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I slapped his back. “Congrats. Clearly you knew what you were doin’ gettin’ in there quick. And brother… if you’d left it, Bront would’ve made his move and maybe you’d be alone tonight, crying in yer beer.”
Spencer barked out a laugh. “Yeah. Right.” His shoulders kept shaking. “Would’ve stung. Thanks, brother.” He gave me a fist bump and we headed in.
***
I had a couple drinks and a few games of pool in the lounge with some brothers before heading to my room just before midnight.
She was in my bed, under the covers, watching the news on TV, while chewing on her lip. Her eyes hit mine when I got in and she immediately sat up.
“I have to ask for something,” she said hesitantly.
“What’s that?” I kicked my boots off, irritation rising at the sight of her under my blankets.
“Can I check my phone? I’m stressing out.”
I looked her over.
Toying with her braid nervously, she added, “I… can’t stop thinking about whether or not she’s okay. I need to try ‘n call her if that’s all right.”
I fished her phone out of my pocket. The battery was low. I’d left it on all day in case calls or messages came through, but there’d been nothing.
“No messages or calls today. But I’ll call, ask if she’s all right.”
“Yeah?”
I thought she’d argue with me about her needing to be the one to call. She didn’t. Relief washed over her features instead.
It rang until voicemail picked it up and there was a mailbox full announcement.
“Mailbox full,” I informed, ending the call.
“But it rang first?”
“Yeah.”
“So, her phone is on at least.” She blew out a breath of relief.
“Seems so.” I sat on the bed and turned Gianna’s phone off before slipping it between the mattress and box spring, thinking I didn’t like that I’d called from her phone at all. If one of the Jackals had her phone in hand and saw Gianna’s name pop up, she might’ve just pinged their radar.
“She’s not out to hurt anyone,” she said in a small voice.
“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes.
“She’s just got issues.” Her voice got louder, angry. “Mantis wrapped her around his finger, and she says he’s her soulmate. I don’t know if she’s just lying to herself about everything for survival, though. I think deep down she knows how much danger she’s in; I think it’s self-preservation.”
I speared her with a glare. “That cunt fucked a few of my brothers over. One of ‘em’s dead because of that stunt, another lost his woman, and the losses from that alone racked up a big stack of bullshit I won’t even lay out, so don’t feed me a pile of horseshit about self-preservation.”
She straightened. “It’s not entirely her fault. I know she was part of it, but she got threatened into setting that thing up where the Doms got videotaped. She hated that. And she wasn’t a mastermind. She was just one of the pawns. She didn’t know what’d come of it.”
My eyes rolled.
She kept defending Kailey. “Mantis treats her terrible. Everyone’s terrified of him, so everyone does what he says.”
“Woman…save it. I give no fucks about your puppet stepsister.”
“She never even had anything with that guy Benny though she had to pretend they were a couple, and he wound up dead, so she had to lie to the cops and everything or else Mantis would’ve probably slit her throat, too. It’s like she forgets she told me that and then acts like he’s gonna take care of her. And now I can’t get ahold of her and it’s making me physically ill.” She held onto her gut for effect.
“When you hook up with bad people, bad shit happens to you,” I advised with a shrug.
She shook her head. “It’s not Kailey’s fault about Lick. Lick was dead whether there was that video or not, because Mantis and his men planned it that way, only making it seem like they had a good reason. If it wasn’t for the video, it would’ve been done for another reason. It would’ve been another girl, another video, or some other thing that sparked all that. I… I’m gonna get ready for bed. I’ll be… back.” She got out of bed and stormed toward the door.
“Spin the lock before you go so I don’t have to let you back in,” I advised. “You’ll have to remember to spin it every time you go to the can, too.”
She squatted to grab her purple box of chick shit and a bundle of clothes and then slipped out.
She had a point. But that didn’t change the fact that her stepsister was a cunt and by extension, she was gonna have to deal with living under a cloud of suspicion for the time being.
Fifteen minutes later I was about to go see what was taking her so long when she came back in and put her stuff down. I’d already smoked half a joint before stripping to put on a pair of shorts and was now watching the news, thinking the TV might not be a bad addition to my room. It’d have to go back down to the waiting room before the end of the weekend, so maybe I’d grab one. I didn’t know how long this girl would be here with me, but it would give her something to do besides fret about this Kailey bitch and talk my ear off.
