Page 23 of Break Away (Riot MC Next Generation #2)

Chapter fourteen

A Club Problem

Rafferty

Sunlight filtered through the blinds, and I woke before Alexandra again. On the one hand, it made me miss my bedroom with the blackout curtains I’d installed. On the other hand, it gave me time to wake her up the best way I knew how - with my mouth between her legs.

When I had her good and primed, I knifed off the bed, much to her dismay. I scooped her up in my arms and finished what we started in the shower.

Since her schedule was somewhat flexible, we got on my Triumph and I took her to Metro Diner for breakfast.

“I really should be at home studying, Raff,” she said, sipping her coffee.

I nodded. “And you need a good meal to start your day right. I know you love any form of eggs Benedict, and Metro has some of the best - so that’s what you’ll get.”

“Thanks for taking care of me,” she said.

“It’s not a problem, Lex. Besides, how else was I gonna tear you away from your notes to get you on the back of my bike?”

A sexy grin twisted her lips. “Yeah, your bike far and away beats being on the Vespa.”

I chuckled. “That isn’t sayin’ much, Robertson.”

She set her coffee cup down. “We should have invited Tundra and Beast.”

I shook my head. “No, we shouldn’t have. They’re probably just getting up. And this would cost me twice as much since they’d force me to buy them breakfast.”

Alexandra and I had just dismounted from my bike when Beast and Tundra rode into the apartment complex parking lot. We waited on the sidewalk for them.

Beast tipped his head toward the building. “Let’s head up to her unit.”

Once we were all inside, Beast motioned for us to settle at the dinette table.

“This shit’s fucked up, Alexandra,” Beast said.

She gave a short nod. “You’re telling me.”

His lips quirked in concession. “Yeah, all the money tallied up to fifteen thousand three-hundred dollars.”

Alexandra’s mouth dropped open, and she went pale. “That’s a shitload of cash.”

Tundra sighed. “Yeah, and it stands to reason that someone’s gonna be looking for it. Soon.”

Beast locked eyes with Alexandra. “How soon are you done with your finals?”

“Tomorrow,” she breathed.

Beast nodded. “Good. Volt and I spoke this morning. He’s sharing this news with Cal within the hour. No doubt, Cal will want you away from here until this shit gets settled.”

“That was already the plan,” I murmured.

Tundra leaned forward. “When’s she coming back? The longer she can stay away, the better.”

I looked at Tundra. “She’ll be gone nine days. And unless the brothers have a problem with it, I’m staying at least two days with her when she comes back.”

Beast pushed back from the table, but didn’t stand. “That’s good. We’re taking the cash and the drugs back to Jacksonville with us. Any other decisions will be made during church.”

Alexandra’s brows drew together. “Why church? This isn’t a club problem.”

Beast’s gaze cut to me and back to her. “You got two brothers and a prospect here. It became a club problem when they decided to set you up.”

She shook her head. “But for all we know, Ines could have done that thinking it would keep the money hidden.”

“Doesn’t matter, we’re keeping you safe,” Tundra said.

From the pointed look she aimed at Tundra, I braced for what Alexandra said next.

“What about cornering Brantley?”

Tundra smiled like he enjoyed her spunky attitude. “That’s club business now.”

Beast stood before Alexandra could retort. “You got studying to do. Tundra and I have to hit the road, so give us hugs and we’ll let you do your thing.”

She moved to him and gave him a hug.

Tundra said, “The prospect has some shit to do for us before we go. Lock the door after us.”

I waited until I heard the lock click behind us before I followed Beast and Tundra downstairs.

They stopped at their bikes.

In a low voice, I asked, “Are we going to talk to Brantley?”

Beast gave the slightest of nods. “I didn’t want her to know that. If I hadn’t had whiskey last night I’d have kept that to myself.”

I nodded. “You want me to lead the way?”

Tundra grinned. “Bikes are noisy. We need you to drive us over there.”

We loaded into my truck and headed over to Brantley’s.

“Don’t park too close to his unit,” Beast said as I turned off University.

I smiled. “Not a problem.”

Five minutes later, I found a street-side space half a block from Brantley’s building.

Beast shrugged out of his cut, folded it, angled out of the truck, and placed his cut on the seat. I glanced to Tundra, but he didn’t follow suit.

“I’m thinking Tobias told this asshole everything. Only one of us has to convince him to open the door. That’ll be easier if I don’t look like a biker,” Beast explained.

I nodded. “He won’t be thrilled to see me again. He’s in unit one-oh-two.”

Beast knocked on the door, and to my surprise, Brantley opened it.

“Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested, man.”

Beast shot him a gleaming white smile. “Even if it’s that half-a-kilo you’ve been lookin’ for?”

Brantley kept quiet.

Beast tipped his head toward the apartment. “I think you’re gonna want to talk to me. Or I can just send the Sixers your way.”

Brantley opened the door further. Beast waited a beat while Tundra and I joined him.

The moment he caught sight of me, Brantley’s eyes widened. “He’s not comin’ in here.”

Beast had a foot over the threshold. “He’s with me, so yeah, he is comin’ in here. You tell us the fuckin’ truth and keep your cool, you won’t have to worry about him hurting you.”

Brantley shot me a dirty look and Tundra and I went inside the unit.

On the far side of the room, there was a hallway. Beast walked to the mouth of the hallway and turned around. “You got anybody else here with you?”

“No,” Brantley said.

“We gonna believe him?” Tundra asked, standing at the walkway into the kitchen.

If I stayed where I was at the door, we had Brantley blocked from any exit.

Beast shook his head. “That’s a good point. Check that out for me, Tun.”

Brantley stepped forward. “He can’t go back there.”

Beast shot me a look and I pushed Brantley up against the wall.

He glared at me, then yelled over my shoulder, “There’s nobody else here, why would I lie about that?”

Tundra lumbered down the hall.

Beast smiled at Brantley, but it held no humor. “I don’t know, but my rule of thumb is never trust anyone who’s into drugs. Whether they sell or use.”

Tundra returned to the room and stationed himself in front of the kitchen. “Nobody else, here, man.”

I let go of Brantley and moved back to the front door.

“Who was the brains behind your drug sales? You or Ines?” Beast asked.

Brantley gave a short head shake, his lank hair grazing his shoulders. “What do you care? I thought you found the drugs?”

“Humor me, asshole. Who was in charge? You or Ines?”

“Ines,” Brantley hissed.

“How much of your sales were through Bitcoin?”

Brantley narrowed his eyes at Beast. “I didn’t keep track.”

Beast pulled in a breath. “A rough guess will work here. Half? More than that?”

“Yeah, definitely half, probably closer to three-quarters.”

“How’d you meet Ines?” Beast asked.

“I’m not telling you that.”

“Why not?”

Brantley’s chest rose as he took a deep breath. “She just passed on, man. I don’t feel like reliving that.”

“Did you meet her because of drugs?” Tundra asked.

He shook his head. “No. We went to the same gym. I was leaving and some asshole was giving her a hard time.”

Beast arched a brow. “What kind of asshole?”

Brantley twisted his hands up. “An asshole, it’s not like there’s different kinds.”

Tundra grunted. “Yeah, there are. Was it an asshole like us? Someone like the Sixers? Or a run of the mill asshole who spotted her leaving the gym, liked what they saw, and thought she owed them the time of day or some shit?”

Realization crept over Brantley’s expression. “Probably like the last. This guy looked like a mechanic, but it was dim in the parking lot.”

Beast crossed his arms. “Did you ask her if she knew him?”

Brantley closed his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t remember. The only thing I remember is that I didn’t think I’d be able to get him to leave.”

Tundra shook his head. “So when he finally left, did you bother to ask Ines what he wanted?”

For a long moment, Brantley stared at the floor. “I’m pretty sure she told me he wanted money.”

Beast’s eyes brows went up. “But he didn’t ask you for money?”

“No,” Brantley said slowly.

Tundra nodded once. “You ever see him again?”

Brantley shook his head.

“She ever mention having a run-in like that again?” Beast asked.

Another head shake.

Beast shoved his hands in his pockets. “Your buddy Tobias mentioned getting paid every two weeks. How’d you convert your crypto to actual cash? Not that many places let you pay with that shit.”

Brantley rolled his eyes. “It isn’t shit, and there’s ATMs that let you access your crypto currency. You make a withdrawal like anyone else.”

The room went silent.

I stared at Brantley. Something in his posture told me he was keeping something from us. “You want to tell us what you’re hiding,” I prompted.

He turned his head to me. I could practically see him arguing with himself. “Ines told me she wasn’t taking that card with her. Said she’d left it in her underwear drawer. When I went looking for the drugs, I searched for that card too, so I could get Tobias and myself paid for the month.”

“And the card wasn’t there?” I asked.

“No.”

“Maybe she forgot to take it out of her wallet,” Tundra suggested.

“Yeah, my woman does that all the time,” Beast said.

“Ines wasn’t like that.”

“They were running late coming to get you, that’s what Lex told me,” I said.

Brantley shook his head. “She wouldn’t have forgotten.”

I pressed my lips together.

“What are you thinking, prospect?” Beast asked.

I shrugged a shoulder. “He could ask her parents. Maybe it’s still in her wallet, and at this point, they’ve probably received her purse and other effects from the hospital or the police. Assuming the purse wasn’t thrown out of the car during the accident.”

“Oh yeah, they’re gonna tell me if her ATM card is in her wallet. Hell, they probably won’t even talk to me.”

Beast rolled his eyes. “No joke, you and your buddy aren’t cut out for drug dealing. Be more creative. Tell them that you and Ines opened an account together. She said she’d left the card in her dresser, you can’t find it. You don’t want someone to make a withdrawal.”

Brantley nodded. “That might work.”

Beast and Brantley went into a stare down. Finally Beast said, “Your cell phone. Call them now. I’m not counting on your ass to call me later or some shit to tell me what they said.”

“Why do you care about this?” Brantley asked.

Beast widened his eyes. “Because I care about Alexandra and it looks more and more like someone’s trying to put her in the middle of this shit.”

A cell phone sat on the coffee table. I picked it up and took it to Brantley.

We listened to him awkwardly explain about the bank card.

There was a long pause. Then his eyes went wide. “It’s there? In her wallet?”

Pause.

Brantley shook his head. “No, no. I’m just relieved it’s still there.” His words came out in such a rush, it made his relief believable. “Would you mind sending it to me? Or can I pick it up at her funeral?”

My head tipped back at his stupidity since that question blew a hole through the lie.

“Oh, yeah. I can try going to the bank, but I haven’t wanted to tell them Ines is dead yet. They might want a, um, form like a…”

“Death certificate,” Beast whispered.

Brantley nodded. “Death certificate, and I just—”

He stopped short. His eyes closed and he swallowed. “Yeah. That’d be good. I appreciate it, Mr. Tallow. I’ll text you my address, and I’m sorry to bother you.”

Pause.

“Right. I’ll send you half the money that’s there. No problem.”

Beast and I shared a look that said, there wasn’t a chance of that happening.

Brantley ended the call and sighed.

Tundra edged away from the kitchen. “Now that we know the ATM card is good, how are you gonna get the money? Do you know her PIN?”

He shook his head. “No, but I figured I could guess it.”

Beast shook his head. “Okay, I’m pretty sure we’re done here.”

“What about the drugs? You said you found them. I need to sell it so I can pay my rent, man.”

A mischievous glimmer hit Tundra’s eyes. “Work with your boy Toby, sell that other half of the kilo.”

“It got stolen,” Brantley clipped out.

Tundra threw his hands out and shook his head. “What can you do? There’s no honor among thieves or drug dealers. Another reason not to do drugs, man.”

At Tundra’s words, Beast stopped. He glanced at Brantley. “You know, I didn’t pressure your buddy last night about the stolen coke…but I find it strange that you hid cocaine in your girlfriend’s apartment, and then your buddy suddenly can’t find half of the stolen kilo.”

“What’s your point?” Brantley asked.

“Maybe good ol’ Toby’s just lying about the product being stolen. Like he said, there’s no honor among thieves. Just a thought.”

I drove us back to Alexandra’s, and cut the engine. “Before we go up there, do you think Ines was stashing the cash in Alexandra’s room and just hadn’t told her?”

Beast ran his hand down the side of his face. “Maybe. That would be the best case scenario, but my gut says someone wants to set her up for a fall.”

I shook my head. “But why? It doesn’t make sense.”

Beast shot me a questioning look. “Doesn’t it though?

Her father’s the sergeant-at-arms of an MC.

We’re legit now, but there was a time when we weren’t and Cal was part of that.

Alexandra’s friends might not know that, but if they thought someone was onto them, who better to take the fall than a biker’s daughter? ”

I mulled it over. Porter’s actions and reaction to meeting Cal came to mind, but I kept that to myself. He wasn’t part of this… at least, not until I’d forced him to take me to Brantley’s.

“Right. You two headed back?”

Beast nodded and opened his door. “Yeah. You’re coming back tonight, right?”

“Tomorrow night.”

“Good. You need to be at the clubhouse first thing in the morning.”

Tundra leaned forward. “Beast, we need to grab lunch. Why don’t we take Alexandra to lunch before we go.”

Beast mulled it over. “That works. We’ll go to McAllister’s since they aren’t in Jacksonville anymore.”