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“Where is this little fucker then?” Barrett asks.
“Cillian isn’t sure. He could be holed up in some Italian safe house for all we know. If they think he has the information to bring down the Irish and us, they’ll probably be keeping close tabs on him.” Ozzy looks at me. “My question is, why hasn’t she handed the notebook over to us.”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. Why hasn’t she seen fit to trust me? I’ve never given her reason to doubt me; the opposite, in fact. Now that Jace is calling in threats and making deals with our enemies, it’s vital now more than ever she stops thinking me or my brothers wouldn’t protect her.
“I guess my question is, why did she grab it in the first place? Was she biding her time until she was in a position to turn it over to the authorities? Maybe that’s why she was so quick to hop in the van, then on your dick? Maybe she’s been trying to gather more information or trying to get you to trust her to see what other tidbits she could gather,” Jude says.
“I’m going to assume you’re still drunk, asshole, and that’s why you’re spouting off this nonsense,” I shoot back at him.
“Sorry, brother,”—he holds up his hands—“but we need to look at all the angles. She has shit that could get this entire club thrown in prison for the rest of our lives and hasn’t exactly been forthcoming about it. Hell, if Finnegan hadn’t reached out to us, we would have no idea what was really going on between her and her ex.”
I’m about to lose my shit on my best friend. Partly because this is the same bullshit he was saying when we were in Texas and partly because I’m afraid he’s right. It doesn’t make sense why Charlie hasn’t said anything to me about the notebook, and I’ve been too wrapped up in her to take a closer look at that.
“Linc, you need to get whatever she has today. I don’t care if she denies having anything. If she does, we’ll toss her room and find it ourselves. I’m tired of being a sitting duck.” Ozzy slams the gavel and dismisses church.
As soon as he opens the door, we hear yelling from the main room.
Sounds like Stacia is talking about shit she should have no knowledge of, considering her place in this clubhouse.
I see Lucy standing in front of the soon-to-be former bunny, squaring off with her in defense of her best friend, who is watching the exchange like a damn ping-pong match. When Stacia tells the prospect behind the bar to fuck off, Ozzy loses it and tells her she’s outstayed her usefulness.
Good riddance.
My eyes find Charlie, and Jude’s questions run through my mind. I don’t think she had plans to turn the notebook over to anyone, but why does she still have it? Why not come clean with me about it a couple days ago? How well do I really know her? Enough to trust her with the lives of my brothers?
When I make my way over to her, she stands, concern etched on her face.
“Linc, what’s wrong?”
“We need to talk.”
“Does this have to do with what Stacia was going on about?”
A humorless laugh escapes me. “You know, it’s funny you should ask that. Maybe Ozzy is kicking out the wrong girl.” I don’t know where this anger is suddenly coming from. Maybe the doubts I have stem from the fear that Jude’s suspicions were on the money all along. I hate being afraid of anything, almost more than I hate the idea of Jude being right.
“Listen, I need to tell you something,” she says, urgency lacing her tone.
“Does it have to do with a notebook you’ve been hiding from all of us about the dealings the club has had with the Irish?” Her wide-eyed expression of surprise would be funny when I mention the notebook if I wasn’t so pissed right now.
“Yes, but I didn’t know—“
“Know what? That you have information that could land my brothers in prison? Me back in prison?” I ask harshly, cutting her off before she can justify her lies.
“I didn’t know about the connection to the club.”
I give her a dubious look.
“Linc, you have to believe me,” she implores. “Itjustregistered what a lot of stuff in that book meant. He used initials for a lot of names, including anything having to do with your club.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that’s what he was after, Charlie? Why keep this huge thing from me?”
“What should I have done, Linc?” She holds out her hands, exasperation radiating from her body. “I didn’t know you were mentioned in that book, but I knew the Irish were. The first time I saw you after six years and that asshole found me, you acted like you were scared of who his cousin was. If Cillian would’ve known what I had, who would be there to stop him from hunting me down and killing me?”
“I would! Do you really think I would have let anyone hurt you? I went to prison for six years because that piece of shit was putting his hands on you. Do you actually believe I would have gone through all of that just to hand you back over to someone who’s hurt you or worse?” Linc shakes his head. “Jesus fuck, woman, who do you think I am?”
“Linc, I didn’t know what to think. Honestly, at first I was scared you were there for the notebook.”
“If you didn’t know we were mentioned in it, why would you think that?”
