by Nicole Fox
He sighed again and leaned back in his chair. “Xavier's a good man. He saved my sister's life one time, and he knew I owed him one. A real big one. So, he wanted me to watch your back. He knew you were going to take over for Gator after he passed, and he hoped I could keep you straight and on the right side of things.”
“Fuck you,” I repeated, shaking my head. “Just . . . fuck you, man.”
“Look,” he said, leaning across the table, “I might've come in here as a favor to Xavier, but I stayed because I love the club, man. I used to do real deep undercover shit with some really nasty people. I did and saw things, Koen. But, you guys at F&B, you ain't like those pieces of shit. You're all decent guys, and I wouldn't ever rat any of you.”
Yep, needed another beer. I sighed and looked away.
Jace just fucking laughed, earning a glare from me.
Fed, though, kept pleading his case. “Man, I prospected the same as anyone else, same as you. I'm committed to the MC. I just happen to, you know, have a different past than I said.”
I ground my teeth together. After all this shit was said and done, I was going to need to see a dentist.
“This is just too goddamned rich,” Jace said before sucking down the last of her beer. She got up to grab another one. Clearly, she was enjoying this.
“When have I ever given you cause to doubt me, Boss?” Fed asked.
“Other than now?” I replied.
“Yeah, I guess. Ain't I been there doing the same things as you? Look, I ain't on the job anymore. If the club goes down, I go down right beside you.”
He did have a point on that. But, shit, that was a big set of lies he'd been feeding me. Just one more piece of bullshit after the other. I looked across the table at him, tried picturing him in a black suit and tie, but I couldn't do it. He just looked like Fed to me. Not, you know, a fed.
“Fine,” I said. “Guess we all got a past.”
Jace, who was just on her way back into the room with two beers in hand, had a good laugh at that one.
Goddamn she was a thorn in my side, even if she was the most beautiful rose I'd ever seen.
Shit, I'd even started to think like a romantic asshole. Fuck.
“So, what do you think, then?” I asked Fed. “Since, you know the inner workings of this shit and all.”
“I think we go for it,” Fed replied, slapping the table for emphasis. “I trust Xavier. He ain't steered me wrong. And, besides, Volkov was a prime target, but only when we could get away with it. Looks like our luck's running thin on that front. Sooner or later, we're gonna catch a bullet, or even worse.”
“Worse than a bullet?” Benji asked, her high-pitched voice finally piping in. “I'd rather a bullet to the head than do time. Who's to say this McKesson bitch ain't gonna turn on us the moment we give them this Aleksey guy?”
“I think,” Jace added in her two cents from beside me, “we listen to Koen on this. He's the Boss, right? And Benji and I are in the club now, right? What he says goes, far as I'm concerned.”
Fed nodded along, agreeing with her. “She's right, Koen. It's your choice.”
I chewed the inside of my mouth and sucked down another gulp of my fresh beer. Decisions, decisions, fucking decisions.
Finally, though, the obvious choice stood out to me, presenting itself and spinning around just so it could sit in my lap.
“Alright, we talk to this agent,” I said, raising my hand to plead to Benji for quiet. “Just talk for right now. Let's hear what she needs, and what she can give us in return. If it's just me, that's fine. But, I think this is a good opportunity, maybe the only one we'll ever have, to get on the right side of the law. Maybe we can even get out of this shit for good.”
“For good?” Fed asked, his eyes brightening a little.
“Yeah,” I said, nodding before I turned to Jace.
She looked back at me, those beautiful brown eyes of hers drilling deep into my soul. I could see a life with her, maybe, some place out and away from the city. Just us, on some land, not having to knock over semi-trucks or sell guns to anyone just to make our daily bread.
“This could be the chance we need,” I said. “All of us.”
Goddamn, I thought. I was becoming some romantic asshole.
What the fuck happened to me?
Chapter Seventeen
Jace
Koen and I were dressed to the nines for tonight. He'd taken me to an actual adult boutique this time, and slapped down a wad of cash to cover any expenses I'd had. Benji and I had a field day, and I can honestly say I'd never had a pair of heels this sexy, or comfortable. To go with them, I'd picked up a pretty white dress and a new purse. Hell, Benji had even helped me put my hair up for the night.
Koen looked like he'd done a bit of shopping himself, or had at least dug to the back of his closet and found the sexiest suit I'd seen on a man in a while. It was tailored to him, slim but still showed off his impressive muscles in all the right places. He'd even shaved that perpetual five o'clock stubble from his face.
It was hard to believe this time last night we'd been putting the final touches on a gun heist against a Russian crime lord.
“Quit grinning so damned much at me,” he grunted as he swung open the door to the restaurant for me.
“Why should I?” I asked, my tone playful and poking. “Don't you want Agent McKesson to think we're in love?”
He just grumbled. “No, I want us to be believable.”
I slipped an arm through his and leaned against his side a little, letting him escort me along. “And nice couples like us don't look at each other that way?”
“Nope,” he said. “We're supposed to be simmering in mutual despair, angry that our love life died off years ago.”
I snickered. “Well we're not playing at being married, are we?”
“Suppose not,” he mumbled back. “But let's at least stop making it look like you've never seen me in a suit before, okay?”
I laughed. “Fine, fine,” I said, faking a little pout.
We headed into the restaurant's lounge and Koen scanned the bar for the agent.
A young woman, maybe in her early thirties approached us. “Koen Baldwin?” she asked, hand extended as she looked us both up and down.
She was pretty, if a little severe, and had ashen blonde hair that was pulled back in a no-nonsense bun, the roots straining away from her face. Something about her just screamed tomboy, like she got up and ran ten miles every morning, and used the jog time to catch purse snatchers on her route. Her moves were all measured, tight, like she kept herself under constant surveillance, consistent care. She was tough, and she knew it, too.
“Agent McKesson?” Koen replied, trying to keep his voice neutral and guarded.
“Claire, please. I have a table near the back,” she said, jerking a thumb back over her shoulder. “It's a little more private than the bar.” And, with that, she turned on the heel of her no-bullshit business flats, and led the way to her back table.
I gave Koen the eye, and he gave it right back to me. This woman seemed like her lie detector was going to be pretty strong. She'd definitely been around the block a few times. Koen made an “after you” gesture and we followed after her, with me in the lead.
The back booth she'd secured was quiet, and out of the way. Everyone here was murmuring quietly to each other anyways, not like in Club Hellfire where one full booth could make the whole place feel like a biker rally hard parked inside the bar.
“Please sit,” she said with a sweep of her hand as she slid into the far side of the booth behind what looked like a gin and tonic.
I slid onto the opposite bench first, with Koen squeezing in after me.
“Your grandfather said you had some information for me,” Claire said, jumping right in with both feet.
“Yes,” Koen said, folding his hands in front of him on the table. “He mentioned that you were going after one of my business associates, a man named Aleksey Volkov, right?”
&nbs
p; “Correct,” Claire said with a nod. “We've been looking into him, but so far there hasn't been anything solid to go on. Do you think you have something that we could use to broaden our investigation?”
“Not exactly,” Koen said, veering a little ways off from the truth. “You see, Mr. Volkov stiffed me on a business deal, but I've heard things about him from others in the industry. I think I can help you catch him in some compromising situations.”
I was surprised that he was diverting from the plan already, and shot him a sideways glance.
“What kind of business deals did he and you have a disagreement on?” Claire carefully asked. She was clearly weighing each word that came out of his mouth, and I had a feeling she wasn't going to like what he had to say. “Sorry, I have to ask. Your grandfather didn't mention that part of it in our phone conversation.”
“Yes, well,” Koen said, foundering a little, “I can't really disclose that because of an agreement we signed. I'd be breaking the, uh, contractual obligation, you see, and open myself up to lawsuits.”
“Oh,” Claire said, sitting back a little. “Okay. Well, what did you mean to do to help me, then, if you can't disclose these dealings?”
Koen leaned forward a little, hunching his shoulders like he was conspiring with her. “I think,” he began, “I can get him into a hotel room and get him to admit to illegally selling firearms, like the rumor that's going around.”
“You could, could you?”
I kept my smile up, despite the fact that I didn't think Agent McKesson was going to buy it.
“Yes,” Koen said. “I'd need certain assurances, of course.”
“What kind are we talking about?” she asked.
“That you would leave me and my associates out of this. I don't want to be investigated before, during, or afterward. But, I promise you, I can get him to you on a silver platter.”
Halfway through his last statement, Agent McKesson rolled her eyes so hard, they looked like they were about unscrew from their sockets. “Mr. Baldwin, let me know just stop you right there. I don't know what your grandfather told you, but that ain't gonna fly. We need to know the full extent of your business dealings, and we have to know if there's any outstanding liability on you before we just give you a free pass on this.”
“But, I can get him for you,” Koen replied. “I'm telling you, we can send this guy up the river. Believe me, he's dirty as all Hell.”
I fiddled with my hands in my lap, itching to say my peace. Koen was just screwing this all up with his needless dodging. For once, we needed to be frank with someone, needed to actually tell the damned truth.
“Mr. Baldwin . . . Koen.” The FBI agent leaned in closer, so close her lips were almost touching Koen's. “I fucking know he's dirty. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. But, if you can't tell us what business you had with him, even a clue to it, then we can't talk turkey here. Got it?”
I leaned forward. “Koen,” I said, cutting him off as opened his mouth and went to speak, “cut the bullshit. Agent McKesson, let me tell you the truth. The whole truth. My name's Jace Spears, and I killed Sven Morokov in the hotel room.”
# # #
Koen
I don't know what the fuck Jace was thinking, or what she thought she'd accomplish by opening her big mouth, but there wasn't any stopping her now.
“Look,” she said, one eye on me and the other on the FBI agent, “I'm gonna be blunt. I ran away from home when I was sixteen and eventually ended up as a prostitute with Sven. I ran because my pervy-ass stepdaddy went from just beating me and my brother to giving me creepy looks the day my momma died, and I needed to get away from him before something worse than just looks happened to me. Sven was my pimp for years and years, and kept me as a prostitute.”
The shocked look on the Agent's face just grew and grew for the first leg of Jace's explanation, and my own mortification intensified. I wasn't sure where Jace was going with this, but I hoped it worked. Likely, though, it probably wouldn't. Of course, she wasn't the type of woman to take “no” for an answer. That much, at least, I'd learned over the last week.
“That night last week, it was me in the hotel room with Sven. My brother is Tomlin Spears, the boy that was found. He was my younger brother, and he somehow found me. Sven killed him, I shot Sven with his own gun. I'm willing to face the consequences for what I did, even though I don't feel a bit of guilt. So, if you gotta lock someone up, lock me up, alright? But, first, I want to help you make Aleksey pay for everything he's done. That man is a goddamn snake in the grass and deserves whatever he gets, especially after what happened to my brother.”
Agent McKesson's face had softened during Jace's rambling confession, enough so that I thought we even had a chance of convincing her to let us help. She took a deep drink from her cocktail and, crunching the ice, seemed to consider Jace's words carefully.
“Jace, let me start by saying, I can't even begin to understand what you've gone through, or are going through. I've met a lot of people with really tough lives, and this one's right up there.”
“Uh, thanks,” Jace said from beside me. Her eyes were lit up a little from just getting to unburden herself to the agent, and I could tell she was hopeful for things to work out.
“However,” the agent said, then paused and took another drink.
I, on the other hand, was not nearly as optimistic.
“However,” she began again, reaching across the table to put her hand over Jace's, “I can't help you. I'm going to disregard what you just told me, as I'm not working the case. When you go through the proper channels with the local authorities, please don't mention me. At all. My relationship with your boyfriend's grandfather would make it look improper as Hell for me to be involved.”
My heart sunk. Not only had Jace just admitted to killing Sven, she'd also showed as completely unreliable. And, without any help from the FBI, we were pretty much fucked when it came to getting out of this.
Agent McKesson turned her attention back to me, a frown creasing her lips. “And you, Mr. Baldwin. When you're ready to discuss what business you had with Mr. Volkov, and how you can be of better assistance, please contact me. Other than that, I think we're done here.” As she closed her remarks, she began digging through the pockets of her slacks. She pulled out as wad of bills and tossed it on the table between us.
“So, you're just going to leave?” Jace asked, her face completely downcast.
“Yes, Ms. Spears, I am.” And, with that, Agent McKesson was up and out of the little back booth.
“Fuck,” Jace groaned.
“Fuck is right,” I agreed as I turned to her.
“So, what now?” she asked.
“What now?” I asked, laughing a little. “Now we change our plans up. You, little girl, just completely fucked us over. Your save-the-day balls-to-the-wall attitude might have just cost you your goddamn freedom. We better get out of town before the local boys come sniffing around for you after that little stunt you just pulled. We're going on the run, sweetie.”
“Fuck,” Jace groaned again, this time drawing out the word as she planted her face in her hands.
“Yep,” I said. “Looks like we got all dressed up for nothing.”
Chapter Eighteen
Jace
“You fucking did what?” Benji screamed at me. Her eyes were wide, blood shot, and spittle flew from her lips. There we were, me and Koen both, getting reamed in the meeting room at Club Hellfire.
I hung my head in shame. There wasn't anything else I could really do. She and Koen were both right. I'd fucked up royally.
“What in the fucking fuck were you thinking, you fucking dipshit? You confessed to it, to a fucking cop?”
“I-”
“Shut the fuck up!” Benji screamed, cutting me off. “Everything that's happened in my fucked up life, in your fucked up life, for the last week has been because of you! We had a chance here, and you fucked it up with him. I don't know what's fucking going on
with you, but you need to pull your goddamned head out of your fucking ass before you get all of us arrested, or worse!”
I kept my head down. She was right, right about all of it. The hotel had been my fault, us ending up as property of the F&B MC was my fault, the truck had been all me, and now this. All of it, every bit of it.
Fed put a hand on her shoulder, and she paused to glance at him. She took a deep breath, tried to remain focused. But, then she was back at it, just not as loudly as before. “You dragged me away from my life,” Benji said, her voice dripping with resentment as she ticked off the outcome of my decisions on one hand. “Sure, it wasn't a great life, but you got me fucking shot along the way, and now I might be going down for aiding and abetting your sorry ass. I don't know what the fuck happened to you, Jace, but you're not the girl I met years ago.”