Page 6 of Lies Beneath Secrets (Skeleton Crew #1)
CHAPTER SIX
Con
“Any clue what this is about?” I ask, pulling out a chair to take a seat at the table. King called a meeting an hour ago and told us all to get to the clubhouse. It’s been a week since I’ve been here. While being here every day isn’t mandatory, when someone is gone for a while, it gets noticed.
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Rage shrugs, pulling out a chair next to me.
“Got us a problem.” Len meets my eyes, standing to the right of where our president should be, but for right now, it’s King.
“What kind of problem?” I ask but don’t get an answer before King walks into the room, tossing his phone into the box on the table, along with everyone else’s. Brucie then reaches over the table and closes the box with a sharp clap.
“Where the fuck have you been?” King looks right at me before he sits down.
“I’ve had business to attend to.”
“That business involve going to the beauty salon?” Len jeers, getting laughs from around the table.
“Man can’t get a haircut without getting harassed?” I defend myself. “I just got custody of my daughter. Been trying to figure life out.” King pauses for a moment at my explanation, eyeing me skeptically.
“Huh, never would have pegged you for the dad type,” King finally says, then sits down. “Well then, take all the time you need, Con.” I nod in response, wondering why he would give me such leniency. “We have two jobs coming up that will need three men and a spotter. The cargo belongs to the Flatliners. It needs to get there in one piece, no issues.” I only halfheartedly listen to the conversation at the table. I went on a job right before Boe was killed, and I most likely need to get my ass on another one but I just can’t bring myself to take one right now. Things have been going okay with Gabby so far, and she hasn’t had a meltdown like the one she did at the store again, although she does get a bit cranky in the middle of the day for some reason. That’s when I take her for a drive. Knocks her right out.
“Got one more thing to deal with.” Len stands up from the table, pulling my attention his way. “That woman you told me to find, King? I found her.” I drag my gaze from Len over to King, who’s now staring right at me.
“What woman?” I ask, not breaking eye contact with King.
“That pretty little waitress that works at the diner. You remember her, don’t you, Con?” Len snarks.
“Lots of pretty little waitresses in diners, Len. Be more specific.” I keep my tone level and look over to the asshole standing next to King. Two peas in a pod, they are.
“That’s enough. Len, sit the fuck down.” King waves off Len, who keeps that stupid grin on his face but does as he’s told. His dark, thinning hair only covers the back of his head, leaving a very large bald circle on top. Damn thing shines like a diamond. The mustache above his lip barely hides the fact he has two missing teeth he lost in a bar fight three years ago. It only adds to his sparkling personality. “You see that girl from the other night, Con?” King asks pointedly.
“I don’t know. It could have been her. I didn’t really get a good look at her face that night. It was dark.” I shrug. It’s the truth too. If Knox hadn’t shown me that picture he stole from her apartment, I wouldn’t have known it was her.
“Lauren Blakely. 404 Lindin Lane, Apartment 7,” Len spouts off her name and address. It sparks something inside me, causing the urge to jump across the table and knock a few more teeth out. I keep myself rooted to my chair, knowing that he’s only trying to get a reaction from me.
“Fine.” King waves off Len. “Con, since we’re in this damn mess because of you, I’m leaving you in charge of her.”
“In what mess? And in charge of her how?” I gape.
“She’s got two cop friends that come into that diner every day. I think she’s fucking one of them,” Len divulges. “Only takes one good fuck, and women spill their secrets.”
“Sounds like you watch her enough to have it all under control,” I argue. No way do I need to figure out how to take care of my daughter and babysit some woman.
“I asked you to do it, Con. Figure it out. The woman is your responsibility. She talks about us to anyone, you find out, and you take care of it.” King stands up from the table. “Now, I’m acting president, but we still need to vote on it. Law declares we get two weeks to decide and bring anyone to the table that opposes. Since shit went down the way it did, I’m saying we get this done now. We need a president now more than ever and to put all this behind us.” I glance over at Knox, who remains expressionless as he always is at these meetings. “Let’s vote!” King smacks the table, and each member casts their vote aloud. There isn’t any surprise that in the end, the vote lands on King unanimously. What does surprise me is when he stands up and passes over the VP patch to Knox.
“This is for you. Enforcer will be Len from now on.” There’s no question in King’s declaration.
“Thanks, Prez,” Knox says as he stands from the table and removes his cut, then pulls his knife from his boot. He slowly slides the blade under his enforcer patch, cutting away the thread that holds it in place. Len’s gap-toothed mouth smiles wide when Knox slides over the patch without a word.
“Thank you, Prez,” Len says to King.
“Good. Enough of that shit.” He smacks down the gavel and stands. “Let’s fucking party, boys.” Cheers erupt around the room, and it quickly empties out, leaving Knox and me behind.
“Didn’t see that one coming,” Knox breaks the silence, then stands to grab his phone from the now open box. I do the same and notice I have a voicemail. Swiping across the screen, I examine the phone a little. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” I lie and try to find the spot on the phone labeled voicemail .
“Need help?” Knox chuckles, eyeing me.
“Fuck off.” I turn around and keep swiping through the phone, finding nothing. “Where the fuck is the voicemail on this thing?” Behind me, Knox lets out another laugh, and I have half a mind to punch him right in the gut.
“Go to the square that has a phone on it. You see how it has a red dot there? That means you have a notification.”
“Jesus,” I grumble and click where he said to and find in the corner where it says voicemail. “Why are there words here? Is it a damn text or a voicemail?”
“That’s a transcript of the voicemail,” he explains, “Mr. I know how to use a damn phone.” He smacks me on the back and walks out of the room. I read the transcript text thing and realize it’s just the therapist’s office confirming Gabby’s appointment.
“Fucking hell,” I say aloud to the empty room and pocket my phone. Everyone is out in the bar celebrating King becoming president, and it’s expected of me to join. Gabby is with Kendra and Kaleb for the night, so there’s no reason for me to go home. Add in the fact King would take it as a snub if I were to leave, I’m not going anywhere. Accepting my fate, I walk out into the bar, and the music and smoke hits me right in the face. Knox already has a cigar lit and is at the poker table. Not wanting to get into a game just yet, I decide to get a beer.
“Hey, new girl,” Pace says, trying to get Siena’s attention, who’s currently struggling to hook up the keg. “You gotta have the tap unlocked, or it won’t go on.” He hops up over the bar to show her. “Here.” She watches as he adjusts the lever on the tap, then shows her how to screw it into place. “Now, you can put this down. It locks that tap into place.”
“I knew I was forgetting something.” She puts her hand to her head and smacks it a little, then reaches over to press the pump on the keg down.
“No!” both Pace and I yell in unison.
“What!” Siena jumps back, away from the now-tapped keg.
“You don’t pump right away. You’ll end up with nothing but foam,” Pace explains and grabs a pitcher from behind the bar. We don’t have a fancy establishment with taps built into the bar. Just a couple different kinds of beer in kegs and a cooler the women keep stocked. The liquor though? That’s a wide range.
“Well, it’s not like there’s a user manual for this stuff,” Siena huffs, then looks over at me while Pace helps himself to a pitcher of beer. “Guinness, right?”
“I’ll take a glass with it too.” She nods, then looks down at the cooler. I watch as she chews on her bottom lip for a little but then looks back up at me. “Black can with the gold top.”
“I remember,” she defends and looks for a little bit longer, moving things around. “There it is, hiding under something. Tina doesn’t know how to stock the cooler,” she says, then places the can in front of me. “This must be your go to?” she asks, grabbing a glass from behind her.
“Unless I’m in a mood, then it’s the scotch up there.” I point to the cluster of bottles. “This though?” I crack open the can and tilt my glass to pour in the liquid. “This will do for tonight.” I finish and set the can on the bar top. “Thank you. And you’ll get the hang of it.”
“I hope so. Are all the girls so…”
“Bitchy?”
“I was going to say catty, but we can go with your word.” She laughs a little, then glances over at where Tina is sitting, draped over King.
“She’s not a member. You don’t need to take shit from her,” I say, feeling like there’s some silent question there.
“She led me to believe otherwise.”
“Not surprising. To be honest, we haven’t had a woman join in quite some time. We aren’t what the club used to be. That reputation we once had isn’t the same.” She tilts her head a little and seems to be about to ask a question, but someone at the end of the bar yells to her for another drink.
Pace has since left to join the poker table with his pitcher, which is where I’m about to go, but Knox picks this moment to sit next to me. “New girl is cute.” He points at Siena with his cigar.
“She is,” I agree, but the tall blonde with tight jeans and leather tank top isn’t what I want. Something a bit shorter with a curvy ass and dark-brown hair is what’s on my mind. “How the fuck am I supposed to babysit some woman and figure out how to take care of my kid at the same time?” I take a long drink from my glass, forcing myself not to drink it all down in one go.
“Well, maybe you need a new place to live?” Knox says.
“New place to live?” I echo and turn in his direction, wondering what the hell he’s talking about. He did just tell me that me and Gabby could stay at his place for as long as we needed, right? Knox taps away at his phone, then looks up.
“Yep.” He extends his arm, showing me his phone. On the screen is an apartment listing at 404 Lindin Lane. “You and Gabby are going to move into an apartment in her building. Perfect cover. Single dad trying to raise his daughter all alone. Women love that shit. And you are… approachable now.” He gestures to where my beard used to be. “Keep that shit shaved, and you’ll have her thinking you’re a lost puppy.”
“You gotta be fucking kidding me,” I groan.
“I’ll help you move in.” Knox smacks me on the back and chuckles.