Page 61 of The Truths We Seek

I press my lips together and nod. “Yes, please. I know you don’t even think about me spending the money, but having my own money would make me feel a little more independent.”

“Consider it done,” he says, before kissing my hand. “Now let’s focus on the main attraction here. Presents!”

I open each gift carefully, thanking each of them as I go. There’s so much stuff. Hoodies, fluffy socks, jewelry, bags, art.

Once I’m done, my arms almost ache from it all. “Thank you, I feel officially spoiled. You’re all amazing.” I kiss each of them thoroughly, working myself up in a wondrous way, and when I pull back from the last with Meyer, he pulls me down onto his lap.

“You are welcome, but I have one more surprise for you, and this one… well, it’s a little different.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

HUNTER

“Are you sure?”

I’ve asked the same question like, four times, but the thought of Harper betraying us, betraying Meyer, is outlandish to me. I get that she isn’t exactly Quinn’s biggest fan, but to help Trent? It doesn’t seem like her style.

“That’s the name he gave me, and in the two weeks we’ve been questioning her, she hasn’t confirmed or denied, but I’m being nice.” Rory explains again, obviously frustrated at my disbelief. He turns to Meyer, who has been staring out the window for the last fifteen minutes since Rory started his update. “I think it’d be best if you spoke to her, Meyer.”

“You think she’ll tell me anything different?”

“Honestly? I don’t know, but she’s been in love with you for forever and a day. If she’s going to admit shit to anyone, it’s likely going to be you. And since we’re playing nice with her, my methods are kind of useless here.” He leans against the wall by the fireplace while I sit here, leaning forward, head cradled in my hands, trying to work out why the fuck Harper would betray us.

“Was her name the only one he gave you?” I ask Rory.

“So far. I know there are others, he said as much, but apparently he has a high pain tolerance. That, or he thinks dragging it out will hurt Quinn. Which it could. We don’t know who it is, so we don’t know if there’s something else going on.”

Meyer punches the drywall with a frustrated growl. “This is bullshit. How did we get to a place this fucking chaotic and out of order? Do we need to scale back and start over?”

His question is to Rory, which I’m glad for because I don’t have answers. Rory is the guy that looks after our guys, which is probably why he’s so pissed off about Trent, because it means people he hired are the people fucking with us. Not that it’s his fault, but he’ll be bearing the blame internally.

“I don’t think we need to start over, but I do need to get back to normal. This last year, shit has been sideways. Everything has been blowing up all at once and it’s possible I’ve missed shit going on.” He stuffs his hands in his pockets and I blow out a breath as I rack my brains as to what I can do to help.

He isn’t wrong, this last year has been insane. Even since before Quinn came into our lives, shit was already blowing up. Then I got distracted with Quinn, so my routine greasing of the wheels probably wasn’t as good as usual, then everyone got distracted with Quinn... and well, we need to get shit back in line.

“What can I do?” I ask them both. It’s no secret that Meyer is the brains, Rory is the brawn, and I’m the charm, but that means I need to be pointed in the right direction to get shit done. I’m not really the ideas guy.

“Start working your friends in the P.D. I want new checks done on everyone,” Meyer starts, running a hand through his hair. “I want new burners for everyone. Tapped and tracked. We’re going to need a tech team to stay on top of that, so we need people we trust. And if you can do the run down south this weekend so I can be here to try and deal with this shit with Harper?”

“I can do that,” I say, nodding. “I’ll check in with Mattie and Denton, get the checks started. Denton can probably figure out the burners and tech shit too, we both know he’s good for that. I might see if he knows someone who can help with keeping an eye on the tech shit too. Frees me up for the weekend, then I can be more hands-on with it when I’m back. Do you want me to speak to Yen about staying in Harper’s place indefinitely?”

“Yeah, do it.” Meyer agrees before turning to Rory. “I want you talking to the guys, see if we can’t figure out that way who the fuck was working with Trent. Give him a few days of the silent treatment, let him heal a bit before we go back at him. I need us focused for this run over the weekend.”

“You want me to go with Hunter?” Rory asks, and while some would feel offended, I know he just wants to have my back. We don’t do that petty bullshit here.

“You think you’ll need him?” Meyer asks.

I think about it for a second, but shake my head. “Can’t ever go wrong with more hands that we trust, but if he’s needed here, I can handle it.”

“Okay, Rory, go with, just in case. With us not knowing what’s happening in our fucking house right now, it’s better that we’re there just in case. And while you’re dealing with that bullshit, I’ll deal with Harper.” He drops into the chair opposite me and pinches the bridge of his nose. I swear I can practically feel the heartburn of his stress from all the way over here. Which is exactly why I try not to smile when he grabs the Pepto from the little cabinet on the table beside him and chugs it.

“Once this weekend is over, we need to wrap up this shit with Trent and get everything back in line. The Knights are sniffing around and with their power, it won’t take much to swallow us whole if we’re in disarray.”

For a moment, I wonder if that would be the worst thing. We have money, we have property, we have each other. Sometimes I think we keep doing this because it’s the only thing we’ve ever known... and for Meyer, because of his dad.

I shove the thought down because such blasphemy would likely see me in a noose. Doesn’t stop the niggle from being there now that I’ve thought it though.

Maybe I’ll talk to Meyer about it later. When it doesn’t feel like we’re on such a crumbling foundation. But the thought of a stress-free life with our girl, where all we need to focus on is her?

---