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Well, don’t I just feel great? I mean, I’m not surprised or anything, but seriously, could he at least try not to be so obvious?
I’m about to open my mouth and say something snarky, but Hunter speaks first.
“Why the hell did you end up at Raven’s uncle’s house?” Hunter questions, crossing his arms on the table.
“I saw your father’s car heading in that direction while I was driving,” he explains, stealing half a sandwich from off Hunter’s plate. “I figured I’d follow him and see what he was up to.”
“And did you?” This from Jax, who’s angled his body toward Zay and has his arms crossed.
Zay stuffs a huge bite of sandwich into his mouth. “I learned a little bit. I couldn’t hear everything without getting into the house. And they had the doors locked. But I used a radio transfer to do audio in there, so I heard a little bit.”
Both Jax and Hunter nod, like they understand what that is. I don’t.
“What is that?” I decide to ask because, if I am going to be working for them, I should probably know these things.
I expect Jax or Hunter to explain since Zay always seems annoyed with me, but strangely, he’s the one to answer.
“It’s an old-school bugging system that works through the radio,” he informs me as he takes another bite of his sandwich. “They don’t work great, but because they’re older, they can get by any block receivers, which is a device that can shut down any audio devices that might be bugging the area.”
“My dad was using one of those?” Hunter asks, his body going rigid.
Zay nods as he wipes his hands off on a paper towel. “Yep. But I’m not surprised. He hired us to spy on her uncle and his family, so he knows we probably put cameras up in the house. What I don’t get, though, is why he asked us to do that, but then he went over there and blocked us from hearing the conversation.”
“Yeah, I don’t get it, either,” Hunter mumbles, slumping back in the chair. “What all did you overhear?”
“Well, apparently, your dad knows Raven’s uncle, at least enough that he’s met him a few times. I don’t know when, but enough was said that I could tell that much.” Zay’s gaze fleetingly strays in my direction, and then he looks back at Hunter. “But the main point of the meeting was that your dad wants to work with him to export goods.”
“What sort of goods?” Jax wonders as he picks at his sandwich. “Because we all know that, with him, that could mean anything from drugs to people.”
My eyes widen. “People?”
Jax turns to me so his knees are pressing against mine. “Yeah, unfortunately, there’s been speculation that Hunter’s father, mine, and also Zay’s—since they all work together—are part of an underground human trafficking ring. But we don’t have any actual proof. Just speculation because of”—he swallows down a shaky breath, his throat muscles bobbing—“certain things.”
The room grows quiet for a beat, and it’s a hauntingly unsettling sort of silence.
“Regardless of what he’s trying to export,” Zay finally says, “it means that the sheriff in town can be bought off, since her uncle agreed to do it.”
“I’m not surprised,” I mutter, my mind still half stuck on the human trafficking thing and the remark Jax made about it.What did he mean bycertain things? And why did it feel personal to him?“He used to take all the drugs he confiscated on the job and would resell them. Well, the stuff I didn’t steal.”
“I’m not surprised by this, either,” Zay states. “Everything we’ve dug up on your uncle screams corrupt. Still, it makes me uneasy that your father”—he looks at Hunter—“is allegedly having us look into the family when he’s already making business deals with Raven’s uncle.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely weird,” Hunter agrees through a mumble.
They grow quiet again, and I detect them trading discreet looks. It makes me uneasy and kind of annoyed, but maybe I shouldn’t be. Perhaps this is business stuff that I don’t need to know.
“We should start getting ready,” Hunter abruptly says. “We have about two hours until Benton will be here to set up everything.”
“What else is there to set up?” I wonder as I stuff a small bite of sandwich into my mouth. “We already set up the cameras.”
A trace of a smile touches his lips and, once again, he trades a look with Jax, who appears the slightest bit amused. Zay doesn’t smile, but he looks at me with a bit less annoyance in his eyes than usual.
“It’s for the actual party,” Jax explains, threading his fingers through mine.
“Oh.” I give a short pause. “You mean, like snacks and stuff?”
Hunter gives me that look that he does sometimes, the one where he thinks I’m being adorable, but it usually just means I’m being an idiot.
“Don’t say it,” I say before he can.
