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“Yeah,” Chip said. “Speedball threw an epic fucking party for Matt. I think to keep the grunts out of trouble. It worked, too. That kid is crafty as shit. I don’t know how he scores half the stuff he does.”
He certainly did seem crafty. Kenny Longmire had managed to wrap Matt nice and tightly around his little finger. Speedball called and Matt went running.
Not that I was jealous. Because I wasn’t. Most likely, it was exactly as Chip had said. It was a familial relationship. Because no matter what I thought of the scumbags in the cartel, or what I knew Matt had had to do while undercover, I didn’t believe he would ever take advantage of a kid in Kenny’s position.
At least, that’s what I told myself. But the truth was, it was entirely possible that Matt was sleeping with Kenny. He was out there night after night, tangled in crime and violence. I couldn’t blame him if he took solace in the only person he thought was decent in his corner of the cartel.
And as much as he and I might flirt on the phone, it wasn’t as if there were a chance of any physical connection between us. Four years is a long time for a man to go without some kind of affection. So if Matt found that with Kenny, I was going to have to live with it and get over it. I had no claim to the man.
“Is Eddie back?” I asked Chip.
“Tomorrow I think,” Chip said. “You want me to put eyes on him?”
“I’ll take care of it,” I said. “Thanks for coming in.”
Chip jumped to his feet and nodded before hurrying out of the office and closing the door behind himself.
I moved to lay down on the sofa and blew out a sigh as I stared at the ceiling. There was just no way I was going to be able to get Kenny out. I hated having to let Matt down, but there were just too many eyes on that particular grunt. He was infamous and extracting him would be damned near impossible without raising suspicion.
But there was at least one thing I was able to do for Matt. Maybe it was time for him to meet me face to face. Time for him to learn the whole truth about our situation.
I just hoped he wouldn’t hate me for the decisions I’d had to make and the secrets I’d had to keep.
Chapter Six
~Matt~
“Smart move, keeping them too high to cause trouble,” Eddie said, clapping me on the back. “Come on in. We need to talk.”
I followed him toward his desk, dropping into one of the chairs facing him as he sat across from me.
Last time he’d told me we needed to talk, I’d gotten promoted. I knew that wasn’t about to happen again, and it made my gut clench with fear. I’d hoped that when I became a Knight, I’d spend less time out in the field committing crime and more time…I didn’t even know what. But Eddie and George, the last Knight of Detroit, never seemed to have to break into police stations or push drugs out onto the street personally.
“What’s up?” I asked, hoping I sounded casual and not as anxious as I felt.
“I’ve got a girl, out in Chicago. And I’m petitioning Prince G to let me move west.”
“Oh!” I exhaled a small chuckle. “That’s great, man. So, you’ll just run things from across the lake?”
“Hopefully,” he agreed. “But I’ll need to lean on you a lot harder than I leaned on George.” He shook his head. “That fucker. I never did trust him.”
When George got busted by the local PD with a stolen car, it came out that he’d been boosting and selling on the side for years, right under the cartel’s nose. He was probably lucky he was doing ten years in Jackson County, because I had a feeling the GSD would have just killed him.
The one hard and fast rule was that any money we made was cartel money. Period. And George had made a pretty penny stealing cars and chopping parts.
“Well, you know I’ve got your back, Eddie,” I assured him. “Whatever you need. I’m here.”
“That’s good,” he said, nodding slowly. “You got plans tonight?”
“Do I ever have anything better to do than hang out with you?” I teased.
“Right.” Eddie grinned and stood up. “Well, let’s get to it.”
I followed him out of his office and down the stairs into the warehouse proper. When we hit the ground floor, he kept going, walking past the grunts who appeared to still be recovering from the all-expenses paid bender Speedball and I’d given them while Eddie was out of town.
“Where’re we going?” I asked, confused as he led me out of the building toward his car.
“Field trip,” he said. “Get in.”
