I shake my head. “She’s not.”
“And you know this how?”
“You trust my word?”
“I used to.”
I spin away from the counter. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You and me,” Ace motions between us, “we came up together, fought together, always had each other’s backs, but now . . .”
“You said yourself if it wasn’t for me, the bar never would’ve come together, so what’s changed?”
“I’m just sayin’. What do you really know about her except she was with the Dogs way before you came into the picture?” He motions to my gun lying on the coffee table. “You’re getting sloppy, not thinking about security. Fuckin’ Viper could’ve broken in and shot you with your own gun while you’re balls-deep in snatch you got no reason be with.”
“Viper’s blackmailing her.”
“That’s what she told you?”
“I caught him roughing her up the first day I came here. If they were working together, he wouldn’t be pushing her around.”
“Unless she wasn’t doin’ what he wanted her to do. You told me about the money her old man apparently hid, yet we never found it. Even after tearing this whole fuckin’ place apart. Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”
“She said her old man told stories all the time. Half the shit he said wasn’t even true.”
Ace levels me with a look. “Maybe his daughter has the same problem.”
Ace’s words hang between us.
“I was talking to Fist the other day, and he said there was a black garbage bag wedged under the sink. He thought it was strange.”
“The kitchen was a mess, probably garbage.”
“Wedged behind a board under the sink?”
“Who the fuck knows?” I turn back to the coffee maker and fill up my mug.
“He also thought it was strange that, instead of Sammie taking it out to the dumpsters, she took it upstairs.”
“Okay, so maybe it was the money.” I sip at the steaming brew, but it doesn’t help. “I told all of you in the beginning that if we found something, it was to go to her.”
“I know, but if you’ve been spending every night ballin’ her, don’t you think she should’ve said something about it?”
Again, I have no response.
I point to the door. “Get the fuck out.”
“That’s right, ignore it, just like last time.”
I follow him to the door, then fling it open. “I told you this is different.”
Ace turns to me and stops. “Different how?”
“I don’t know, it just is.” Weak fuckin’ response, but it’s all I have ‘cause my biggest fear is exploding in my chest. Maybe Ace is right. Maybe Sammie is playing me for the Dogs.
Chapter Twenty-Six
SAMMIE
