“Promises, promises,” I tease, opening the door.
He hauls me back against his hard chest. “Damn straight, babe. I never say anything I don’t mean.”
We rejoin the others downstairs. Theo and Caz busy themselves in the kitchen while we sit at the table, nursing fresh cups of coffee. “Is there any update on the DEA asshole?” Galen asks, sliding his arm along the back of my chair.
“I have a meet arranged with him for later in the week, but he’s still refusing to play ball,” Diesel admits. “However, I did glean some new intel. I had a guy on my team run a background check on Agent Howie Young and I found something interesting.”
“Do we have to drag it out of you?” Saint asks, impatiently tapping his fingers on the wooden tabletop.
Diesel ignores him, focusing on me. “Agent Young is on an extended leave of absence. As far as his superiors are aware, he’s spending time with his family.”
“He’s gone rogue,” I surmise. “You were right. This is personal for him.”
Diesel nods. “It’s got to be. It also means he obtained the recording of McKenzie’s murder illegally.”
“If that’s the case, how did he manage to get The Bulls off the hook for Parker’s murder?” Theo asks, setting a plate piled high with pancakes on the table.
“My guess is he fed that to a buddy who called it in legit. He couldn’t have pulled that off otherwise,” Diesel says, helping himself to a few pancakes and some of the crispy bacon Caz sets down.
We all tuck in as I digest this new info in my head. “So, last time you talked to him, he said he was going after The Sainthood, and Ruben was his informant, so he was using The Bulls to get to The Sainthood. Now we know he’s not on official business, it can only mean that taking The Sainthood down is personal for him.”
“Meaning we have a shared agenda,” Saint says, quickly connecting the dots.
Diesel sets his silverware down. “You want to broker a deal?”
I shrug. “It’s just a suggestion, but if we share the same goal, maybe we can work together in exchange for him giving us that recording.” I don’t want that hanging over my head. If that gets handed over to the authorities, I could be sent to jail.
“The guy is shady as fuck,” Diesel says. “I could propose it, but we risk exposing all of you, and that makes me uncomfortable. I don’t trust the guy. Who’s to say he won’t tell Sinner as a means of buying his way in to the organization?”
“It’s too risky,” Saint agrees, sighing. “But we need to get the recording back.” He drills Diesel with a look. “He could hang Lo with it.”
“He hasn’t so far,” Caz says. “Why?”
“He knows it’s leverage,” Theo says, sipping his coffee.
“I’ll get it back. You’re not going down for this,” Diesel reassures me, and everyone hears what he’s not saying.
Knowing Diesel would kill for me does strange things to my insides.Goodstrange things, because understanding I have strong backup reassures me more than he could ever know.
“We’llget it back,” Saint butts in, challenging Diesel with a dark look. “Lo is ours to protect.”
I roll my eyes and count to ten in my head. When I’m calm enough, I speak. “Just meet him and sound him out without committing anything or exposing us. Don’t make any rush calls, Diesel, and whatever we decide to do, it must be a joint decision between all of us.”
“Agreed, and I’ve got a man watching him. If he makes a move, we can put it to a vote then.”
“Good.” I shovel some bacon in my mouth, washing it down with orange juice.
“What about your initiation tasks?” Diesel asks. “Has Sinner backed off?”
“For now,” Saint confirms. “The explosion bought us some time, but he’ll be on our case again soon.”
“Have you come up with any new ideas?”
The guys share looks around the table, and it brings me back to earlier. Whatever they were discussing was something to do with this. I’d put money on it. They had insinuated the same the day Mom came to the barn, but I’d forgotten to bug them about their comment later.
“I’ve thought of something,” I say, already knowing the guys will not discuss whatever their suggestion is in front of Diesel—not when they haven’t discussed it with me. “A plan for how to handle the commissioner’s assassination. But we’re going to need official help to pull it off.”
“Why are we only hearing about this now?” Saint swivels in his chair, glaring at me.
