Of course, the look was very subtle. It was more of a gut feeling than anything else. But whatever Ash and his new friends were doing, it seemed to be working at least to the point of making life difficult for King and the rest of his club.
It also told me I needed to be very careful. If the buck stopped with King, and he decided to kill me, there was no one to overrule him. Not like Crush, who had to hold his hand back for fear of what King might do to him.
“I apologize, but at times, such conversation cannot wait for formalities,” King said as he pulled a chair and sat across from me. I tried not to move from the couch, but it was hard not to feel some leeriness and want to scoot back. “Would you like me to pretend to ask about you and learn what I can, or should we just skip the formalities even more so I can let you know what I know about you and your husband?”
“What does that mean?”
King chuckled. He was far too at ease.
“I suppose that answer means you’d prefer the second option. Very well. I suppose efficiency is an unappreciated idea these days.”
He leaned back in his chair, a smug smirk on his face. It was like he enjoyed the suspense, enjoyed toying with my mind. I wasn’t sure what he wanted from me—to use me as a messenger for Ash and the rest of the bikers later?
“You know, Ash likes to fancy himself someone who has hidden from the world for the past year, someone who has eluded capture, as if he were a criminal on the lam, escaping the FBI.”
King chuckled.
“And you know what? He was right. For, oh, a couple of weeks. I have to admit; there was a period right after he didn’t return from his first mission where we didn’t know where he was. But the thing about my operation, Callie? I have eyeseverywhere.I knew where Asher was before he knew where he was. I got multiple requests to kill him.”
He shrugged. Then he looked at me as if waiting for me to react. I bit my lip but gave nothing else otherwise. I was determined not to say or show anything.
“But I didn’t. A dead traitor is useless. A living traitor may cough up valuable information before he’s killed. So I told my men, don’t kill him. In fact, don’t interact with him. Let him think he’s escaping view.”
Then he started laughing to himself. This was no mere chuckle; this was as close to a movie villain laugh as I’d ever seen.
“And wouldn’t you know it, the man went right to the Black fucking Reapers,” he said. “I probably could have pulled the trigger then. Was very close to doing so. But that would have taken a lot of effort. And I am a man that, when an easy opportunity presents itself, I take it. And you showed up, Miss Callie.”
“Me?”
I couldn’t help it. King loved that I seemingly took the bait.
“Yes. As much as he tried to push you away, I knew he’d come back to you. I saw it many times before. I saw it with Axle and his old girlfriend. I saw it, to some degree, with Mason and an old friend of his. I have seen everything that has unfolded before. It was no surprise to me how this has played out. I knew sooner or later, you would be bait that could draw him in. I just had to time it right.”
King smiled and shook his head. He was talking an awful lot, anawful lotfor someone that supposedly had the cities of Phoenix and Las Vegas under his foot. Was he trying to play games with me? Why?
And that’s when it clicked.
He wasn’t saying anything to tell me a truth. He was saying things in case I went back to Ash. If I got out, and I started speaking about how King had eyes on him…
I stopped myself from letting that thought go too far. There was unfortunately an equally strong chance that he was taunting me with the truth. And as I well knew from the previous few days, why would anyone ever lie when they could stab someone with the truth?
“But he gave me many gifts in the interim,” he said. “He got to meet Crush, which was such a gift of an opportunity. He thinks he can turn Crush. Hah!”
I really focused on not betraying any expression or emotion right there. God forbid I reveal something from Crush’s previous visit.
“And then, when he brought you up to Vegas, and you and that Black Reaper ran off…it was the perfect gift. People think when they fight, they’re the furthest apart, but it actually just means they are due to snap back together. And now, Asher most certainly knows that you are captive. He and the Reapers will do everything in their power to get you. And that will allow me to pick them off one by one.”
And then he leaned forward. His eyes got uncomfortably close to mine.
“But there is one way that you can prevent their deaths.”
“I’m not doing anything with you, you pig,” I said, not even allowing him to get the words out.
“No?” he said as if speaking to a tantrum-throwing child. “You’re going to refuse to please me so that your man can live?”
He stood up from his chair and towered over me. His crotch was inches from my face.
“You know exactly what you need to do,” he said. “If you do that, I will let you walk. You are free to go to Asher. Of course, if you two have any common sense, you’ll flee the Southwest and go somewhere where it will be years before my empire expands. But I am a generous god and would allow you to go where you wish. Freedom of choice is a beautiful thing.”
