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He turns to look at me while whoever is on the phone explains something to him. The look isn’t what I would call menacing, but it certainly isn’t warm, not like the awkward glances we’ve been giving each other since he walked in. This one is scrutinizing, as though he’s trying to work something out in his head.
When Linc ends the call, he looks at the blank screen, then back at me. This time when he approaches, it isn’t with the gentle care he was showing in front of Jude. No, this time, there’s suspicion in his eyes.
“Are you sure you haven’t heard from Jace all this time, Charlie?” he asks, standing in front of me and Lucy with his hands spread on the bar.
“What?” My head rears back at his complete and sudden change in demeanor. “No,” I reply, shocked and equally confused.
“What the hell, biker boy?” Lucy asks next to me.
His skeptical gaze swings toward her. “I just got off the phone with my prez. Seems Jace knew about the meeting we had earlier. In fact, he was in town at the same time I was. Told his cousin he was looking for some bitch that fucked him over. Said she stole something that belonged to him.”
I can’t breathe. Jace knows where I am. Goddammit, I thought I was safe here.
“How do you know that has anything to do with Charlie?” Lucy asks. “That guy sounds like a real piece of shit. Could be a coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences, sweetheart.” His dark gaze swings to my friend. “That shit can get you killed.”
The voice in my head is yelling at me to run. I need to get my shit and get the hell out of town, if not the state entirely. Looking at Lucy, she must see the same look in my eye that she saw all those months ago and nods.
“Alright, boys. It’s closing time,” she calls.
The two guys playing pool grumble, and Linc’s friends look toward the bar.
“What the hell, Lucifer? We just got our beers,” Jude calls from the table.
“Fuck that. Charlie, you’re going to tell me what the hell’s going on,” Linc demands.
“If Jace is close, I need to leave,” I reply with no room for argument. As Lucy cashes out the other guys, I look Linc square in the eye. “Do you have anything to do with why he’s here?”
“Why the hell would I help him find you? Last I knew, he was eating through a straw after I shattered his jaw. What do you have that he wants?”
“What was the MC business you had in Texas?” He needs to answer the damn question. I need to know if this is just some crazy coincidence or if he led him here. “Did it have anything to do with the Irish mob or a man named Cillian?”
“How do you know that name, Charlie?” Linc narrows his eyes. “And what does Jace think you have that he would come find you in Texas?”
“Jace couldn’t have found me, Linc.” Fear and fire are rolling through me. We need to get everyone out of here, then I’m getting the fuck out, too. “His cousin could, though.”
Linc’s gaze hardens. “Cillian Doyle is that asshole’s cousin?” He leans back from me. “Wow, Charlie. You could have told me that, say, six fucking years ago before I beat the guy up.”
“Fucking typical.” A disgusted scoff escapes me. “I was the one living in hell, but you wouldn’t have done anything had you known Jace was connected, would you? Just like his friends who saw the bruises and did absolutely nothing. They were only concerned with staying on his good side because he has a cousin in the mob.”
“Charlie, his cousin, isn’t just in the mob. He’s the right-hand man of Declan Monaghan of the Monaghan family.”
Jesus fucking Christ. He has got to be kidding me. Jace never talked much about his cousin, just said they weren’t close until about a year before I left. Then he would go on jobs for his cousin but didn’t tell me much about what they entailed. I had no idea he was even connected at first until I snuck a peek at the notebook one night when Jace was passed out.
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“You can say that again.”
When the guys from the pool tables leave the bar, I hear them tell someone walking in that we’re closed. The newcomers don’t listen, and three men stand in front of the door.
“Hey, Charlie. Long time no see,” Jace sneers.
Double Fuck.
Chapter five
Linc
