Then I see it hit Sly and Huck. Sly starts laughing so hard, he literally has tears rolling out of his eyes.
Sloan looks to Lox. “Babe, what is it? Is she an ex-girlfriend or something?”
Lox stands up and stalks around the room. “Fuck!!!” he screams at no one in particular.
Sly, finally composing himself enough, chuckles as he says, “Come on, man. Sloan will understand.”
Lox looks at me and I answer the question he’s not asking me. “Yes. I know everything.”
Rage fills his face and he storms from the room. Marco goes after him and Gibbs sits as confused as Sloan.
Huck sits forward with a half-smile on his face. “Okay. Way before you, like way way before you, we were young and stupid. Remember how we told Gibbs that night that we’d had dealings with Mike’s crew before?” Sloan nods. “Well, that same weekend we met a girl working in a strip club for them.” He points to the picture of Roxanne. “She was going by the name Zanne. Guns were fired in the club, she got us out. She and Lox hooked up that weekend. He was late coming down Saturday morning to meet us for breakfast. When Sly and I got to his room, he was in all his naked glory, handcuffed to a bed. Marco came in and we had a shit ton of explaining to do. Once I got Lox cut from the headboard, we searched for the girl. Didn’t find her. Her phone was off. It was like she never existed. After that weekend, Marco busted our asses, told us to get our shit together, and we did for the most part.”
My sister’s face looks like she may vomit for a moment and then she may bust out laughing.
The door opens back up and Lox comes in, looking like he may tear the damn room apart. “So can you answer me as to why she left my ass there?”
I nod and Sloan looks at me, now with a mixture of anger, disgust and a hint of understanding. “She got a text in the middle of, ahem, everything. Right?”
He nods, glancing at his wife nervously. “Yeah.”
“Well, that text was letting her know that her cover had been blown. She had to get away from you. She knew you were the kind of guy who would try and help her, which would have only ended up with you dead. She was on her way out of town when she was slammed into by a large truck. She was shot twice, she killed a couple of them, but she was, like I said before, left for dead. The warehouse where her team was staged was shot up. Within the next month her partner, who also happened to be her brother-in-law, along with her sister and her twin four-year-old nieces were killed in an explosion, her mother was killed in a car explosion that was meant for her right outside of the courthouse, she’d lost her boss and until recently, we thought her other partner.” I shake my head. “So I’m sorry your pride took a hit, brother, but she saved your fucking life. They were coming for her and you would have just been collateral damage.”
I see my sister is now crying. This is all very graphic for her. Sloan is kind and gentle. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to learn all of this at once.”
She stands from the table with a defiance on her face I used to see when we were younger. “I don’t care if Lox got fucked hanging from a ceiling fan before we were together! His past is nothing to me.” She shoves me in the chest. “What I care about is that YOU lied to me for years! Years, Jacob!” She starts for the door, holding her hand up to me. “I need time.”
She slams the door behind her on the way out and I look to the rest of them. Sly starts laughing again. “So Lox, really she doesn’t care if you got, and I quote, ‘fucked hanging from a ceiling fan.’ That’s awesome, man.”
Marco slaps him in the back of the head. “Shut the fuck up.” He turns to me. “Not that I particularly care for any of this, but you’re family so we’ll do it. Your matches with this guy’s crew, though, will be separate from anything else we do. They won’t be here either. Now you and Huck set up your times.” He turns and walks from the room.
Lox walks over to me. “Thanks for straightening all of that out for me.” Then he rears back and punches me in the face. “That’s for lying to your sister and upsetting her,” and then walks out.
Gibbs looks at me and shakes his head on his way to the door. “Damn. Just damn.”
Sly stands from the table. “Man, you’ve answered the burning question we’ve had for years. Thanks.” His face turns serious. “But don’t lie to the family like that again.”
Huck walks over and slaps me on the shoulder, “Let’s get to figuring out your training.”
CHAPTER 14
ROXANNE
How did I let him talk me into coming here? I know that he sat down the other day and explained it all to the guys and Sloan. Still, in all of the years I worked, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this fucking awkward. But Marco says he has a guy he thinks can help us, so Jacob wants me to meet with him and that guy. Frank had to have someone help him “disappear” so we don’t know who to trust anymore, in any agency, until we delve further into this.
Taking one final deep breath, I let myself out of the car and walk to the front doors of the gym. I immediately see Marco and give him a small wave. “Hello.”
He lifts his head. “Hey, come on back. The boys are all in the conference room.”
Walking down the hallway behind Marco, it feels like I’m walking into my own execution. All of my guts are telling me to turn around and run, leave it all in the past where it belongs. But I know the past is going to rear its ugly head soon enough and we won’t be able to stop it if we don’t get in front of it.
He opens the door to the room and I see all of them sitting around a long dark conference table. Jacob stands and walks me to a chair. As he pulls it out for me, he speaks, “Guys, this is Roxanne. Roxanne, I know it’s been years but I believe you’ve met some of the guys, and you know Gibbs.”
I look at Lox, who is looking anywhere but at me. Sly has this smirk on his face like he really wants to say something, but he’s afraid to. Huck is just like he was years ago. Calm and collected, studying the entire room.
I take a deep breath and let it out. “Okay, first I want to clear the air. This isn’t comfortable for me and I know it’s not comfortable for Lox, but let’s just be adults. Let’s just leave it all in the past. I’m not proud of what happened. I’m not happy that I had to leave you there like that, but I did it to save your life. We both knew that weekend was just for that weekend. I didn’t want you getting hurt or killed because we both needed to get off. When I go to bed at night, I still relive that night and a few more. The nightmares and the lives I did lose wake me up, yours would have only been one more to the pile. So can we please just move past it?”
He gives me a cold look across the table but once he finally sees my face, he relaxes and nods. “Yeah. I guess.”
There is a small knock at the door and Sloan walks in. “I just needed the keys to the Jeep, Lox, so I can take it to be serviced.” She looks to me. “Can I speak with you in the hall for a second?”
I stand up and follow her. “Cat fight!” I hear from the room behind me, followed by a pop and Marco saying, “Shut up, Sly.”
Once we step in the hall, she turns to me. “Look, I know all about what happened years ago. Although, had my brother not came in and made this huge confession, I probably wouldn’t have. I knew Lox had a past, I heard what they were like before I was around. I don’t like having it thrown in my face like that, but I also heard what all you were facing back then.” She gives me a small laugh, “And I was just listening at the door. I have to say you pegged him right. He would’ve followed you and I would still be a single mom trying to make ends meet. So as weird as this sounds coming from me, thanks for handcuffing him. I needed him in my life when he came along and I don’t know what I would do without him, or any of these guys for that matter. This is my family as much as Jacob is. So please be careful with what they get dragged into.”
I nod. “Sure. Trust me, all of this coming back wasn’t my idea of a good time. I was happy teaching my classes to whiny ass college kids and going home, drinking a beer and contemplating
getting a dog. I know you don’t owe me anything, but can I ask you for one favor?”
“I guess.”
“Can you ease up on your brother a little? I know this has been a lot to take in, but take it from someone who wishes she still had the opportunity to fight with her sister. Forgive him. He hasn’t said it out loud but I know since he had that meeting with you guys, he’s been hurting.”
She sighs, “Yeah, I know. It’s just hard for me to get over. He’s lied to me and our parents for years. He could’ve been killed at any time and we’d have never known what actually happened.” She swallows, visibly upset. “I love him. I’m just pissed at him.”
I reach over and touch her shoulder. “I get it. Just remember what I said. I’d give anything to do it all over again.”
She looks down and then up to face me with glassed-over eyes. “Yeah.” She steps back in the room to get the keys from Lox that she came for and I follow her inside, taking my seat.
A couple of minutes later, she leaves and I look around the table. “Any questions for me?”
Sly gives me a grin and raises his hand while Marco grits his teeth. “Why didn’t you pick me that weekend?”
Everyone in the room bursts out laughing, including Lox, and that makes me feel a little more at ease. “Well, Sly, what can I say? You seemed too easy and like I said, I needed to get off, not get disappointed.”
Gibbs clears his throat. “Slut,” he coughs out, pointing to Sly.
“I was not a slut! I was just very in touch with my sexuality.” He sits back, crossing his arms over his chest. “What is it with all the slut shaming?”
We’re interrupted by a much firmer knock. Marco yells out, “Come in!”
A man walks in with two guys behind him. They all have leather cuts on that say they’re part of the Hellions Motorcycle Club. In law enforcement, I was trained to profile bikers, but Marco walks over and shakes the man’s hand and gives him a back-slapping hug. “Good to see you, man.” Well, I guess Marco trusts him.
“Good to see your old jarhead ass, too,” the guy grunts out.
The guy who hugged Marco is pretty tall, he has very well kept long hair tied back at his neck, and he’s pretty cleaned up with the exception of a goatee. He’s actually pretty hot for an older guy. The other two are also attractive in a badass kind of way. One guy has short spikey hair with an eyebrow ring and lip ring along with full sleeve tattoos on display covering the tops of his hands. The other man isn’t as tall as the oldest but taller than piercing man and has a Hispanic complexion. I notice wedding bands on those two. I wasn’t aware bikers got married or took it serious enough to wear a wedding band. The way they’re profiled, they have several women at the ready and they fuck around carelessly, running guns and drugs for money. Also, they kill anyone in their path who gets in the way. But for Marco to trust them? Well, that says sometimes profilers are wrong.
Marco turns to address the room. “Everyone, this old bastard is Roundman, we met too many damn years ago when I was stationed in North Carolina. Roundman, these are my boys.” He points around the table. “Lox, Sly, Huck, and Gibbs. That’s our former agents Jacob Foster and Roxanne Gilliland.”
Roundman nods and turns to the guys with him. “Most of you guys have met Tank and Ruby when they brought the new equipment down.”
All of the guys stand up and shake hands with them. Huck and the guy Ruby seem to enjoy talking, which doesn’t strike me as normal Huck, and this other guy really doesn’t seem like the talkative type either.
Marco speaks up. “All right, let’s sit down and see where we are.”
We all take seats back at the table. Jacob takes the folder holding some old photos of Frank and a quick snapshot I took with my phone the other night.
“Okay, so this man was actually Roxanne’s partner years ago. Once she left the agency, she still kept in touch.” He fills them in on the case, all of the loss in my life and how I thought Frank was dead. How everything ties to Gibbs, me, Pensacola, Mike Juarez and Wes Lowe.
Roundman looks to his guys and then back to me. He lets out a long whistle. “Wes Lowe? Son of a bitch. Girl, you put yourself in that world of shit? Damn drug lords and perverts.” I have to fight a chuckle thinking of this badass calling someone a pervert.
I nod. “Yeah, it was all I’d ever known and I was damn good at it—well, I thought I was. What kind of shit agent was I to not even realize my own partner was dirty?”
Ruby eyes me. “Don’t give yourself a hard time about that, we’ve all had someone betray us. Sometimes that puts us or someone we love in danger we should’ve never been in.”
Roundman shakes his head. “I can’t give you a hard time. My damn daughter, Doll, is a hardass, too.” He chuckles. “How in the hell Tripp puts up with her, I’ll never know.”
Tank laughs. “Yeah, my old lady, Sass, she and Doll together could burn the damn world to the ground.”
I have to laugh at these big bikers talking about these women with such a humorous admiration. It’s apparent that they’d do anything for them, but they respect them as well.
Roundman takes out a couple pieces of paper and then shoves the folder forward. “We have some contacts in the area down there. They aren’t Hellions, but close.” I hear Tank let out something that sounds like a growl. “Tank, shut it. She’s happy down there, leave it.” He looks to Jacob. “These guys have a tech wiz and plenty of contacts; they’ll find out some stuff. I’ll make a call.” He steps out into the hall.
Marco looks at Tank. “Thanks for coming down here, guys. I know you guys don’t have a lot of time and I feel like I wasted yours.”
“Nah. Roundman says go and we do. You’re a friend to him, you’re a friend to the Hellions. Besides, the old man needed a ride, he’s had a lot on his mind. So we’re here,” he says, folding his hands together and sitting back in his chair.
Roundman comes back in. “Gonna send some of the info on that guy to my contact. He’s going to look into this gym and the late Frank Weeks, see what all he can find out. He’ll be in touch with me when he does and I’ll get up with you. Marco, let’s have a drink later. The boys and I are staying in town overnight, gonna ride in the morning.”
Marco stands and walks with them to the door. “Thanks, I’ll call you in a bit.”
I look to Roundman, Tank, and Ruby. “Thanks for your help.”
Roundman tips his head down. “You stay tough, girl. Take care.” With that, Marco follows them out the door.
Lox looks at us. “Why do we have to drag more people into this? You guys should have enough cop contacts to get this information.”
“Because we don’t know who we can trust with them. If Frank could pull this disappearing act off on me and others who knew him, he has some help somewhere,” I explain.
Jacob glares at him. “Exactly. Look, I’m not happy about bringing outsiders into this. I kept my life a secret for years to protect everyone around me, but this shit has rolled right into the middle of it now. I have no choice. I trust you guys. I trust you with my sister. Marco says I can trust these guys and you guys so that’s what I have to go with.”
Huck looks at Jacob. “All right. This sucks but we have to deal with it. Jacob, we need to kick up your training. Let’s go talk.” He motions for Gibbs to come with.
Lox stands quickly and follows them out the door in a huff. Sly looks at me with a grin. “What, Sly?”
“After all of these years, I’m still wondering how you got my best friend’s uptight ass to try out handcuffs. Hell, I was shocked he was willing to go for a weekend fling, but then to find his ass handcuffed to a bed? Well, that was the proudest day of my damn life.”
I can’t help it, Sly is just as funny as I remember and at the moment, I really need the break in tension. I start laughing. “Skill, Sly. Skill.”
CHAPTER 15
JACOB
“Ninety more seconds,” Huck calls out as I pound on the speed bag. “Sixty seconds, pick up the intensity.”
I try to speed up but my arms feel like they’re about to fall off. “Thirty seconds! Keep it up, almost there.” My heart is pounding out of my chest. “Done!”
I drop my arms to my side. “Fuck.”
“Get some water,” Huck commands.
He’s definitely a different guy in training mode. Normally Huck is silent and broody, but get him in the gym and he can’t quit barking at you. He’s been working me like this for a week now, since he kicked my training into high gear. We haven’t gotten any word from Miami.
I grab my water bottle and chug. He steps over and takes a sip of his water. “Look, I know I seem like an asshole in here, but I’m trying to catch you up with people who’ve been fighting for years. If we’re lucky, you’ll get some punk with a chip on his shoulder who decided to get in the ring and prove something. But you could also get someone like us, some guy who has been in training since he was a teenager. You have some good basics from all of your law enforcement training, we’ve just got to tighten those up. I just wanna make sure Sloan doesn’t kick my ass for not training you and letting you get your ass kicked.”
“Doubt she’d do that right now anyway,” I say, taking another chug from my water.
He waves me off. “Ah. Sloan’s just pissed. She hated being kept in the dark. I know why you did it and I’m sure she does, too, but in true Sloan fashion, she doesn’t like not being in control. Something I’m sure you understand.”
I shake my head a little. “Yeah, I get it.”
He slaps my shoulder. “All right, back to work. I want you to have Gibbs’ quickness with Lox’s stamina and mine and Sly’s force.”
I laugh. “You think I’m Robocop and you can build me how you want me?”
He gives me a sly grin.” You’re damn right I can.” He points me to the treadmill. “Okay, let’s run.”
“You aren’t going to have me chase a chicken or beat up a side of beef, are you?”
Jacob (Exposed Marco's MMA Boys #5) Page 7