“So the story was bullshite?” Jayce asked, and I shivered as I felt the weight of his heavy gaze on me.
“Hell no,” Sapphira burst out. “It’s as true as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.”
“That’s the New Testament,” I added helpfully, when Jayce didn’t seem like he had any clue what she was referencing.
Pierre turned around on his stool to face us. “It’s true. Well, they did disappear, anyway, and a betting man would say Derek was behind it. Who knows where that cave story came from. I heard it before, though, so who knows? That’s around the same time I got my invite to Triple X. Not long later, maybe about a year? Jason tracked me down, sniffing around for this.” He landed a hand on his dick again, and I appreciated how fun it was to touch your junk, but he seemed like a dog with a bone. “Jason decided he liked topping, though, and that’s not something I had an interest in, so I was a friend. I took him to Triple X and vouched for him.”
“Years ago,” Jayce said with a sigh. “That’s the last you saw of him?”
“Yeah.” Pierre shrugged.
“Thanks,” King said. He snapped his fingers toward the dim hallway that held his office, and Dallas sauntered out with a gun in one hand and an envelope in the other. His longish brown hair was combed to the side on the top of his head, and he had on a pink polo shirt, which gave him more of a fed look than he normally had in the clubhouse. He was seemingly unruffled by the events as he leaned himself against King’s back. King took the envelope from Dallas and passed it on.
“Pleasure,” Pierre said, and touched the envelope to the tip of his hat as he stood. We all stared at one another until we heard the front door slam behind him, and then Dallas went out, I assumed to make sure Pierre was actually gone. He nodded when he reappeared in the barroom, and it was like a breath of fresh air blew through the place.
“Fuck. Why did you give him money? We didn’t learn anything useful,” I started in on King, but he only shrugged.
“Said I would if he hauled his ass over here.”
“Oh, honey, we did learn a few things.” Sapphira gestured toward the corner where the staircase met the room, and out of the shadows emerged a woman. I gaped. She must have been just out of sight, but I’d never even seen a glimpse. She had shocking red hair and wasn’t very tall, but she was at Sapphira’s side in no time.
“You want me to go give that boy a kiss?” She pursed her lips at Sapphira, who nodded grimly.
King raised his eyebrows at her as the little redhead walked quickly toward the front exit.
“I don’t like people who take advantage,” Sapphira said, as if that was that, and in our world, it was.
“We all do sometimes,” King said. “You like that one boy at the Courtesan.”
“There’s a difference between choice and none. I don’t like Pierre’s face much, either,” she said stubbornly, and King laughed.
“So what did we learn?” I snarked. “That Jason used to bottom? I guess that’s news to me. All he ever talked about was how good he’d dick me. Then drugged me instead.”
Jayce growled. “Lamb, you’re too involved and not thinking clearly.”
King snorted. “You’re definitely Bishop’s brother. You two are cut from the same psycho possessive cloth.”
“You’re one to talk,” Dallas said quietly, but he didn’t look upset about it.
King shrugged. “Sounds like the trafficking is happening at Derek’s casino. Or maybe just running through it.”
“How do you figure?” I tugged on my hair till it hurt, but Jayce made a face at me, so I stopped. “Pierre didn’t say that. He said a bunch of bullshit.”
“No,” Sapphira said, scowling. “It makes good sense as to why it wasn’t on our radar. There’s more money than God has flowing through that casino, and we don’t go in there. It was never worth it to get into that business. Too much backstabbing. No real product.” She shuddered and shared a look with King, who nodded.
“Should I just put my fingers in my ears and hum?” Jayce said exasperatedly. “I am still on the force.”
“Calm down. I’ll eat this gun if your commissioner doesn’t know about this already.” She slapped a hand on King’s gun, and Dallas let out a sound that was half shock, the rest irritation.
“Dangerous,” he said. “Why am I the only one who gets this?”
Jayce laughed.
Sapphira continued like no one else had spoken. “None of the cops have the balls to fuck with Derek, either. I haven’t said anything to incriminate myself.” She shook her head at him like he was the dumbest man on the planet. “For a pig, you don’t know much.”
King got a look on his face—a crafty, shit-stirring expression—that I knew well. Dallas nuzzled closer to him and murmured something in his ear, but that only had King grinning wider. He smoothly rose from his stool, obviously stone-cold sober and completely in control of his movements in a way I hadn’t seen in a while. He walked directly to me, ignoring Jayce, and rested his arms on my shoulders. I glanced at Dallas, but he had one of the smoothest poker faces I’d ever seen.
“Want to go blow my wad?” King asked into my ear, but he was talking loud enough for everyone to hear.
