Page 63 of Property of Kevlar

He could practically see the smoke coming from her ears and through the phone. It was understandable. Remi wasn’t involved. She and her business should be off-limits.

Unlike Yogi’s sister, Remi wasn’t harboring the Royal Bastards in her shop. They worked there from time to time, but that wasn’t the same situation. They didn’t sleep there. Merely a few hours a week shouldn’t associate them with the place. Except their name on the wall.

Fuck.

That’s how they knew.

Once Kevlar and his brother were in the back room with the door closed, the noise level dropped significantly. A conversation could be had in private.

On the small card table, Kevlar placed his phone and pressed speaker. “What makes you think I’m responsible for this?” he asked.

He was. Kevlar was ninety-nine percent sure of it, but there was a slim chance he could be wrong. If Remi had information, he wanted it.

Kid peered at him in confusion.

He obviously hadn’t heard the beginning of the conversation.

“I mean, you’re connected to the Dixie assholes. Paul’s a prick. Maybe it’s his fault someone busted out your windows.”

Unlikely, but he took a shot.

“Don’t play with me. I’m not stupid,” she sneered through the phone. “I have cameras. They were bikers. Scorpion something or other on their backs.”

The confirmation he needed.

Fury erupted in his chest. Anger bubbled through his veins. “I’ll make it right.”

“You abso-fucking-lutely will. I’m talking new shit for all my customers, on your dime.”

He nodded as though she could see him. That was the least of his concerns. He should’ve known the Bloody Scorpions wouldn’t take their little good morning visit lightly. Kevlar shouldn’t have antagonized them when they weren’t set up yet, but he had to. They kept fucking with Kelsey. Shit like that couldn’t go unanswered.

“Tell me when and where to write the check,” Kevlar said as he ended the call.

There wasn’t anything else to be said. Remi was fine, just mad. He’d make her and her customers whole. That wasn’t the problem.

“Get Torch and Lionel,” Kevlar ordered. “We need to have our first official church.”

They needed to plan what the fuck they were going to do about their little Scorpion problem.

34

Kelsey

Nothing made sense. Carrie was a lot of things, desperate, a little naive, funny as hell, but she wasn’t a liar. A poor judge of character? Yes. Someone who had absolutely no self-esteem? For sure, but she’d always been truthful.

So, she wasn’t the one telling stories out of school. Mike, the snake in the grass cock knocker who palled around with the likes of Pete, was. If anyone was into trafficking women, those asshats were. His accusation had to be a confession.

Kev wasn’t the type of person who would pimp women out. Kelsey couldn’t explain why she was so sure of that, but she felt it deep in her bones.

What she did know for certain was that Kev shot up Pete’s sister’s house.

Kelsey wasn’t mad about it. She should be. If anything, believing he would do that should terrify her, but it didn’t. The exact opposite, actually. Believing that he would do something like that, in defense of her, made every cell in her body tingle.

She could admit that meant she was fucked in the head.

No one should resort to violence. Someone could’ve gotten seriously hurt or worse. This wasn’t a game or a movie. Those were real bullets in their guns.

Maybe that was what excited her.