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The clubhouse was popping when I pulled in, bikes lined up deeper than usual with a few extra cars around that I didn’t recognize.
Judging by the lack of music, though, it wasn’t a party.
They wouldn’t have Church without me, would they?
I made my way inside to find Junior, the club’s favorite hacker, set up with his laptop on the bar.
A woman who looked vaguely familiar—multi-colored hair, pretty face, lots of ink—was playing Sully on the pool table. And from the looks of things, wiping the floor with him.
“How is she?” Seth asked as I moved into the room.
“She was at work,” I said, seeing him shake his head. “But she’s home now with her sister. Oh, and she lives in a duplex next to a guy named Perish,” I announced.
“Perish?” Voss asked, brows raising.
“Yeah. Apparently, he’s only a few weeks away from being off parole, so he’s probably going to be dropping in to prospect.”
“‘Bout time we got some fresh meat,” Nave said, clearly ready to stop being a prospect, and hand the dirty work off to someone else, since he didn’t have a lot of help in the notoriously slacker Sully. Callow and Sutton pulled their weight, but the latter was on his way out soon.
“Don’t forget we got Roderick’s oldest two prospecting soon too,” Seth said.
“Rune and Croft?” I asked, feeling like I hadn’t heard those names in ages. They were twins, but were younger than me and my crew of cousins, so we didn’t keep as in-touch with them as we did with others.
“Yeah.”
“Why haven’t I heard their names in a long time? Did they go off to college?”
“Nah. Last I heard, they took off to Puerto Rico to reconnect with some of their family,” Seth told me. “That was… years ago, I think. I mean, I’m sure their parents and siblings have seen them, but no one else has.”
“Huh. There’s another one, though, too, right?”
“Well, there’s Aviela, their only sister. And the baby of the family, Vas.”
“Did he go to Puerto Rico too?” I asked.
“Come to think of it, I have no fucking idea,” Seth admitted, brows going up, surprised that he didn’t know.
“Guess we can ask when they show up,” Fallon said as he came in from the hallway. “You look like shit,” he said as a greeting to me.
“Thanks.”
“Shale,” he said, greeting the woman with the multicolor hair. “Did you bring us coffee?” he asked.
At my blank look, Seth said, “She’s Junior’s woman, remember? Owns Deja Brew.”
Right.
I’d heard that somewhere.
I’d been so fucking detached from the goings-on at the club and Navesink Bank as a whole that I was starting to feel like I was playing catch up now that I was determined to insert myself back into this crazy world we had all built.
“Would I show up empty-handed here?” Shale asked in a way that had some weight.
“Christ,” Seth said as he looked at me, concern etching his brow. “Little bit back, Dezi, Malc, and Niro were asked to help run a protection detail at Deja Brew for Shale who was involved with some shit. There was a drive-by. Where the fuck were you when all that was going down?”
Home.
I’d been at home, deep in my hole.
It felt like I’d just started to claw out of it, finding the sun blinding, and the world unfamiliar.
“Distracted, I guess,” I said. “Thanks for the Cliffsnotes. Did Junior find anything?”
“Not yet. But they just got here. Something about dropping their dog off at some dude’s house. I dunno. Anyway,” he said, shrugging. “How’s Lexy really?”
“Stubborn as fuck,” I said, snorting a little.
“Yeah?” Seth asked, his gaze slipping to my split lip for a second, a knowing smirk toying with his lips.
“It’s not like that,” I said.
“Heard that before,” Seth said, nodding. “So, what does she do?” he asked.
“Works at River Rock Studios,” Junior announced, making my brows go up, not realizing he was close enough to overhear since he hadn’t given a single sign that he’d been listening.
“Ah, yeah, that,” I said, shrugging.
“Been there since she was… eighteen,” he said. “Must like her job.”
“She does,” I said. Then, catching Seth’s grin again, I played it off. “I drove her home. Place is full of CDs and shit. She likes music. It makes sense.”
“She’s got no social media,” Junior said, sounding impressed. “That sister of hers, though, she’s all over. All public. Got a lot of pics with Lexy in them. They’re close.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Why are you looking into them?” I asked, annoyed that he was invading her privacy when she was the victim.
“Because you gotta cover all your bases. Could be wrapped up in shady shit. Or dated someone who was.”
I wanted to object to that, to protect her privacy, but I knew that this was how shit went down in the research stages. I mean, I’d grown up with my aunts Janie and Alex constantly crammed together on the couch, digging into people’s lives. It never felt quite right, but it always seemed necessary.
