“No, I’m being diplomatic.”
“Why wasn’t it for you?”
I ran a hand up and down her back. “They break the law… every day.”
“Ah. So you’re—”
My chin dipped so that an inch separated our noses. “Lex, I’ll do anything to protect you and my brothers. Even if it means serving time. But I’d rather stay on the right side of the law when I can. The Lancers don’t share that view - or they didn’t when I was there with Steel.”
She nodded and I saw her fight back a worried expression.
“Are you thinking about Simone?” I asked.
Ever so slowly she wobbled her head. “Yeah, I can’t help it. Though Mom made it clear a long time ago that if I grew up to marry a biker, I had to trust the man in my life to make the right choices. Simone knew that too, and I’ve never seen a man more devoted to her.”
“That’s true. Steel would never put her in jeopardy.”
“Right.”
“Is that worry the reason you were so against the MC life?”
She twisted her lips to the side. “It’s a lot of trust. Even if I know you or Dad is doing the wrong thing for the right reason, courts rarely see it that way.”
I wrapped an arm around her waist. “You can trust me, Lex.”
Her hazel gaze made me still. “Yeah. I know I can. Are you going to tell me what really happened with Brantley? Beast said I don’t have anything to worry about, but I’m not buying that.”
I shifted us so we were lying on the couch and she was on top of me. “You’re determined to put me to the test.”
She narrowed an eye at me. “What are you talking about?”
“Told you I’d share with you as long as it didn’t incriminate you, and now you’re putting me to the test.”
She put her hand on my pec, then rested her chin on top of her hand with a shameless smile. “Well… I’m guessing he told you that someone gave Ines a hard time outside the gym, but you three were there for an awful long time.”
I gathered her hair in my free hand and watched it fall through my fingers. “Yeah. We were trying to get a grip on the whole crypto thing. She had an ATM card to convert the crypto to cash. Brantley claims he was looking for that on Monday, but couldn’t find it where Ines said she’d leave it. We had him call her parents to find out if it was still in her wallet.”
Her eyes went wide. “Are you kidding me? She just passed away.”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t like we could trust Brantley to let us know later. Plus, Beast is damned good at concocting a cover story.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Anyway, our guess is that Ines was stockpiling cash and hid it in your room.”
She leaned up. “Ines wouldn’t do that.”
I stroked her back and waited out her anger. When she settled back on me, I said, “If she thought someone was on to her, there’s no telling what she’d have done. It’s pretty clear Brantley doesn’t think fast on his feet. Tobias isn’t much better since he has no problem spending the cash and doesn’t think about high-ticket items raising questions.”
With a heavy sigh, she laid her head on my chest.
We were quiet for a long while.
“I hate that this shit’s going down,” I muttered.
“You and me both,” she murmured.
“Can I ask you something before we watch TV?”
