Page 21 of Break Away (Riot MC Next Generation #2)

Chapter thirteen

Nine Days

Alexandra

On the dinette table in front of me sat a glass of Crown Royal Apple, the only liquor I had in the apartment. I glanced up from the glass and locked eyes with Beast, who sat opposite me with his own glass. “Tobias has to be lying.”

Beast poured himself another finger of flavored whiskey. “About which part? Your friend’s involvement or his intention to force himself on you?”

Ugh.

“Both, but definitely about Ines. She’s… I mean, she was a political science graduate student. Why would she help them sell drugs? For that matter, what would she even know about selling anything?”

Tundra shifted in his chair next to me. “We aren’t sure if he’s telling the truth either, Alexandra. But you need to be aware of your surroundings. Your friend passed away. If anyone thinks there’s cash or drugs here, they’re going to turn this place upside down.”

I nodded. “They did that already.”

He dipped his chin. “I mean even worse than what you reported to the cops. Hell, they might even break in and wait for you to come back from class.”

That was a distinct possibility. I pressed my lips together as I thought about it. “Where’s Raff?”

Beast sipped his whiskey and put it down. “He’s around. Don’t forget, he’s a prospect.”

“I know. We’ve talked about that.”

He cocked a brow. “Then you don’t have to worry about where he is.”

I dipped my chin. “He knows where Brantley lives, that’s my concern.”

A minuscule smile on his face, Beast shook his head twice and focused on me. “Tundra and I have to hit the road. I didn’t expect this to take as long as it did. Do you have any idea where Ines might hide cash? Did she hit the bank quite a bit?”

I scoffed. “No. I still can’t believe we found cocaine behind her bed. She hated running errands, so as far as I know, she rarely went to the bank.”

Tundra shared a look with Beast. “That jackass said her bed was the only place he didn’t look because it was heavy.” He looked at me. “Does that bed have a footboard?”

“No, just the headboard.”

He frowned. “Do you mind if I take a look at it?”

I tossed my hands out. “Have at it. I just don’t want to move the mattress again.”

We went into her bedroom. The faint scent of her perfume brought back memories of hitting the clubs last September before Brantley or Porter had entered the picture. I pushed the memories aside, determined not to cry in front of anyone.

Tundra moved a nightstand to the side and squeezed in so he could look at the wooden headboard.

It was dark stained, almost mission-style construction.

At each end, the leg of the headboard went higher with a round, decorative wooden piece at the top.

Tundra reached up and twisted the decorative piece.

His face went a touch pink, then after a dull squeak, the piece moved.

He pulled the wood free. “Hollow on the inside.”

“Grab a flashlight,” Beast said, looking at me.

I held my hand out. “Your phone has one, we can use that.”

He pointed a finger at me, pulled out his phone, the flash lit up, and he handed it to Tundra.

Tundra took it, went up on his toes, and peered down at the hollow opening. “Looks like it’s empty. You wanna take a look, Beast?”

Beast took his phone back and checked the headboard leg. “Yeah, that’s empty. My hunch is the other one is too, but let’s check it anyway. Hand me that piece, I’ll put it back while you loosen the other side.”

Unlike the first one, Tundra barely touched the decorative wooden piece on the opposite side. It moved immediately.

“That’s weird,” I muttered.

Tundra pulled the piece free and his head went back an inch. “Oh, that’s not good.” He pulled out a rolled-up wad of bills, and a little baggie of drugs that looked like small rocks. He tossed the bills over to Beast and threw the baggie onto the bed.

I wasn’t wise to the drug world, but I knew a bag like that had to be serious.

“That’s meth, Lex. You’re sure your roommate wasn’t into chemistry?” Tundra asked.

“Definitely not. I really think this is a set-up.”

Beast wobbled his head. “You might be right. This isn’t a lot of money. It’d be nice to know how much Bitcoin they were bringing in.”

“You regret being so harsh with that jackass an hour ago?” Tundra asked.

Beast jerked with a quiet chuckle. “Never. But…” Beast looked at me. “You said Rafferty knows where the other guy lives… Brantley?”

I nodded. “Do you think he’s going to tell you how much he was earning?”

Beast grinned. “He might… with some encouragement.”

Tundra put the bed post back together. “What about your bed? Does it have a similar setup with these decorative posts that are hollow enough to hide something like tightly rolled wads of cash?”

“She does,” Rafferty said from the doorway. “And she’s got a footboard, so if they’re hollow it makes for twice as many hiding spots.”

I whipped my head toward the sound of his voice.

He leaned against the doorjamb like he hadn’t missed the last hour of conversation.

His hair, which normally fell across his forehead, had a muss to it as though he’d run his hand through it repeatedly.

A sheen of sweat dotted his hairline and glistened along his neck.

Sweaty Rafferty… yum. Who knew I’d dig that?

“Why are you sweating?” I blurted.

Rafferty shot me a look, while Beast and Tundra ignored my question altogether.

“Let’s check that,” Tundra said, moving to the door.

Five minutes later, we stood in my room, Beast and Tundra had removed the top of the decorative headboard pieces and they frowned.

“Fuck! I thought for sure this would pan out,” Tundra said.

Rafferty twisted a piece of the footboard. “You haven’t checked down here, yet.”

I grabbed the top piece on the opposite side. It twisted easily and I removed it. A roll of cash was wedged inside. I plucked it out and blinked. Another roll sat beneath it.

“Oh, hell,” I muttered under my breath.

Beast sidled up to me. “Get that one, too. I’m gonna guess the whole leg is filled with cash.”

“There’s more here, too,” Rafferty said.

I glanced over at him. “Are you shitting me?”

He shot me a sympathetic look. “Wish that I were.”

Tundra crossed his arms on his burly chest. “You thinkin’ what I am, Beast?”

I shook my head. “Don’t say it. Obviously somebody’s trying to set me up, but I don’t think it was Ines.”

Raff threw another wad of cash onto my bed. “Lex, this is a shit load of money. It might only take us the next five or ten minutes to get it all out of the footboard, but who else had access to your room?”

Logically that made sense, but I refused to believe the worst of a woman I had come to love like a sister.

I shook my head. “You saw Brantley pick the lock on the doorbell camera footage. He could have had access easily. Hell, he and Ines hung out here routinely. He watched me come and go plenty - he’d deny it, but he had the opportunity to figure out my schedule.”

Beast had taken the rubber bands off the rolls of cash. “I don’t like this shit. Alexandra, dig the rest of those rolls out.”

I did as told, adding at least five more rolls to the pile. It might have been six, but Rafferty kept adding along with me and my mental count was muddled.

Beast set a pile of bills to the side and glanced up at us with a grimace.

“I’ve gone through five rolls, all of them held fifteen hundred each.

That doesn’t guarantee the other rolls are the same, but…

we’re at seven thousand five hundred dollars.

If those other rolls are the same, it’ll be almost fifteen grand in cash. ”

Tundra’s head bobbed in three short nods.

“That checks out with what that asshole told us tonight. If Ines sold two kilos and they split the third, two kilos would amount to about fifteen grand assuming a kilo goes for seven to eight grand. We have no idea what the purity is or whether they had a clientele that cared about that.”

Rafferty sighed. “But why hide it in Alexandra’s room? No matter who put the money here, they wouldn’t be able to easily access it when she’s in her room. I can see where Ines might expect people to come after her, but hiding it here doesn’t make sense.”

My mind had been fixated on that problem, too. I had a theory, but they’d probably shoot it down. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. “Brantley blamed me for the accident. Not just behind my back, but to the cop. If he knew the money was stashed in my room, maybe he thought —”

“Alexandra, we can’t work with if’s and maybe’s here,” Tundra said.

Rafferty came to my side. “No, I see what she’s saying. He has access when he’s here with Ines, he has lock-picking capabilities evidenced by the doorbell camera, and after the break-in… Maybe he expected the cops to find the drugs and the money - which would implicate Lex.”

Beast closed his eyes as though seeking patience. “He doesn’t gain anything from her being arrested. Cash is king, Rafferty. Why leave the money behind? He could have implicated Alexandra by leaving drugs behind and taken all this cash for himself.”

I sighed, feeling like the weight of the world was on my shoulders.

The more I listened to Tundra and Beast, the more I saw their logic.

How could Ines do this to me? How could I report it to the cops?

They would never believe me, and something told me Brantley and Tobias would find a way for me to take the blame.

Beast glanced at me, then tipped his head toward the door. “Grab a shopping bag, sweetheart. I’m not sitting around here counting this money. We’re gonna take it. I’ll count it at a hotel—”

“Hotel?” Tundra asked.

Beast frowned and nodded. “Yeah. We aren’t gonna make it back home tonight. After I call Janie, I’m gonna check in with Volt. Tomorrow, we’re confronting this Brantley asshole.”

“Awesome,” Rafferty whispered.

“What about the drugs? I don’t want either of you getting caught with it,” I said.