Page 2 of Stripping Keys (Devil’s Riot MC Tennessee #6)

CHAPTER ONE

MARLA

Two Months Later . . .

“No, I’m sorry, but you need to understand me when I say I’m not going back there,” I snap, glaring daggers at the man standing in front of me. A man I’ve trusted for far too long. A man who’s been as close to me as family. The only one who really knows the truths that I hold close to my chest.

“You need to go back and help them. They don’t know what’s coming their way. You do, though,” West states, staring at me like I’ve got two heads. “Is there a reason you don’t want to go back?”

Boy was there ever.

“I just don’t want to,” I grind out. “The last thing I need is for my sister to be getting in my business, and you know that is exactly what will happen. Marley will be all over me.”

I love my sister, but the two of us together are like oil and water.

Put us together and we’ll clash. It’s always been that way, no matter how much our parents try to smooth things between us.

It’s never going to change. We’re better apart.

Maybe it would be different if she and all of them knew the truth about me, but they don’t.

They all just think I’m this stuck-up bitch who doesn’t give two shits about anyone else.

Little did they know I care a bit too much. It’s one of the reasons I’m staying away. Okay, that’s not exactly true. I’m staying away because of a certain person. A certain man, who the moment I saw him, I wanted nothing more than to jump his bones and ride him like a buckin’ bronco.

I’ve known Keys, not personally, but personally enough for five years. We’ve worked together through the dark web, helping each other with intel. Mostly, I’ve helped him, though there have been times he’s given me intel that has helped me in more than a few dicey situations.

Shoving thoughts of Keys to the back of my mind, I focus on West. “Look, isn’t there another way to deal with this than for me to go back to the clubhouse?”

“Considering it has to do with them, you’re gonna have to suck it up and face your family again.”

“What if we just went to Nerd instead?” I suggest. I knew Nerd was a member of the Tennessee Chapter while West was with the Original’s chapter. He could relay the intel to Keys and the rest of the club.

“You know it’s better if it comes from you.”

“Like they’d actually believe me,” I scoff.

“They would if they knew what you’d been doing all these years,” West retorts.

“It was my decision to keep them out of it, and I stand by it.” No way was I going back on my decision now. Not after I’ve worked as hard as I have to come as far as I have.

At eighteen, I found my way, not by going to college, but hooking up with West and using my talent for what I know how to do best. My brother, Marshall, had met West but never knew what he and I did. My parents, they just thought West and I were best friends.

“What if I go with you? Your parents wouldn’t question my being there,” West suggests.

“That would work. You go with me and maybe help distract from my being there, and I can help them without them knowing it.” I typically would feed my intel to Keys, but this time around, I can’t do that.

Not because of what nearly happened between us, but a more dangerous reason.

If what West and I know gets into the wrong hands by chance, we’re screwed just as much as they are.

“Fine, then we’ll both go,” West grunts and rolls his eyes. “When this is over with, though, you owe me, Marla, big time, and I won’t let you forget it. You know I won’t.”

Of course, he wouldn’t let me forget it.

West keeps a running tally of those who owe him.

Just as I do, it’s why we make the perfect team.

We’re the same, yet different, all the same.

West is a few years older than me, and we started working together when he recruited me for the team we sometimes work within.

Mostly, the two of us stay freelance. It’s better that way.

The team is some of the elite, and if it gets out that we were somehow connected to it,Calyx would have our asses. He keeps the secrets within the team, and that’s the way it needs to stay. To make things worse, Calyx has been around the club thanks to his long-lost daughter.

This whole situation is a disaster in the making, and it’s all going to get a whole lot worse.

All because I have to go back to the club to give them intel they won’t believe is coming from me.

They all hate me for the way I treated my sister while I was there the last time.

Going back now, they’ll question me and my reasons.

They won’t trust anything I say. It’s why I’ll need West with me.

Let him be the one to tell them the news.

“You might want to reach out to Calyx first before we go,” I suggest with a sigh. “He’s not going to be pleased if he’s there and we just show up.”

West nods. “You’re right. He’ll be livid beyond measure.

It’s a good thing he’s my godfather, he won’t kill me.

Though, he might take some skin off both our asses if we don’t fill him in on where we’re heading.

He wasn’t pleased when he found out you up and left the clubhouse the last time to go digging in the bowels of the underground with some of the slimeballs that you were rubbing shoulders with. ”

“It got the job done, didn’t it?” I snap, not wanting to think about how I’ve spent the last month and a half. I didn’t like slumming it with sleazebags. It’s not my idea of a good time. Still, it was worth it to find out what I discovered.

Now, it’s just a matter of getting the intel to those who need to know before it’s too late or without anyone finding out where it came from.Or better yet, having those who need it believe the ones bringing them what they need to know.

I haven’t spoken to my parents, let alone my siblings, since I left. They all called me, texted, left voicemails, none of which I’ve responded to. West did text back and spoke with my brother a few times. I don’t know exactly what he told him, but it seemed to appease Marshall for the most part.

“You said my parents were staying at my grandma’s place, right?” I ask, a plan forming in my head, starting to, at least.

“Yeah, Marshall said they decided to move back to town.” West’s answer leaves me feeling a sense of dread.

If the folks are moving back to town, it means Marshall will eventually. They’ll expect me to follow suit. That’s not something I can do. If I do, it puts me close to Keys again, and I’ll end up doing something I’ll regret in the end.

I might have made the first move on him. I can’t deny I want him. He’s sinfully the sexiest man I’ve ever seen. The way he wears those jeans without a shirt. Better yet, the way he sat at his desk in his room, looking all geeky and muscular at the same time.

He’s totally my type, and I’d go for it in a heartbeat. I nearly did. Until he said what he said. Telling me to strip the bitch and show him the real me. Like he knows I’m hiding who I really am.

At least he hadn’t outed my secrets to the rest of the club. My secrets are mine to share, and I’m not about to let him tell anyone.

I hope he realizes that when I show back up out of the blue. Maybe taking West with me will be a good distraction and keep my needs for Keys at bay.

West and I aren’t anything but platonic, and it’ll always stay that way.

Besides, West would more go for Keys than he would for me.

Only Calyx and I know this about West. It’s not something he’s ready to let out of the bag.

It’s a truth only West can share and only when he’s ready for the world to know.

Just as the world doesn’t need to know mine, not until I decide when they need to know.

There are only two people in this world who know the darkest secrets I hold close, and it’s going to stay that way.

They won’t spill them any more than I’d do theirs.

Not that I know any of Calyx’s secrets he doesn’t want me to.