“Grease gives me a club car.” I couldn’t put Liz on my bike, and I wouldn’t buy a car no one would consistently use. Instead, I’d made a deal with Grease to borrow one of the club’s each week.
He picked up his phone again, hitting a button before placing it to his ear. “Hey, I need you to scan for a tracker. Fuck it. Check all the club’s cars for them.” Sabre hung up, closing his eyes.
“Liz poked a decent-sized hole in his control. Challenged him when she said Pulse had been a prospect.” I shook my head, replaying his reaction. “She got underneath his skin, but this is the part that hasn’t sat well with me since. He said Pulse sends him updates.” I let Sabre sit with that for a second.
“Pulse is dead. How’s he contacting Daddy from Hell?”
“Who’s contacting Daddy on his behalf?”
Chapter 23
The Illusion Shattered
Elizabeth
“You felt nothing towards him?” Meredith asked me as we sat in Grace’s living room.
“Would you have felt anything toward Brandon?” Grace tried to put things into perspective, but I wasn’t sure she was going to get her point across.
“Yes. Rage. Resentment.” Meredith shrugged before she settled back into the couch cushions.
“He was…there. Surprised. How I…remembered him. Older.” I took a sip of my water. “Breaking…control.”
“So, now what? How do we keep the pressure on?” Grace stared down at JR as he wiggled against the blanket she’d put on the floor. “I don’t have any communication with him, and I won’t go behind Sabre’s back to reopen that line.”
“I keep thinking about Aunt E’s demon spawn.”
I shook my head but didn’t correct her opinion.
“Mer—“ Grace sputtered.
“No. He might not have turned out to be a psycho if Alex”—Meredith spat his name—“hadn’t stolen him.” She picked at the label on a bottle, letting it rip underneath her nails. “He needs to own up to his part in all of this, and if he can’t, we need to be the ones to show him, not the men.” She raised her shirt sleeve, baring the road rash scars on her left side.
Our eyes kept finding each other, but the only sounds in the room were the babies cooing at each other.
“I need you to hear me, right now.” Emily uncrossed her legs, leaning forward. She waited until Meredith couldn’t escape her gaze. “We won’t win if you go scorched earth.” She stood, crossing the living room to stand in front of Meredith. “I refuse to lose you.”
“I won’t burn for someone else’s sin.” Meredith stood toe-to-toe with Emily. “I won’t let my family burn because some cartel boss thinks he has a claim on my aunt.” She put her hands on her hips. “If a motherfucker wants to dance, I’ll grab a pair of your stilettos.”
***
I focused on my dinner plate, taking small bites of the grilled chicken. Dinners were normally loud affairs, but tonight, the only sound in the room was the scratching of the plasticware as it hit the paper plates.
“This is insane.” Sabre dropped his fork, sitting back in his chair. “Dinner’s delicious, Chef, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who can’t taste it.” A few more forks fell. “Grease?”
“Cyph and I checked for trackers. There was one on the car I normally give Thunder.” He shrugged. “There’s no telling how long it’s been there.”
“Where was it?” Thunder asked him, wiping his stubble with his napkin.
“Behind the wheel well.”
Cyph chimed in, “I’m kind of disappointed. All that tech, and he goes with a standard issue tracker?”
“Speaking of which, I need you to check the tit show cameras from last night,” Count said. “Six men in suits came in, asking for my top-shelf liquor. Ring any bells?”
There was a loud chorus of groans.
“Have any new girls come in, offering to work off the books?” Pretty wrinkled his nose.
