Page 22 of Finding Jeremy
If his boy was in there, he’d show him his finds, though it was more likely that he’d be in the auto shop office or the dispensary with River, since the place had been super busy all day. He hoped his eyes would light up when he saw what Gray had found for him, and honestly, that was all that he was focused on as he headed up the block, much to his detriment, when a hand landed on his arm, alerting him to the presence of someone he really didn’t want to have this close to him.
“Are you outside of your goddamned mind?” Gray snapped, shaking off his hand and shifting one of the book bags across his body so he could have one fist free if he needed it. “I’ve got nothing to say to you, Gerald. The only reason you’re still standing right now is that I’m on parole.”
“You might not have anything to say to me, but I’ve got a thing or two I need to say to you,” Gerald shot back.
“And I don’t want to hear it, especially if you’re going to offer up some bullshit apology, you fuckin’ rat.”
A pained look crossed Gerald’s face as he shook his head, lips pressed together in a narrow line, his expression turning grim in an instant.
“I wasn’t the rat,” Gerald snarled, keeping his voice low as Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Adalade approached them on their way up the block, clear plastic cups of lemonade in hand as they smiled at them.
Snorting, Gray glared at Gerald as soon as he’d returned the older lady’s smiles. “Tell that to someone who’ll actually believe you.”
“Was a time when those someones would have been you, Reggie, and Chaos, but all three of you have turned your backs on me.”
“With good, fuckin’ reason,” Gray snarled. “You sent my ass up the river, you son of a bitch. You just better consider yourself damn lucky that I’m not a fuckin’ snitch or your ass would have been right there beside me.”
“I appreciate that, brutha, but…”
“Don’t you fuckin’ call me that.”
“For fuck’s sake, Gray, I’d have done the time the same as you and kept my mouth shut if I’d been the one who got caught. You used to know that! I wasn’t the one who dimed you out to the cops and gave them the route you were taking. Just wanted to warn you to watch your back around Reggie and Chaos; only after what I saw at the fair I’m willing to bet that isn’t an option, what with the way you were fawning all over Chaos’s boy.”
Snorting, Gray narrowed his eyes at Gerald. “You really expect me to believe that one of the men who have had my back from the very beginning is the one who pointed the cops my way? I call bullshit, and weak bullshit at that. Walk away, Gerald, before I forget that popping you in the face would at best be considered public brawling, or at the very least assault, or is that what you’re counting on? You wanna send me back behind bars? Is that your game? What the fuck did I ever do to you?”
“Not a goddamn thing. All I’m trying to tell you is that I wasn’t the one who called the cops. Hell, the whole goddamn thing was my idea, remember? Why the hell would I fuck it up?”
“You tell me, and while you’re at it, do you wanna tell me why you think it was Chaos or Reggie? Why not, Wilson? I notice you haven’t thrown a drop of shade his way.”
“Because he was smart enough to get the fuck out of here and away from the MC before he wound up getting thrown under the bus the way we did.”
“If by getting out you mean he got a good job, got married, and created a new life for himself, then all I’ve got to say about that is that I’m happy for the brutha and hope he’s off living his life with his girl and a couple kids at this point,” Gray replied. “I’ve got no grudge against him for leaving. Not everyone was meant for the long ride, especially once they meet someone special.”
When Gerald threw up his hands, Gray saw it as the perfect opportunity to step around him and continue on his way to the shop, sure he was going to be late if the conversation went on any longer, not that he had anything more to say.
Seething, he strode down the block, good mood ruined by a lying piece of shit who had to have known that there was no way in seven hells he’d ever believe Chaos or Reggie had anything to do with what had happened to him.
Hell, they’d not only sat in the courthouse during his arraignment, but Chaos had also offered to go on the stand and perjure himself in order to give Gray an alibi rather than let him take the plea deal the district attorney had offered.
Tempting as it had been to try and fight it in court, Gray had feared everything unraveling, even with the MC’s attorney certain that he could spin enough doubt in the courtroom to get him off. If things had taken a hard turn south, Jeremy would have been left without his old man around to keep him in line during the height of his mischief-making, and if Reggie had gotten dragged down with them, then his kids would have grown up with their daddy behind bars, and they’d been way too young for that shit.
No. Gray keeping his mouth shut and taking the rap was the best thing he could have done for his club brothers.
Though there was no denying that he hadn’t been the only one involved with nothing to lose out of the five who’d been involved with the scheme that landed him in lockup. Gerald and Wilson had been as unattached at the time as Gray, and unlike Reggie and Chaos, neither had shown their faces in the courtroom nor at the prison once Gray had been incarcerated.
Son of a bitch.
Now there was doubt where he didn’t want there to be doubt. Not about Reggie and Chaos, but about Wilson, whose absence he hadn’t given much thought to considering the man had shared the news about his new job just days before they’d moved forward with the lucrative little plan Gerald had proposed to them.
Hell, Wilson had been the only one hesitant about it and had nearly backed out the night before, when they’d met one final time before putting the wheels in motion.
It made sense that he’d wanted to distance himself afterward with everything he’d had going for him. Which brought suspicion firmly back on Gerald, where it belonged, Gray told himself as he stepped through the open bay doors and into the shop to see Haven seated on the floor beside Loki-Bear, feeding bits of chicken to the huge German Shepherd.
“Wanna go take a look at a car with me when we get off tonight?” Haven asked as soon as he spotted him.
Gray thought about it for a few seconds and decided that looking at a potential derby car was way better than dwelling on the conversation he’d just had with Gerald.
“Yeah, I’m curious to get a look at the thing after the conversation we had the other night. You got a copy of the regulations from the derby organizers, right?”
