Page 19 of Break Away (Riot MC Next Generation #2)

Chapter twelve

Bluffed

Rafferty

Alexandra called several friends to let them know that Ines had passed away. Hearing Lex’s side of the conversations hurt, and I wished like hell I could make the calls for her, but I couldn’t. Every effort I made to soothe her felt ineffective, but something was better than nothing.

As I sat there with my arm around Alexandra’s shoulders, trying to comfort her, I’d lost track of how much time had passed since I spoke to Blood. Someone knocked at the door, and I cursed.

“Who do you think that could be?” she asked.

I let her go. “I’m about to find out.”

I opened the door to Beast and Tundra. Rather than open it any wider, I stepped out into the breezeway, pulling the door closed behind me. “Hey. You two must have sped the whole way.”

Beast cocked a brow. “No. The two of us were out in Middleburg when Blood called. We hit the lights just right. Is there a reason you aren’t letting us inside?”

I lowered my voice. “Her friend didn’t make it. We just found out a little over an hour ago. She’s been calling their friends to let them know.”

“Fuck,” Beast muttered.

“She lived here, too, right?” Tundra asked.

I nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go inside.”

Beast earned his road name because he was too handsome - though he was very strong and well muscled, like a beast. He’d patched in with the Biloxi brothers, but transferred to Jacksonville later.

He had two kids with his old lady - both boys.

I had a feeling he’d always wanted a daughter because he had a soft spot for all the daughters of his Riot brothers.

“Alexandra, you holding up all right?” he asked, grabbing her hands.

She pressed her lips together and nodded. “One thing at a time, right?”

He hugged her. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“Me, too, Beast.”

He let her go, and Tundra moved in to give her a bear hug. “You call us anytime if you need anything, you got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

Tundra shot a look at Beast. “Sir.” He tipped his head toward me. “Has he ever called us ‘sir’?”

Beast grinned for a moment and shook his head. “Let it go, man. Not today.”

Alexandra sat down on the sofa. From the look she aimed at Beast and Tundra, I suspected I wouldn’t like what she said next.

“So, Raff basically shot this idea down already, but—”

“Then the answer’s yes,” Beast said, grinning.

She smiled and shook her head. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. The guy you’re going to see… I’m an acquaintance of his and I think—”

“Nope,” Tundra said.

Beast shook his head and held up a hand for a second. “No, let’s hear her out.”

Her lips tipped up, but she didn’t fully smile. “I think you might have better luck if I ask him what’s going on.”

The room went silent for a few seconds.

“Did you expect her to say something else?” Tundra asked, looking at Beast.

“Not really, but I had hoped for a surprise.” Beast sat on the opposite end of the sofa and faced Alexandra. “Your idea isn’t a bad one, except for one problem.”

“What’s that?”

Beast leaned forward. “The moment drugs enter the picture, everything changes, sweetheart. Everything.”

“How so?”

Tundra sat in the arm chair. “Lies, to start with. Dealers will lie and cheat to get more money. Users will lie about whether they need a score or just had a hit. Considering that this guy’s just an acquaintance, I’m not sure you’d realize when he’s lying to you.”

Alexandra nodded. “Fine, but why not go to the dealers themselves, and throw Tobias under the bus?”

Beast looked alarmed. “I thought you knew this person? Why would you want to do that to him?”

“I figure they’d be more vindictive than even you three seeing as nobody likes thieves… And it might keep you all out of trouble.”

Beast chuckled. “We live for trouble, Alexandra, and your boy has to prove that he’s down for causing trouble when the situation calls for it, too.”

She twisted her lips to hide her frown. “I was afraid you’d say that.”

Tundra cracked his neck. “Know you’ve got lots of tests this week, but have you got any beer in this place?”

I chuckled. “There’s some Blue Moon, if that works for you.”

A couple hours later, the four of us sat around Alexandra’s small dinner table eating pizza and a salad.

Tundra polished off his beer and set the bottle down with a hollow thunk. “I don’t understand how you found out about the drugs in the first place. Most people wouldn’t own up to that shit.”

I swallowed the last bite of my pizza. “Yeah, I took a calculated risk and bluffed with Brantley.”

That got Beast’s attention from his swift head twist and his furrowed brow. “You bluffed. How exactly did you do that?”

Alexandra held her beer bottle in front of her lips. I noticed the bruising at the side of her head was starting to fade.

“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” she muttered.

I twisted my hands up. “We were thrown off to find Brantley here Monday morning. He left without taking anything - we never found out what he needed. After I checked the doorbell camera footage, it was clear he didn’t have the time to take anything.

Which meant he probably left something… Or he’d been looking for something, and we’d interrupted him. ”

Tundra shook his head. “That’s a hell of an assumption.”

I gave a single nod. “Yes, but without Ines here, why be in the apartment at all?”

“That’s fair.”

“Right. That evening, my gut said Brantley was behind the break-in, since we’d been gone long enough he had plenty of time to toss the place. But I recognized that was an even bigger assumption.”

Beast stroked the stubble along his jaw. “Why bluff about something like that?”

My eyes slid to Alexandra for a beat and back to Beast. “Because of Porter. Something told me I could play the two of them against one another, and that’s what happened.”

“I’m impressed,” Tundra muttered.

“Yeah,” Beast said.

Alexandra shook her head with a small smile on her face. “He’s always been a bluffer, he used to do it all the time.”

Tundra shared a look with Beast. “Seems like that could be his road name.”

Beast cocked a brow. “He’s gotta get done prospecting first, Tun.”

Alexandra stood and grabbed Tundra’s empty beer bottle. “Are you going to corner Tobias before or after the sun sets?

“Don’t worry about it,” I said.

She dropped the bottles into a recycle bin, shoved the paper plates into the garbage, and came back to the dining nook. “It’s not that simple, Raff.”

“It is, Alexandra. The less you know the better, right now,” Beast said.

She pressed her lips together into an angry pout. “That’s the last thing I want to hear.”

“Tough,” Tundra said.

“Don’t you have studying to do?” Beast asked.

“Always, but seeing as Brantley insinuated that Ines was using drugs and that’s as crazy as the day is long, I think I can put off studying until tomorrow. I want to know what’s up with Tobias and him stealing a kilo of cocaine.”

“Did Ines have a part-time job? Or any kind of internship?” Tundra asked.

Alexandra gave it some thought. “Not this semester. Last fall, she delivered auto parts for a distributor - but only part-time, mainly on weekends.”

Tundra cocked a brow. “You mean when they needed a timing belt or some other part that they didn’t have already, she would deliver it that day… or did she deliver it later?”

She sat down in a chair at the table. “I think that day, but I don’t know because I never really asked that.”

Keeping my mouth shut proved to be a massive struggle.

I sensed that Tundra had a theory. My gut said Ines was more involved than we realized, and maybe Brantley had lied to me about her wanting to score a hit.

In fact, part of me suspected he’d reversed the roles.

If Ines were selling drugs… I couldn’t mention that in front of Lex.

But from the way Brantley behaved, he definitely seemed the type to score a hit off Ines.

“How long did she have the job? Last semester only… or did she have the job for a year?” Beast asked.

That didn’t help my wayward thoughts, and seeing as Alexandra was damned intelligent, it keyed up her suspicions, too.

“Why do you ask?”

Beast held up his hands for a moment. “I don’t have a reason, I’m just curious. If it’s too difficult to talk about your friend right now—”

“No, it’s just that I get the feeling you and Tundra are assuming the worst of her.”

Beast slowly shook his head. “Not at all, honey. Seriously, I’m not assuming anything. Just trying to get a feel for the situation.”

I watched Alexandra. The way her chest deflated, she’d exhaled, and her expression softened on Beast. “Fine. The past few days have been so crazy. She worked the auto parts job for a little over a year, but not more than a year and a half, because that would have been more than three semesters.”

Tundra pushed his chair back from the table, but didn’t stand. “I don’t want to sound callous, but you two split the rent right down the middle, yeah?”

Alexandra aimed a pointed look at him. “Yes. And before you ask, no, she didn’t have any extra money all of a sudden. She didn’t have expensive clothes or anything out of the blue, either.”

I dragged my chair up next to hers and draped my arm over her shoulders. “Honey, they aren’t accusing her of anything, they just want to rule things out. Did she change since being with Brantley?”

Instantly she said, “No.”

We stared at her.

Her shoulders rose with her deep breath, as she pulled herself together.

“I mean, not any more than most people. She spent time with him and that meant we didn’t hang out as much…

She definitely skipped early morning workouts, but it’s not like you can blame that on drugs.

” Her cheeks turned a little pink. “People spend lots of time together when a relationship is new.”

Anyone could see this took a toll on her. After today’s news it was unlikely she’d be objective.

I gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Don’t get worked up over this.”