Page 30 of Karma
Confused, she turns and leans her back against the driver’s door. “What?”
“You can’t tell anyone. Only those of us there that night know the truth. I wasn’t the one who killed Autumn.”
“Who did?”
“Rocco.”
If her eyebrows could fit any higher on her forehead, Felicity would lose them in her hairline. “What?”
Glancing at her, Lex nods. “He killed her. It was quick. He blamed himself, and the truth is, I don’t think Autumn was ever meant for the club. I regret helping Rocco get her to go out with him. If I hadn’t, maybe she’d be alive and happy somewhere right now.”
Lex played matchmaker for both Rocco and Ky in high school. Felicity never planned to get together with a biker, but Lex made it happen. Same with Rocco and Autumn. It’s not Lex’s fault, but Felicity knows she feels guilt about it considering everything that happened.”
“I didn’t know he had the balls,” Felicity admits. “Not that I’ve really thought too much about it. I can’t imagine any of the others having to kill their old lady.”
“Their relationship was over a long time ago, but neither had the strength to walk away. He cheated on her, and she despised the club for it. He loved her, but he didn’t love her enough. He was selfish. Back when he realized he couldn’t give her what she wanted, he should have let her go. He admits it, too. If he had, things would be so different right now.”
“Not really something you can talk to your therapist about, huh?”
Snorting, she shrugs her left shoulder. “I stopped going. There’s too much I can’t talk about, but at least I’ve learned enough to know that I can’t make VP love me. Nothing I do will be good enough, and I need to accept it.”
“I’m sorry, Lex.”
“Promise me something, Felicity,” she says, finally turning to fully look at Felicity. “When Phillip gets me, or… a fucking bus runs me over tomorrow… Promise me that you will help take care of Colt and the kids. Make sure he knows it’s okay to move on.”
The words feel like ice poured down the back of her shirt. Venom and Shep aren’t far away, and she wants to holler at them for help. To make them take Lex home and put her in a locked room no one else can get into until they find Phillip.
“Lex—”
“He’s going to kill me. Then he’s going to kill Zane, and then himself. It won’t stop until we’re dead.”
“Then we kill him before he kills you.”
Looking back out the window, Lex chuckles with no humor. “He’s spent decades watching me based on his creepy Lex wallpaper. He hasn’t killed since Nina while he decides what to do next. He came to Griffin’s Beach without setting off Brock’s alerts. His level of crazy is beyond anything we can anticipate or fight against.”
“Lex—”
“There she is,” she interrupts. “We came here for a reason, right?”
I don’t have any counter to what you’ve said, but I don’t want to think about your death, Lex. And I sure as hell don’t want to know what Colt will be like if anything happens to you. What any of us will be like.
Felicity puts the car into gear and slowly pulls out of the space to follow Emme to a row of condos a few blocks away. They didn’t want to bother Brock with everything else going on, and Gavin never went to Emme’s house.
“Damn, she must make decent money to live in one of these.”
“I don’t think we can assume it’s all from the restaurant based on what Gavin shared.”
Climbing out of the car, they hurry to meet Emme before she can reach her front door. All lights are off, and Lex blocks the path up to the porch. The motorcycles idle not far away, and Felicity can only imagine the show Venom and Shep are looking forward to.
“What are you doing here?” Emme asks.
Blonde hair pulled away from her face in a messy ponytail, Felicity wonders if maybe Lex’s half-brother would do them a favor and just take this woman out of the equation.
Her button-down shirt is unbuttoned damn near to her navel, and the pushup bra she wears has her nearly overflowing the cups. She looks like she’d be better working at a place likeTwin PeaksorHootersthan a hotel bar.
“You made a threat to my daughter,” Lex says with a smile that looks sweet, but the sinister look of her blue eyes screams danger. “I don’t take that lightly.”
“You’re not a mother, Emme,” Felicity says from behind the woman. “If you were, you’d understand that you never, ever mess with a mama bear. And Lex is the most vicious mama bear you could ever encounter. Including real, live bears.”
