Sins (Havoc of Sins #3)

Chapter 14

Simon

It was strange to wake up to a gentle alarm as opposed to the obnoxious, deafening screech that tore us from sleep in prison. It had gone off for a minute straight.

I opened one eye and tapped the snooze button, but instead of falling back to sleep, I grinned because I could hit that button and take a few more minutes if I chose to. I’d taken for granted the simple pleasures and choices you made when you were free. When I found myself in the bathroom mirror, my grin turned into a big, fat smile that stretched from ear to ear. Happy tears fell when I stepped into the shower as I realized I had it all to myself. My smile remained as I sipped a coffee that actually tasted like coffee. I sat in front of the bay window and enjoyed the feeling of the warm sun on my face.

I was finally free.

Not only was I free, but all charges had been magically dropped. How? I had no idea, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to question it.

I hung my terrycloth robe on the hook in my closet and got dressed for the day. Just as I grabbed my house keys and coffee tumbler, I felt my phone buzz in my hand. The screen read XX.

“Hello?” I wasn’t sure how to address him.

“Have you left yet?” His voice was as strong over the phone as his presence was in person.

“I was just leaving.”

“Good. You remember that you’re my eyes and ears in that place. Also, you need to keep him in check. He’s a loose cannon and makes impulsive decisions, not to mention his mouth is unpredictable.”

“I understand.” I pushed my glasses up my nose. I had to get them tightened.

“Very well,” he cleared his throat, “I’ll be in touch.”

“All right. Have a good day.” The line went dead, and I got my head on straight as I stepped out into the Nevada desert heat.

The office was only a short walk, and I made it there in a matter of ten minutes. When I came through the front doors, I caught sight of a gorgeous young woman who smiled warmly at me.

“You must be Simon.” She shoved a handful of files in my arms. “I’m Calli. Dad’s in his office,” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder, “and my late-as-ever sister is on her way in about ten minutes to bitch about last night’s family dinner.” She huffed and looked around. “That’s your desk across from mine, when I’m not in school. We have a client coming in at noon that you need to be prepped on, and the coffee maker tastes like shit, so use it at your own risk.” She finally took a breath with her hands on her hips. “Welcome to team Tame.”

M y phone alerted me of a text, and it abruptly shot me out of my memory. I knew it wouldn’t be Cameron. I knew where he was; everyone did. He was terrified of being alone ever since Leo’s death, and he announced his presence loudly whenever he was in public. I still couldn’t understand why the Gates family hadn’t taken him out. Maybe I needed to give them another reason to. I glanced at the screen.

Construction Owner: He’s here. I’ll text you the address. Just remember what I told you.

Finally! I took a breath then hopped up and hurried toward the restaurant.

“Cameron.” I burst into the glass room where he sat at the table he now used as if it was his personal desk. He thrust a hand in the air to indicate he was on a call.

He glared at me then looked around to see who was watching. He had given out dinner vouchers to some high-powered clients of Grim’s, knowing rich people loved free stuff. In turn, it helped to keep him around people Grim valued. I had to admit there were times when the guy seemed smart. “Yes, I’ll be in touch.” He hung up and started to write something in his notebook.

“Cameron, you have to call that hit off Kenna. Do you know they tried to kill her in Italy?” I tugged at my tie and wondered if I should just talk to Grim myself and blow the entire thing out of the water. Trouble was, I valued my life too much and knew I couldn’t do that, not if I wanted to continue to see the light of day.

“And just exactly how do you suppose I do that?” He’d been totally unemotional and detached ever since Griple had made him choose which daughter to kill. I began to wonder if it all was just an act.

“I don’t know,” I slammed my fist on his table, “but she’s your child, dammit!”

He tossed his pen and leaned back in his seat. “No, she’s a grown woman who has chosen a side, and that side just so happens to be the wrong one. For years, I tried to warn her of the repercussions of being friends with those ruthless assholes. And now,” he realized he was shouting and quickly lowered his voice when a few people looked over, “she’s screwing around with Gates’s son.”

“So is Calli!” I reminded him.

He made a face like I was an idiot. “We both know what's really going on there.”

My chest heaved with the realization that he had no love for either of them. He just used his daughters as pawns in his game. “Have you no heart at all?”

“It’s reserved for those who deserve it.” He held my gaze then grabbed his pen and went back to work.

I couldn’t believe the guy. So many things suddenly became clear to me as I walked out the door. I knew his days were numbered, and I looked forward to the Gateses making their move.

I stabbed the elevator button and stewed with all the ways I’d be happy to help remove Cameron from this world. I’d already served years for a murder I didn’t commit.

“Christ, Simon,” Kenna stood by the elevator and pointed at the window of the restaurant, “if looks could kill.” She chuckled. I noticed a corner of a bandage peeked out from the top of her dress. I stepped back slightly. “So, you heard.” She saw my eyes on it and sighed.

“I did. Are you?—”

“Don’t finish that question.” Her smile dipped. “I’m not okay. Someone wants me dead. All I wanted was to celebrate getting rid of a stalker, only to have another crazy person try to kill me. My life’s like a whack-a-mole game.”

I couldn’t begin to imagine how rattled she was. “Is there anything I can do?”

She touched my arm and gave it a light squeeze. “Just being my friend is enough.” I wanted to pull her to me and promise I’d protect her. “I need to go, but thanks for caring.”

“Always.” I stepped into the elevator and pulled out my phone. I knew I was about to cross the line by doing so. I scrolled until I found the contact. My stomach fluttered as I descended toward the lobby.

“Why are you calling me?”

“I need a favor.”

“You’re not really in a position to ask for favors.”

I pulled off my glasses and rubbed between my eyes. “I know, but…” I paused as I stepped out and nearly collided with Brick.

“Sorry, man.” I stiffened at Brick’s voice. He reached out and steadied me by the shoulder as he went past. I kept walking and didn’t look back. It was clear something was going on. I didn’t even think he even realized it was me.

The voice on the phone brought my attention back to it. “I don’t have all day, Simon.”

“Sorry, just one sec.” I pushed my glasses back in place and rushed outside and down the street toward the office. “Can you clear the hit that’s been put out on Kenna Lodge?” I blurted as I walked. Silence. After a few seconds, I had to check that the phone was still connected. “I know it’s not my place, but she’s a good person and?—”

“There’s no hit ordered on Kenna Lodge.”

That stopped me dead in my tracks. “What? But I know there?—"

The line went dead.

In a daze, I swung the door open to the law office and immediately snagged a bottle of water from the fridge. I was so confused.

“I know that face.” Calli came out from the back office. “You need to clear your head?” She started to unbutton her blouse. “Dad’s at the hotel, Knox is doing God knows what or who, but it isn’t me, so it’s just us in this big ol’ office.” She tossed her shirt aside, pulled down her panties, and hopped up on the counter. “Whatever could we do to pass the time?”

Screw it.

I dropped my pants and kicked them aside then pushed between her legs and began to kiss her throat. I was instantly ready and slid inside her.

“Wow, where did Mr. Romance go?” She chuckled.

I pulled back for a moment and pressed my forehead to hers. “It’s been a day,” I confessed “and I’m not wearing a condom.”

“Oh.” Calli shifted back and released me. “Bottom drawer. I have a few.”

“Right.” I quickly pulled my pants back on, tucked myself back in, and hurried to her desk.

“Will you grab me my phone too? It’s on Dad’s desk,” she called.

“Yeah,” I tossed over my shoulder. “I just found your dark secret.” Candy wrappers half-filled the drawer, and I had to fish around through a sea of Twix bars before I finally found what I needed. “I think you have a sugar problem.”

I headed to Cameron’s office for her phone. “Damn door, it always sticks,” I growled, in a hurry to get back to Calli. Three good pulls, and I made it inside. “There you are.” I unplugged the phone and headed back down the hallway. “Cameron really needs a new door,” I complained as I reached to unzip my pants. As I rounded the corner, the phone dropped out of my hand.

“Calli!” I cupped my mouth and ran to her. Her throat gaped from a deep cut straight across from ear to ear. In shock, I stared, numb. Then I noticed a drawing on her arm, and a cold feeling washed over me. I recognized the mark of the Potens.

“What the hell!” Oh, my God! My mind spun and fired off in so many directions at once, but the biggest one was I needed to get out of there.

I stepped back and slipped in her blood. I tossed the stuff I held, grabbed my bag, and raced blindly out the front door. Before I got far, I was grabbed from behind, and I caught a glimpse of Morgan as his fist met my face.

I blacked out cold.

Words pushed their way through my head as I lay there, but I could barely make sense of them.

“How did you guys know he was at the office?”

“We were following him,” a man’s voice answered. “Have been for a few days now.” I gave up trying and slipped back into the comfort of the darkness.

Cold water hit me, and my mouth opened wide as I gasped desperately for air. My mind scrambled to understand what was happening. I was shot from the hell I had been in to the hell I now found myself in. It looked like a basement of a bar. Boxes of whiskey lined the walls, and as my vision cleared, my stomach dropped when I saw the Devil himself in front of me. I swallowed hard and blinked at Trigger’s stare. I looked around and realized the other members of the Devil’s Reach, as well as Grim and Jesse, all stood around me. Then I spotted Knox, who looked totally wrung out and pissed.

Shit.

Then it hit me. “I didn’t kill her,” I stammered through my fear. “One minute she was alive, and the next…” Tears came then, but I didn’t care. “I really cared for her. I’d never hurt her.”

“Seems real convenient that you just so happened to be there the moment she got killed,” Knox hissed from where he leaned against a pillar.

“It looks bad,” I agreed. “It really does, I know. It’s just that given everything that’s been happening lately, I needed to get away from the hotel. Cameron and I, we’re butting heads, and I…” I stopped and tried to pull myself together. “I loved her, Knox, just like you did.”

“If you loved her so much, why’d you run?” He raised a brow in that way you know shit isn’t going to end well. Grim did the same thing.

“It was a Potens kill.” I watched their faces, but nothing showed. “Meaning a hired hit.” I waited, and still nothing. “Meaning if they knew I was there, I’d be dead, too. I couldn’t risk it.”

Grim, who had been silent until then suddenly stepped up and grabbed a fistful of my hair and stared down at me. “Arms up,” he ordered, and I obeyed. I knew what he wanted to see. The tattoo. He pulled out his switchblade and cut a slit down the sleeves of my dress shirt. Then he used the point of his knife to pull apart the fabric to check. I had one tattoo that was a quote from Catch-22. It read, Anything worth dying for…is certainly worth living for . Grim shook his head at Trigger.

“I had the chance to join them,” I confessed. “My cellmate, Kurt,” I glanced at Grim, “would have loved nothing more than to recruit me to the Potens. That was his job there, to bring people in. But I had zero desire to join any kind of group.” I stopped myself there; I didn’t need to run the risk of aggravating Trigger. “Kurt saw potential in me anyway and helped me get out of jail early. I just had to agree to work for a hot-shot lawyer, and by that, I mean Cameron. I had to keep an eye on him for them.”

“You went to jail for murder,” Morgan grunted. “You don’t get off somethin’ like that.”

“No?” I pushed my glasses up my nose. “I’ve seen miracles happen with the MC world when they’re put behind bars, so let’s not pretend money doesn’t mean something in that system.”

“Morgan?” Trigger said.

“Records are sealed on the murder,” Morgan said over his shoulder, “but I’m still working on it.”

Allen had done a good job to make sure he was in no way connected to the dead body in my kitchen. I had no doubt he’d managed to get the record of the whole thing wiped or at least sealed up tight. He’d been a sorry excuse as an MC President, but he’d had power, at least until, from what I heard, Trigger murdered him. His own father.

“That’s where I met Calli,” I went on. “It sure beat working in construction.” I glanced at Brick and knew it was time. “I found him, your brother.”

Brick turned to me, and something raw raced over his face. “Where?”

“Here, Vegas. It took some digging, but he’s here if you want to meet him.”

Brick looked across the room, and that was when I saw Minnie next to Tess. Christ, I hadn’t even seen them until now.

“You get one chance,” Trigger warned, and I swallowed hard as his huge body suddenly loomed over me. “Let’s go.”

“There’s just one thing, Brick.” I squeezed one eye shut, and I felt the pain of Morgan’s punch. “I have to warn you about something.”

Rail, with his crazy eyes, offered to drive me on the back of his bike, and I nearly tripped over my feet at the thought. Thankfully, Grim had me by the scruff of my shirt and tossed me into his car. I reevaluated my relief as I was sandwiched between his dogs again. Their shoulders were like stone, and every time we hit a bump, they’d knock against me and gave me a look as though I was the cause. One licked his lips, and I prayed they couldn’t smell my fear. My earlier injuries were bad enough. I didn’t need one of them to get pissed.

“I get how bad this looks,” I said quietly, in a desperate need to cut the tension in the car. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“Which part, exactly?” Grim kept his attention on my phone. He scrolled through it slowly. “The part where you were with Calli in the last moments of her life, or that you’ve been lying about knowing Brick’s brother all this time?”

“I only just found him,” I reminded him.

He pursed his lips and looked out the window but gave a small nod. “They might be blinded by what’s in front of them right now,” he referenced the Devil’s Reach who were riding all around us, “but it’s not lost on me that up until a few months ago, you never mentioned you knew anything about Brick’s family. Seems pretty convenient, if you ask me. Almost like an ace in your pocket.”

“Like I said, I know how bad it looks, but Grim—” I hesitated as he shot me a warning not to be so informal with him. “Mr. Gates, surely you can see why I’d keep that quiet. Dave wasn’t easy to track down. I moved mountains and pulled favors just to find the guy. I couldn’t bring up the fact I knew him until I had proof. I’ve no credibility with any of you, especially as an ex-convict and with, you know, my association with Cameron.”

“Would you have ever mentioned it if Cameron hadn’t outed that information at the meeting months ago?” I sighed because the truth was no, I’d had no intention of sharing I knew Brick’s brother. “Okay,” he went back to my phone, “so you can see why I’m finding it fucking hard to accept it now.”

I seized up as one of the dogs jammed his hip bone into mine. I swore he did it on purpose.

“I brought you Kurt. He was a longtime friend, someone I considered family. I did it because he was up to no good, and it might hurt Kenna. Do you think that was easy for me?” I swallowed the lump in my throat. I didn’t like showing such vulnerability to him. “I’m walking this Earth alone. Trust me or not, but I’ve shown nothing but respect to you and your family, and that includes Kenna.”

Grim kept scrolling. I wasn’t even sure if he heard me. I sat back in the seat and tucked the emotions he’d stirred up inside me deep down. I knew this moment would be challenging, but I needed the hope that things would smooth out from here on. He put the phone in his pocket, rested his arm on the armrest, and stared out the window. His finger brushed over his lips while he seemed deep in thought.

We pulled off the main street, and when we came to a stop, he locked the doors and shifted his cold gray eyes over to mine. “I want to make something perfectly clear while I have you alone.” The air in my lungs froze. “The only reason you’re not already tied to a cement block at the bottom of the Sultan Sea, with every bone in your body broken, is because of Kenna’s fondness for you.” He leaned forward. “Remember that from here on, because next time I won’t be so kind.” I couldn’t speak. I barely gave a nod but jumped when the locks shot up and the driver opened the door for him. He gave a command, and the dogs followed. I sagged in my seat.

I’d truly stared death in the eye one too many times.

Minnie shot me a death glare as I emerged from the car, and I knew it was now or never.

“He goes by Dave.” I filled Brick in as we stood next to Grim’s town car. I was pleased my voice didn’t give away the fact that I shook from the inside out. “There he is.” I nodded toward the skinny man who walked toward us. “Just be ready.” Minnie had taken Brick’s hand, but as Dave got near, she stepped back slightly. I saw her run her hand down his back as if to say ‘you’ve got this.’

Dave stopped in front of us and looked around. I waved, and he smiled but said nothing.

“Hi,” Brick rubbed the back of his head, “I’m Matt.” Dave just smiled again. “You might not remember, but we share the same old man.” Again, Dave just stood there and listened, but the big smile never changed.

“Does anyone else remember the chicken from Moana ?” Rail muttered, and Tess gave him a smack.

“Don’t be inappropriate.”

“Shit, sorry.” He rubbed his head.

Brick reached into his pocket and pulled out an old photo. He held it up. “This was us as kids.”

Dave studied the picture, and I felt the sweat roll as I caught Trigger’s eyes on me.

Come on, Dave. Look alive .

“Family.” Dave squinted at the photo, and Brick let out a relieved chuckle.

“Right,” he pointed at Dave and then at himself, “we’re family.”

Minnie smiled at Tess, and I inhaled for what felt like forever. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. Relief began to seep in slowly.

“Have you ever imagined what a belt sander can do to your face?” Morgan quietly asked as he sucked on a joint.

I shook my head. “No, not particularly.”

“’Kay.” He inhaled. “Just know if this goes south, you’ll find out.”

“Got it.”