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He leaned his head back against the chair and signed. “If I do, whatever is happening will only get covered up and I can’t take that chance. Val, I feel solid about, but that doesn’t mean her brother isn’t a snake in the grass. He’s still Diego’s spy and confidant, despite his supposed exile. Outside of his loyalty to his sister, which I don’t doubt, he has no reason not to fuck the club should the need arise.”
Everything he said was true, and all things I had already considered. He could just as easily be a worthy adversary as a formidable ally. Only time would tell which one he would become. For now, I at least had my own spy. One Marco would never see coming.
I stood up and looked down at Tweak. “You heard what Ryder said. He wants you to scour that file with Marco. We’ll kill two birds with one stone and bring the rest of the club in if we find something.”
“Hunter,” Tweak said, stopping me in the doorway. When I looked over my shoulder at him, his signature cockeyed grin was back in place. “I’d like to live long enough to see the club have its first ever criminal kingpin sitting in the VP’s chair. So, try not to fuck this up.”
My middle finger rubbed the back of my head as I walked out, his laughter following me from the room. Asshole. See, I had a sense of humor.
“You’ve been busy, no?” Marco’s heavily accented, stilted voice came from somewhere in the shadows beneath the stairs.
“Holy balls!” My heart pounded, and I sagged against the wall hoping if I pressed a hand against my chest that it would magically slow my racing heart. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you it’s rude to sneak up on a lady?”
He chuckled, the sound ominous, a shiver moving down my spine. My eyes flicked between the safety of the garage behind me where Stella and Tweak worked just a few feet away and the top of the stairs. Stairs had never been my friend, so with my back still against the wall, I moved down a step.
“I’m afraid Papa didn’t give her the chance to spend much time with me. He thought it more prudent to keep me busy with endeavors that would strengthen my brother’s position.”
Marco appeared from between two bikes parked beside the stairs leading up to the clubhouse. No wonder I hadn’t seen him at first, he wore a black T-shirt, cargo pants, and boots, his jet-black hair shielding part of his face from view. Yeah, him lying in wait for me in the clubhouse’s garage wasn’t creepy or intimidating at all. What was up with this guy?
He had it out for me, I just wish I knew why. One reason came to mind, but I quickly dismissed it. If he knew why I was here, someone from the club would have already killed me.
“Always the bridesmaid, never the bride,” I asked, goading him a little. If he could play his twisted game of hide and seek that my heart still hadn’t recovered from, then I could certainly get in a jab.
His dismissive snort graded on my nerves. “Hardly. I’d much rather be a ghost than deal with the political bullshit my brother does.”
My foot touched the cement floor, and I breathed a sigh of relief. There was no guarantee that I wouldn’t still go sprawling if I had to run, but at least now I wasn’t impeded by the stairs. Only my clumsiness.
“I can’t say I blame you. The glare of the spotlight is harsh.”
He flashed straight white teeth, the corner of his eyes crinkling. It wasn’t anything like the smiles he’d given me the first time I met him. Back when he’d been playing a part, trying to hide the predator that lurked inside. I bet his handsome face got him into all kinds of doors.
“You and I are very similar, are we not? Both of us with siblings destined to bask in the spotlight while we prefer the shadows.”
Marco stalked closer while I took a step back, and he stopped and put his hands in his pockets. But he wasn’t fooling me with his attempt to appear nonthreatening. There was no masking that the man exuded violence. How I’d ever thought any different was still a mystery to me. I chalked it up to being out of my element.
“That’s the thing about you and me. We’re often overlooked, discounted, tossed aside. It allows us to slip in undetected.” He cocked his head to the side. “Wouldn’t you say?”
I wasn’t sure what kind of game he was playing, but I wanted no part of it. Even a noob like me knew better than to admit to anything. If he could prove who I worked for, he would have already jabbed his blade through my heart rather than dancing around me, waiting for an opening. He wouldn’t get one from me.
“You’re lucky. No matter how hard I try not to get noticed by men, I have yet to succeed. Between Hunter’s advances, Tweak bugging me for aCall of Dutyrematch, and you lurking around the stairs waiting to ambush me, I dare say I can’t even go to the bathroom in peace.”
This smile was warmer than the last. Not only did it crinkle the corners of his eyes, but it actually seemed to penetrate their darkness. If I weren’t immune to the opposite sex, or rather, mostly immune, I’d probably be swooning right about now. But I was, and I didn’t know if a playful Marco was a good thing or not. Knowing my luck, it would be the nail in my coffin.
“You’re a most interesting creature, Brandy. So full of contradictions. I think I’m starting to see what Hunter has from the very beginning.”
He whistled a cheery little tune and kept his hands in his pockets as he moved closer. I shrank against the wall, struggling to decide whether I should stay or run, when he brushed past me and jogged up the stairs. Still whistling his merry tune.
Holy hell. Talk about Jekyll and Hyde. Either that or this dude was totally off his rocker. Which, of course, meant I’d caught his attention. Maybe that was why this kept happening to me. Crazy attracts crazy. And I’d known for quite some time that I was far from normal.
Blowing out a breath, I trudged up the steps in search of my sister. Before Marco had waylaid me, I’d been on the way up to catch her before she left. He’d just given my mission an added sense of urgency. In my heart of hearts, I’d always known the strip club was the answer to my problem. I guess I’d just been stalling, hoping against hope that the garage would end up being my salvation.
Today, that pipedream had met its brutal end. Every record, invoice, receipt, timecard, and payment had been checked. The garage was on the up and up. Part of me was relieved, even though it would have been simpler if I had found something, because that meant Stella was in the clear. My chest tightened at how much she was going to hate me for sending her father to prison, but there was nothing I could do to keep him off their radar. However, once the sharks started circling, I’d ensure they never bit Stella.
My sister was right where she should be, humming behind the bar as she put away clean glasses. Her routine within the club was predictable, almost boring, which was laughable when you thought about it. How I wished she’d thrown me another curveball by being somewhere else, kinda like when my boss told me she was with The Deviants. It seemed no matter where I turned today, I just couldn’t catch a break.
Her smile was brilliant when she turned and saw me, but today it only made me feel like shit ground into the bottom of a sneaker. Nothing could make me feel clean, whole. Not even Hunter.
“What are you doing up here so early?”
