Page 25 of Property of Stone (Kings of Anarchy MC: Pennsylvania #1)

When he lifted his head, the creases in his forehead were deeper. “Who?” He pulled the apron back over his head and tossed it on the counter.

Since being subtle wasn’t working, she pointed to her phone propped on the counter, hoping her body was blocking the audience’s view.

His confusion cleared. “You on a video call?”

“No! I’m in the middle of a live cooking demonstration,” she hissed.

Nudging her out of the way, he leaned closer to the phone until his face filled the screen. “People are watchin’ live?”

Oh, good God!

“See those comments rolling up the screen?” Or emojis. Since now it was full of fire emojis, shocked face emojis, drooling emojis, even eggplant emojis, as well as some puking emojis. This time she didn’t think those last ones were meant for the recipe.

When he squinted his eyes and leaned even closer to the screen, another flurry of comments scrolled up at a furious pace. There were so many she couldn’t even catch what any of them said.

With a grin, he smoothed out his beard, combed fingers through his messy bedhead, and stepped back. But of course, wearing a smirk, he immediately shoved his hand down his boxer briefs and scratched his balls.

“Stone,” she groaned. The Earth could open up and swallow her at any time now.

He had the gall to shrug. “Babe. Need coffee.” That was the moment he spotted the full pot she had made and headed over there.

Now her audience had not only a great view of his ass, but all of that ink on his back.

Shit. “Your back.”

He muttered a, “Fuck,” swiped the coffee pot and a mug before stepping out of the camera’s view.

Only, it was too late. Everyone had a good view of what his tats represented.

She needed to wrap up the video with a quickness.

She plastered on a smile she hoped didn’t come off as forced and spoke quickly, “Okay, so the rest of the menu for today’s luncheon will include deviled eggs with crumbled bacon topping, a classic rotini pasta salad, low-carb lettuce wraps, and two different types of tea sandwiches.

I’ll record the rest and upload to my channel later today.

However, this wraps up today’s live demonstration on making cucumber salmon bites.

Make sure to subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss any of my future recipes or live demos.

Thank you for joining me and tell your friends!

” She quickly turned off the video feed and blew out a frustrated breath.

She was afraid to look at all the comments. Luckily, she could delete any that didn’t have to do with the food. She had a feeling that would take a while. Since she didn’t want to delete the video, she might also have to find a way to edit him out. Or at least blur his MC tattoos.

Note to self: find a free video editing program and learn how to use it.

Taryn heard, “That why you didn’t wanna talk earlier? You were savin’ up all your words for this?”

While she recognized the amusement in his tone, she wasn’t finding his little “show” humorous.

An ache in her fingers made her realize she was holding on to the counter with a death grip. Releasing it, she turned, crossed her arms over her chest, and studied the man now leaning back against the counter only a couple of feet away, wearing a sly grin.

When he lifted the mug of coffee to his lips and guzzled some down, it hit her that he wasn’t stressing about showing off his bulge or his identifiable tats.

“You don’t care that everyone saw the colors on your back?”

“Nope. Wear ‘em on my back when I wear my cut.”

“You’re not worried about anyone figuring out where you—we—live and coming here?”

“Let ‘em try.”

She was afraid someone just might. Someone like Vic .

With a sigh, she waved her hand in front of his mostly naked body. Proof that: “This kitchen isn’t going to work for my live videos.” Between Stone and the kids, she might have a lot of interruptions.

“Thought you were gonna record them, not do ‘em live.”

“I plan to record more and post them to my YouTube account, but to monetize it, I need to reach a certain amount of subscribers first. My research showed that going live is the fastest way to get them. Right now, that may be my best marketing tool since I’m only starting out and it costs me nothing but time.

But I can’t have you or the kids crashing my videos.

” Especially Stone in tight boxer briefs that emphasized his assets.

“Do it when the house is empty.”

She rolled her eyes. “Now why didn’t I think of that? Anyway, that’s easier said than done. It’s not like you have an actual day job and are gone set hours. In fact, I don’t even know how you make money.” She frowned. “How do you make money?”

The man owned a vintage truck, a Harley Davidson, a house…

He had to pay for all of that somehow.

Certainly not with his “assets.”

“Same as anybody else. Fuckin’ work for it.”

“By doing what?”

“Like you, the club’s got our own businesses. We all got a hand in ‘em ‘cause we all benefit.”

That still didn’t answer her question. “What kind of businesses?”

He downed the rest of his coffee, then went over to refill his mug. While he did so, she struggled to keep her eyes from his ass. Perfect peach was right.

He shook his head. “Told you all this shit already. We got a coupla tow trucks. Also work on vehicles. Offer protection. Collect bad debts.”

Now she remembered that list. So much had happened this week alone that she was overwhelmed and couldn’t remember all the small details.

Not that those details would be considered small, but they hadn’t been her priority at the time.

“You have a repair shop that’s open to the public?”

“Never said it was public.”

Maybe the first two businesses weren’t so legit after all. The only private garages she knew of serviced their own fleet. She doubted the Kings had a fleet of work vehicles.

Something didn’t smell right. “Where’s it located?”

“At The Castle.”

“I don’t remember seeing anything that looked like a garage.”

“Weren’t lookin’ hard enough.”

Of course. “You also mentioned protection and collections.” Activities normally tied to organized crime.

“Yeah.”

That was his answer? Just yeah ? “Are you saying the club runs a legitimate security agency as well as a collection agency?”

He snorted. Well , there was her answer. The Kings were probably no better than the Mob.

“Are any of these businesses legal?”

“Depends on who you’re askin’.”

She knew Stone had no problem with breaking the law. She didn’t try to convince herself otherwise. But was his criminal activity a lot worse than what she thought?

“First of all, I’m asking you . Second, the legality of a business isn’t an opinion. If you weren’t aware, pesky things exist called laws. Either the club businesses follow those laws or they don’t.” She tilted her head to the side.. “Which one is it?”

“First of all,” he echoed, “club business ain’t anyone’s business ‘cept members. Second, that don’t include you .”

“Tell me, if my Honda needs work, where am I taking it?”

“You give it to me and it’ll get done.”

With that answer, she had to assume that none of their businesses were legal. It sounded like they didn’t even have legitimate-looking “fronts” typically used to launder illegally obtained money. That also meant the majority, if not all, of the money the club—and their members—earned was dirty.

Were they so arrogant that they didn’t think they’d get caught?

Probably not, since Taryn could take an educated guess that none of these “businesses” were new.

That also meant the house where she and Wren were staying was purchased with money earned by doing crimes. The truck that Wren had rode in was probably restored with the same dirty money.

All of that should bother her. She’d never been one to break the law. Now she was living in the middle of a crime ring.

Could she be considered guilty by association?

Worse, what kind of mother was she by not removing Wren from the situation?

But was Vic any better? The man beat the crap out of her in front of their son. The man Wren was supposed to look up to, to learn his morals from, was the last person Taryn now wanted to have access to him.

It was a dilemma that made her brain ache.

Yes, Vic was a bad man. But so was Stone.

The difference: Stone wanted to protect her. Vic was out for blood.

The choice might not be easy, but it was clear…

Wren’s well-being came before anything.

She could easily use the Kings as examples to teach him the difference between right and wrong.

But not if she was dead.