“I need to notify my office.” Cash pulled his cell phone free and snapped pictures of the stacks of money.
Dev’s work here was done. Neither Cash nor Shanna noticed when he left the storage unit. He was back in biding his time mode. A yawn slipped free. Maybe he’d go nap in the truck while a million people tried to figure out how to get the money out of there without anyone else seeing.
Chapter 33
Dev scratched the side of his head as he held a burner phone to his ear, listening to Con-man update him on all the progress the club had made today. Per Con-man, his cut, necklace, and cell phone were still where he left them on the bar top all those hours ago. His brothers had made the decision to save that seat as his designated spot for whenever he showed at the clubhouse which was dumb with how often he was ever there anymore.
The chaotic sounds in the background were reminiscent of years gone by. Dev pursed his lips, kissing the top of Mae’s head, who sat in his lap, as he remembered the vibrance of the clubhouse from years ago. The place used to always slap. Filled to the brim with brothers, whores, and prospects, and anyone else allowed inside. At one point, they ordered more alcohol a week than the top bars in the area. It was a magical time, except now that he knew the truth, it wasn’t really. The government had played those men. Had played Dev too. Nothing was fucking real.
Shanna stepped inside his living room, holding a notepad in one hand, a pen in the other. Dev lifted Mae off his knee, putting her on her feet. “Go work on your homework, Mae-mae.”
“Daddy,” she said, flipping around toward him. “Why do we have to do schoolwork at home? It’s not fair,” she complained, stomping her foot to drive the point home.
“Because my girls have to be smart enough to get into college. You can’t do that by missin’ so much school. Now go,” he said, turning her toward her bedroom and patted her back with a gentle push to get her moving. “Take your dog.”
His heart smiled as she picked up her puppy who was already double in size and awkward for her to hold properly. She went to the bedroom door, abruptly stopping in her tracks, looking back at him. “Daddy, Abi’s reading.”
“Gawd.” One of Abi’s slippers hit the bedroom door above Mae’s head.
“Con, hold,” he said and lifted a finger to Shanna, asking for a minute. He tossed the phone on the table. “Mae, stop tellin’ on your sister, okay? She’s always on your side and you need to be on hers,” Dev explained, getting to his feet. The yawn threatening finally broke as he made it to their bedroom, guiding Mae inside the room. “Abi, do your homework so we can scan it and email it in the mornin’.”
“I’m done, but she won’t concentrate to finish—” Abi started but Mae cut her off, sticking out a finger in Abi’s direction.
“See? She tells on me too,” Mae said, outraged.
“Help her for me,” he said to Abi. “And, Mae, do your work because it’s almost bedtime and I don’t wanna have to get you in trouble or up early in the mornin’ to finish.”
Abi gave a disgusted humph as she rolled from her bed to go to the desk.
“Thank you. I’m closin’ the door so I can handle some business. Don’t fight. You only have to be good for a couple more days, then we’ll talk about skipping some homework and staying up late.” He grinned at the excited look they both gave and brought the door to a close. He went back to his seat, pressing the speaker option on the phone’s screen. “Con, Shanna just walked in. I feel like she’s got somethin’ to say to you.”
“I do. I’ve worked out the different club’s parking and also the procession line into the cemetery. I need to run it past you and Ray-Ray. We need to have enough prospects out there to guide traffic. The Oklahoma and Louisiana branches of the Disciples are bringing their prospects to help with guiding the clubs from the highway to their designated spots at the cemetery,” Shanna explained and took the other seat at the table. She had an intricate maze drawn on her notepad and flipped the top page over where she had written the clubs names making two columns down the length of the page.
Cash knocked on the open front door, drawing their attention to him. Shanna paused and Dev lifted from his bent position. His pretty boy looked worse for wear after his multi-hour closed-door meeting with his superiors.
Cash cocked his head toward the hall, urging Dev out of the apartment. Dev placed a hand on Shanna’s shoulders, squeezing his appreciation for everything she was doing. Way beyond the call of duty. “Keep goin’. I’ll be back.”
He shut the door quietly behind him. This was one of the few times in the last few days that he’d been alone with Cash. After the day they’d shared, Dev walked straight up to Cash who didn’t deny him. Cash’s legs parted as he came to stand between them. He placed both his palms on each of Cash’s cheeks but only leaned in enough to be in Cash’s line of sight as he asked, “Are you still pissed at me?”
Cash’s fingers slid into the waistband of Dev’s pants to tug him forward until Dev bumped his chest. “Yeah. Can I ever trust you’re gonna do what you say you’re gonna do?”
“Not fair,” Dev replied immediately and placed an unexpected kiss on Cash’s lips. “We’re in extreme times. Who knows how I’ll act when all this ends.”
Cash stared at him for several long seconds then nodded, which was weird. His guy’s palms moved up Dev’s back, massaging and caressing then trailing down again. Cash’s lips slanted in the slightest of frowns. The tiny lines in the corner of his eyes were more pronounced.
“I made you sad.” Dev stated the obvious. “Was it a bad answer or are you afraid when this ends you won’t want me anymore?”
“I’ll always want you,” Cash answered huskily, quietly.
Seconds passed again as they stared at one another. Right when Dev was about to speak, Cash’s face changed, turning passive—his normal professional expression. “I’ve been on a video meeting with Collins for the last few hours.”
“Joe told me,” Dev answered and started to push away. Cash stopped him, locking an arm around his waist. Okay, he liked that move. “What’re they sayin’?”
“The plan’s to go to the storage facility tonight under the cloak of darkness and remove the money. They also want to see if the missing drugs are in the other units. They’ll redirect the cameras from the lumberyard and work quickly. We’ll know more soon enough. It sounds promising. You did it. I knew you had the answers even if you didn’t know what they were,” Cash said, the back of his fingers coming to Dev’s face, tenderly caressing his jawline as he spoke.
=♥=
What Cash hadn’t said, and what he hoped didn’t show on his face was that he’d verbally given his resignation in front of everyone on the video call, which hadn’t come as a surprise to Lily or the attorney general.
