Page 42 of Dirty Secrets
I couldn’t imagine doing a family tree for a school project if I was Beckett. With nine dads, one mom, and multiple siblings, it made things confusing.
“Have you talked to Raven about liking her?” Beckett asked as she leaned over the bar to grab a pack of cigarettes, offering me one before taking one for herself. “Does she know?”
“It doesn’t matter if I tell her or not. Me and the guys made a pact so none of us could touch her. You know Logan and Reid want her too.”
“How old are you? Three? Who cares about some pact you made as teenagers. Unless you want to see her with someone else, make a move, idiot,” she grunted.
I sat on the stool and leaned an elbow on the bar, taking a long drag of my cigarette before replying. “Reid might actually shoot me.”
“Then tell him if he wants her so badly that he needs to make a move. Honestly, you three are ridiculous.” She checked her phone for a second before looking up at me, changing the subject. “Heard from Lavaro?”
That was another touchy subject.
Ander had become my best friend, the one person I could talk to about anything, including Raven, and knowing he was leaving the Heights had sucked, but he’d promised to stay in touch. He was hiding things, I knew that, but part of me had hoped that we’d become close enough that he’d eventually open up to me.
Instead, he left without a goodbye and refused to answer our calls.
That was what pissed me off the most. The silence.
“No. Has Riley?” I asked, kind of wishing he’d reach out to at least someone to let us all know he was fucking alive. His sudden disappearing act made me wonder if he’d gotten himself into some kind of trouble.
He was always involved with bad people, he’d been the one to put me onto drug trade jobs for good money, and the jobs where families paid us to track down their missing friends and family who’d been snatched up by the skin trade, so someone could have gone after him.
He could’ve told me. I would’ve helped him.
Beckett snorted, giving me the side-eye. “Riley wouldn’t tell me if she had. Good riddance to the prick.” She winced when I narrowed my eyes. “Sorry, I know he’s your friend, but he almost got Riley killed, and I don’t fucking trust him. Men like him have secrets, Zav. He showed up and just slipped into everyone’s circles. I don’t believe in coincidences, and a lot of shit has gone down since he arrived.”
“You can’t point a finger at him for any of it. The issues with the Hell’s Demons was all my father, the shit with Penn was her own family and stalker, and your brother’s only demons are the ones in his head. What can you exactly try to blame Ander for?” I bit out, hating that she couldn’t see past her hate for him.
She was best friends with Zane Evans, whose father ran the Shadow Kings crew and was literally Satan in my eyes, but she couldn’t get along with Ander because of a few street races?
Some days, they’d gotten along a little which had given me hope. They’d finally started to build some kind of understanding for each other until Ander had run off and made her suspicious all over again.
“He loves dragging you into his bullshit, for starters. Both Reid and Riley almost died in his stupid fucking street races, and you need to face it, but good people don’t go into hiding,” she threw back, glaring at me. “He’s pissed someone off and I want to know who.”
“He was getting in hot water between the races and all the other shit. He wanted to go underground for a while until the heat died down. You know Blake broke his fucking heart when she left him, Donovan. He’s not a bad person. No more than you are, anyway.”
“She was smart to get the fuck out while she could. I don’t know everything he gets himself into, but he’s tied in with too many bad people, and it’s going to bite him in the ass one day. She’s raising her ten-year-old sister and needs to focus on that.”
“That doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt him. You don’t know him like I do, and as much as he acts fine, it destroyed him. He had so much hope that she’d stay every time she showed back up, but each time they’d fuck, talk, fight, then she’d walk out again.”
“He’s the one that kept letting her back into his bed.”
“Because he loves her,” I sighed, not being able to help but hate the woman a little. Blake was nice and I knew she stayed in touch with Riley since they were friends, but she needed to either choose Ander or let him go.
Maybe she finally had since I was pretty sure the last time he’d mentioned seeing her was six months ago. Who knew if they’d met up in the months that he’d been gone though.
“You’re better off without him, trust me. He was going to get you killed. I didn’t spare your life just for Lavaro to make youmeet Jesus early,” she warned, her eyes flicking behind her as Slash walked out of the office, looking annoyed.
“Can you finish up with your human piñata? I’ve got to meet up with Hendricks in an hour and you’re coming with me.”
“Why do I need to go?”
“Because I’m the boss and I said so,” he grunted, giving me a nod. “Lopez. You want a job yet? I’m sick of having no one here who’s willing to work.”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “If I went home with one of those fancy gang jackets on, Raven would likely skin me alive. I promised her no more trouble, and you guys are trouble.”
“If you let that girl walk all over you now, she’ll only keep doing it.”