Shock?”
That’s what she thought this was?
I lifted her head by the chin and got real close so she’d hear me loud and clear.“Pack your things.You can tell Shock in person.And after you’re done ratting on us?Don’t come back.”
She scrambled to the door.I made Smoke confirm she was gone.
“What’s this?You got an ol’ lady and we can’t fuck anymore?”Baldy stuck his ugly mug in my face.
Sprout was right, damn him.“While Kate or Zoe is here, you keep that shit out of sight.I’m moving them tomorrow.”
I flicked a nod toward Sprout to make it happen.As much as I dreaded the danger they’d be in, tucking them into a brand new show model house in the fancier suburbs we were building was the right thing for the club.And since they’d lived in squalor for so long, it would be fitting for me to give them luxury finally.At least until the hammer fell, and I was dead.Then they’d get it all.That had to be better than a junkyard and a death sentence.Although it was debatable if the latter ended with my demise.
Tina wasn’t the only hooker in our corral on Shock’s payroll.I could feel it.Which meant I needed to perform damage control, fast.
On the way up the stairs, I dialed Nonno.Big G was on my list, but not immediately.He wouldn’t give two shits about Shock’s complaints.But Nonno had to listen.That was his job.
Loud music blared through the phone’s speaker.“I’m busy Jackson.”
A good fisherman knows bait.“Too busy for an apology?”
There was a moment I thought he’d hung up on me.I waited at the top of the stairs to give him time to speak.
“What kind of stupid do you take me for?”
“I don’t.You wouldn’t be where you’re at by being stupid.”Just greedy, which, as a character flaw, he had in abundance.
“Shock told me what you did.”
