Page 64 of Wrath's Nightingale

“About that. I hate to ask, but could we make it fifteen? My lousy ex still hasn’t paid the girls' tuition for the school year.”

The school year is almost over. What a loser. Not paying for your kids’ tuition.

“Sure, we can do that.”

We spend the next hour eating and going over the case. When we’re done, I pay the bill and we head to my bike. I’ll send her a bank transfer after we pick up her car.

The ride was over much too soon for my liking. I like the way she feels wrapped around me with our knees in the breeze.

Charlie

Breakfast went surprisingly well. Wizard didn’t flinch when I asked for an extra five grand. I’ll turn in the fifteen thousand to the school immediately. The girls love their school and I’ll figure out a way to send them myself. I normally pay half anyway, but the ex insisted he’d take care of it this year. And every time I offered to pay my half; he’d explode in anger.

Now instead of coming up with half, I’m coming up with most of it. It’s fifty grand a year to keep the girls in their charter school. The girls just turned sixteen. Identical triplets. Lucia, Valentina, and Francesca, the loves of my life.

My only problem besides my asshole of an ex is my attraction to this biker. But that’s not what I need. I need to focus on raising the girls. Getting them to college. Two more years of high school and maybe I’ll consider going out on a date. I’m a little sad when the ride is over. I haven’t been on a bike since I was a teenager.

The boyfriend before the ex. He was wild, free, and fun. Damon belonged to a MC, too. A scary one. He wasn’t scary but the other guys.

We pulled into a well-kept parking lot. It looked freshly paved. An enormous square building with a sign that said Kings’ Garage. In smaller letters it says, ‘And Towing.’

A guy that looks like he stepped from the pages of GQ Magazine comes out to greet us.

“Wizard. Who’d you bring to see us?”

“Hollywood, this is Charlie Caruso, our new PI. Charlie, this is Hollywood.”

I offer my hand. He takes it, giving me a firm handshake.

“Nice to meet you,” he says.

“Nice to meet you as well,” I say with a smile. “What do I owe you for the tire?”

“We couldn’t fix the tire. Whoever plugged it last time did a horrible job.”

“It hasn’t been plugged before. I just got a new set of tires two months ago.”

Hollywood shakes his head. “Your tires have too much wear to be that new. Could someone have swapped them?”

Motherfucker.It must be Jr.

“I have an idea of who would have done that. When am I going to replace these?”

“They’re all new and so is your spare. Gambit, our president, said to give you new ones on us as a part of your fee.”

A wave of relief washes over me. Things have been tight lately. Tighter than I’d ever let the girls know. I pay for everything and Jr. swoops in and gives them things like cars and designer clothes.

“Thank you. And thank you Wizard for the assist. I’m going to get started. I’ll be in touch as soon as I have an update.”

I get my keys. Say my goodbyes. And head home to start researching.

Chapter 40

Two weeks later

Millie

I’m half-laying on the bathroom floor puking my guts up. I never thought I’d miss being on my knees. Not being able to bend one leg is a bitch.