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“Tell me,” I demand, not sure I even want the answer.
“In time, Monkshood.” He grins at me.
I stand from the tub’s floor and slowly step out onto the plush rug. “If you expect me to be on your side, then I need to know what you want from me, and what you know about my father.”
He steps closer. “You need to remember who you’re speaking to. You will know what I want you to know, when I want you to know. Understood?”
I nod, letting my eyes fall to the floor. His arms wrap me in a warm towel.
“Go get dressed. We have some things to discuss.” He waves me off like an annoying fly, then leaves the room.
My body aches, but I’ll be damned if I miss out on any small bit of information. I hurry and dry myself, throwing off my wet bra and panties before I slip into the clothes I had originally picked out this morning.
Once my feet are pushed into the Nikes, I hurry out of the room and start searching for Teddy. I pass the library and kitchen, then move down the hall to the gym, and there is still no sign of him. Finally, I walk past the glass doors leading to a balcony and see him and the twins hunched over the wire table.
I push open the door and take a seat next to Julius. He doesn’t look at me when I sit, but Lucas does. He looks at me through hooded eyes while grinding his teeth. “Nice of you to join us, Flower.”
“Wouldn’t have missed it, pretty boy.”
Teddy’s eyes bounce between the both of us. “Lucas, you will do good to remember what I’ve said,” he grinds out.
He throws his hands up and flashes that fake smile my way. “You got it, boss.”
I shake my head at Lucas, returning the same Pan Am smile, then turn to Teddy. His eyes are on me, all of me, and it makes me feel a weird sense of belonging. I’ve never been wanted by a man, but being wanted by him, even just as an accomplice, or whatever the fuck I am, makes me feel some sort of way.
I brush my growing emotions from my mind and try to focus on what he wants to discuss. I want to know why I am here, the real reason, and I want to know now.
“Charlotte,” Teddy says calmly. “There are things you need to know, but I won’t tell you everything. As I had stated prior, you will know what I want you to know, when I want you to know it.”
I cross my arms over my chest and lean back into the chair. “Five minutes ago wasn’t the time, but now is?”
“Yes.” He lowers his eyes to mine, daring me to undermine him again. I stay silent, waiting for him to continue.
“I never knew my parents. They ran off when I was a baby, leaving me with my grandparents. I never cared or wanted to know why. My Pops and Mims were my parents as far as I was concerned. They were good and honest people who raised me the best way they knew how, but after my Pops passed away, my Mims followed him.
“I was seventeen and on the streets alone, but it never stopped me from doing what I had to do. One day I walked into a convenience store with the sole purpose to steal the old stale crackers they kept on the shelf. I shoved them into my jeans and hurried out, but I didn’t make it far. A man in a nice suit with shiny shoes,” he chuckles, “stopped me on the sidewalk and asked if I stole. I didn’t lie to him. I admitted I did but didn’t say anything else. My Pops always told me a lying man is no man at all, and it always stuck with me.
“He admired my honesty and told me, ‘A lying man is no man at all, but you never steal from other honest people.’The man who said that was Cedric Hale. After talking to him on that sidewalk for what seemed like hours, he offered me a job. He was obsessed with classic cars and had a pretty hefty collection. I spent all my days polishing them and tinkering with them. I never knew what he did, or even cared, because he gave me a nice place to live and food in my stomach. He quickly became someone I looked up to. He became my family.
“After a couple of years, he started asking me to do more, giving me more responsibility. Not only did I spend my time with his cars, but I also started accompanying him on business trips. That’s when I finally learned what he did. What our family did.
“More years had passed before I finally became his laundryman. I would get all the bags he would set out for me and take them to get washed about once a week.”
“Wait.” I wave my hand. “You did this man’s laundry? That’s a bit degrading, don’t you think?” I ask.
He flashes me a smile before going on. “I never touched his clothes. His laundry was thousands of dollars. Every week I would run to the bank and deposit money in different accounts. That’s when I started to see your dad.”
I bite my tongue and kick myself under the table, feeling stupid for not picking up the reference. Of course a man like Teddy wouldn’t do laundry.
“He never spoke to me, but it seemed as though he had caught on to my schedule. Every day I would go to the bank, and he would be parked across the street, in his car, watching me. I told Cedric about him, but he told me not to bother with him, so I listened. I never questioned Cedric. Apparently, he had already met your father at a car show, and they had an understanding. He knew what we did didn’t affect the people of Northridge Heights. He turned the other way when it came to us.”
“No. That isn’t possible. My dad wasn’t a dirty cop!” I practically scream.
“He wasn’t. He was just after bigger fish.”
“What do you mean? Who was he after?”
All these years I thought I knew my dad, but apparently, I don’t know him at all. He would never look the other way when it came to anything at all, regardless of what he was after. He was an honest man who lived by a strong moral code. My head starts to ache at the thought of my dad being a stranger.
