Page 25 of Sly (Dragon Riders MC 5)
Joanna’s voice sounded calm, and comforting. “You can tell us anything and we won’t get upset.”
“You have our word,” Simone said.
I opened my eyes. “I’ve overheard my brother saying that the crew is somehow connected to some sort of trafficking ring with some guy named Skeleton?”
The table fell silent as I talked, so I kept on going. With my voice down, of course.
“He says there are drugs involved. Moving women around or something like that. And that the crew is helping with it or something?”
I glanced around the booth at the widened eyes of the girls, and already I knew I had said too much. Or said something to piss them off. So, I braced myself for the awful. The terrible. The no-good, very bad of it all.
Until Joanna spoke. “What the ever-blessed fuck?”
Hope shook her head. “No. Just—just no. No to all of that.”
Hannah tugged on my hand, bringing me closer to her. “None of that is even remotely accurate. Where the hell did your brother get that information?”
And when I didn’t respond, Simone piped up. “He’s federal, isn’t he?”
The girls looked at me as if I’d grown a third head as they all scooted away a little bit.
“Look, you guys. My brother might be who he is, but I’m not that. I’m a paralegal that lost her job a little while back and I moved in with my brother to try and find another job. That’s all. He approached me the day of that poker game? Remember? He said he needed my help for something he was doing, then boom. I’m at the bar for a poker game and Sly is hitting on me and he’s so handsome and amazing and I just—”
Joanna held out her hands. “Okay, okay, okay. Slow down. Take some breaths.”
Hope grinned. “We believe you.”
Hannah leaned back. “Just had to ruffle your feathers a bit to see where you stood. That’s all.”
I looked over at Simone. “Do you believe me?”
Her eyes slid down the parts of my body she could see. “Yeah, I do. And I’m actually impressed that you were about to take this to Sly. He could’ve erupted on you, you know.”
I paused. “Erupted?”
Joanna nudged Simone. “Don’t scare the girl. You know she’s seeing a side of Sly we never see.”
I cocked my head. “What kind of side?”
Hannah sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Look. The guys have been worried that your brother—Chains, right?—is a federal agent.”
Joanna pinned me with her stare. “Is that true?”
I swallowed hard. “I plead the fifth? Can I do that and not lose my new friends?”
Hope giggled. “Yes. You can.”
Simone nodded. “Especially since it’s pretty obvious you’re not involved.”
I sighed with relief, leaning against the booth cushions. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt, including my brother. But he is working off the assumption that this crew is wrapped up in all of this stuff.”
Hannah clicked her tongue. “Which means the Feds think that about the crew, too.”
Joanna scooted closer to me. “You want to know what’s really happening?”
I looked over at her. “What do you mean?”
“Do you want to know what’s really going on between the guys and Skeleton instead of what your brother thinks is happening?”
I nodded fervently. “More than anything. Please, tell me this is all one big ass misunderstanding.”
Joanna lowered her voice to almost a whisper. “All the guys are trying to do is take Skeleton out.”
Hope nodded. “Yeah. Get his crew off the streets for good.”
Hannah reached for a French fry. “They’re trafficking women and selling them off to the highest bidder. Plus, they run some of the nastiest drugs on the streets right now. They moved into our town a little while back, and the guys have been working overtime to push him back out.”
I blinked. “Wait, wait, wait, wait. They’re not involved; they’re trying to help stop him?”
Simone nodded. “Every free second of the day they can.”
Joanna turned my face to meet hers. “Look, even I know—as an attorney—that these guys step into gray areas a lot. But this time? They’re fully in the white.”
Hope shrugged. “Well, as white as it gets for them.”
Hannah giggled. “You got that right.”
Simone stepped in. “The point is: the guys aren’t working alongside Skeleton or even for him. They’re trying to stop him using any means necessary they have at their disposal.”
Hope lifted her finger. “Including working with the police.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “This is all so fucking backwards. I have to tell my brother this.”
Hannah practically leapt forward. “Shh, shh, shh, shh! No. No, you can’t do that.”
Hope shook her head. “You can’t tell a soul what you’ve just told us.”
I blinked. “I mean aren’t you going to tell your guys that you’ve gotten confirmation from me about who my brother is?”
The girls looked around at one another before Joanna shook her head.
