Page 214 of Lost Lyrebird

“Well, isn’t that cute.The two little love birds finally figured their shit out.”

“Deck.”

“Nah, Gypsy.I can be pissed.My God given right to be.This fucker disappeared for how fuckin’ long and left you to escape that place.Didn’t lift a finger to help after he’d gotten the worst kind of target pinned on your back.Does he know all that shit?Know Veno stabbed you, and he let the Thirteens beat you so bad you were in the hospital for a week?That that shitty landlord of his made you trade favors for rent?That you still have nightmares and panic attacks all the fucking time because of that shit.”

Finn raises his arm, rests his elbows on the table, and leans forward.“I know all of it.And I’m ...”

“What?”Deeds spits out and matches his posturing.

“Fuckin’ grateful you were there to see her through the worst of it.”

Deeds looks at him for a long time.“Not what I thought you were gonna say.”

Finn shrugs his shoulders.“Doesn’t make it any less true.I care for her more than you know.It fuckin’ rips me up that I wasn’t there to protect her when she went through that shit.I would’ve done anything to save her from it.”

Deeds’ gaze bounces from Finn to me and back.“So it’s for real for you then?”

“Always was.I’d been looking for her but didn’t know how to track her down.There’s a reason for that, which I think you’re privy to.”

“The injury, when you did your last tour?”

Finn nods.“Head injury.Shrapnel in the brain.Amnesia and the whole nine yards.Couldn’t remember enough of the past to use it to find her.”

Again, Deeds takes the time to answer.But his question this time isn’t for Finn.It’s for me.“So you finally made your choice.”

“Lily and I, one of the deals we made was no more secrets.No more lies.”His tone is calm but firm.That’s why she came clean about what you sent her here to do.You were a big secret.One I wasn’t fuckin’ expecting.”

“I’ll bet, but I wanna hear it from her.”

I give him the words I couldn’t say when we were messing around.At the time, I told myself it was because I couldn’t have Finn, so I couldn’t give voice to them or own them like I do now.“It’s always been him.I just didn’t know what I do now, and that truth… it changed everything.”

The silence that follows is heavy.

Deeds breaks it by asking, “So what all did you tell them?”He takes in the men present, like he’s weighing every possible option and measuring their worth.His eyes dart to Dozer, the largest unspoken threat.“How much do you know?”

I hesitate, swallowing the lump in my throat.“Everything,” I say quietly.

Dozer’s glaring and hasn’t taken his gaze off Deeds.“I’ll get straight to the point, man—we need to know what you know.We got history, and I came here out of respect for that.Woulda hoped you’d do the same, but here we are.”

Deeds lets out a slow breath, and that cocky, unbothered smirk creeps back onto his face.He stretches out and gets comfortable.“You gonna believe me?”

Finn fires back, “Can you back it up?”

“Some of it.But not everything, that’s why I sent her.”He motions to me.“I know the basics and what’s happening on the cartel side of things from our point of view, but Lily’s gonna have a better sense of who’s on the inside that you can’t trust.”

Every eye in the room turns to me.Finn knows everything, but he’s going to let me be the one to share all the details.

“You’ve got at least three Thirteen Devils in your club.”

“Who?”This comes from Taz, and his face is a mask of disbelief.

Deed’s cocks raises a brow and looks directly at me.

Dozer’s head snaps to the side, and a surprised look crosses his features.“Three, you only told me of two.”

“I’m certain of two, and the third I’m seventy percent sure of.”

“Who?”Dozer snaps.