Page 56 of Kane

“I know you’re the boss.” She startled at Robby’s voice behind her, then she turned to face him. His big brown eyes looked troubled.

She tilted her head, waiting for him to continue.

He furrowed his brow. “I love my job, and I know I’m taking a risk by saying this, but Kane is my friend.” He cleared his throat. “I scheduled him at the other house today because I knew you would be here. It, um, upsets him to see you.”

This guy had some unexpected fortitude. It took some epic balls to have a conversation like this with her. She raised her eyebrow.

His cheeks pinkened. “What I’m trying to say—what I was wondering—are you, could you maybe give me a heads up when you’re coming? Then, I could assign him to something else.” Robby couldn’t be more than twenty-two or twenty-three years old. With his shuffling feet and his bangs falling into his eyes, he could have passed for a teenager.

She should have resented his nerve, but she couldn’t help but be a little impressed. The guy was obviously apprehensive as hell, but Charlie always said, It isn’t courage if you’re not afraid. “What do you think Kane would say if he knew you were talking to me like this?”

Robby blew the hair out of his eyes, giving her an unobstructed view of his defiant glare. No fear now. “I don’t care. He needs somebody to look out for him.”

She smiled despite herself. “Yes, he does.”

Robby blinked rapidly as she patted him on the shoulder. It wasn’t clear whether he noticed she never gave him the promise he asked for. There was no chance for him to object either way.

Jared had arrived. He shook hands with Mike and followed suit with Xander and all the guys in the crew. When she approached, he greeted her with a warm smile. “Miss Griffin, so good to see you.” He gave her hand a firm squeeze. “I have a photographer here to take some PR photos for our website.”

The woman snapped a few shots. Everyone exchanged pleasantries about the partnership, then Jared left as quickly as he’d arrived. The job here today was done.

As she waited for Mike to finish his goodbyes with Xander, she felt a prickle of unease on the back of her neck. Was someone watching her from the copse of trees across the street?

She spun around, trying to catch whoever it was in the act, but she saw nothing. Even after berating herself for her obvious paranoia, she couldn’t stop herself from looking over her shoulder one more time as she got in the car.

Nothing.

Shivering, despite the warmth from her wool peacoat, she cranked the engine and threw the car into gear the moment Mike settled beside her. Paranoid or not, she was ready to get out of here, even if an inquisition from her sister-in-law waited at her next stop.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Kane

The meth operation in the clubhouse had progressed even further since the last time Kane had been here. The pool table now served as a work surface for two of his brothers. With his bald head and towering height, no one could mistake Cue Ball for anyone else, despite the surgical mask covering his face. A blender whirred in front of him, powder swishing around inside. A garbage can overflowed with boxes of cold pills on the floor beside him.

Frank appeared to be mixing some of the powder from a plastic bowl with…was that fertilizer? Three partially filled soda bottles were lined up on the table beside him.

He moved deeper into the house where his mom hunched over the kitchen counter, doing some kind of surgery on Double-A batteries. A few more two-liter bottles bubbled on the table where Scott presided with several containers of Lye.

The room smelled like cat piss.

“We’ve got to get all of this shit out of here.”

Scott looked up but didn’t move from his position.

“I’m serious. Where’s Malcolm?”

His mother answered. “Out in the backyard, I think. Didn’t think it would be safe to smoke in here.”

With a roll of his eyes, he ventured out into the cold. Sure enough, his father stood in the carport, smoking next to a portable heater. The coils burned orange in the small box.

“We’ve got to clean up the mess inside the house.”

“Oh?” his father mocked. “Do we?”

“I’m serious.” He moved closer, so he could speak softly. “Someone is trying to set us up. I’ll bet you anything we’re gonna have a raid here. The idea is to put us out of business, so the Soldiers can get a foothold.”

Malcolm stood up straighter. There were few people in the world he liked less than David Bennett or the club president, Billy Meers. “Where did you hear this?”