He patted my shoulders. “Good. Go take this to him. We need to start opening official files that the DOJ can search in their systems, and that means officially looping the police precincts in on things.”
“Do you want me to gather the guys for a?—”
“CHUUUUUURCH!” Cap bellowed as he leaned his head out into the hallway.
Then he looked back at me. “Let’s go. We need a meeting.”
Sure as shit didn’t have to tell me twice.
Because we really fucking did.
5
ANNA
He lied.
That’s the only explanation for why I heard Cap call out the fact that it was time for church. Didn’t he send text messages to everyone?
That hurt more than I wanted to admit.
“Oh, fuck this,” I mumbled as I shoved my way out of my room.
I stormed down the hallway, shoulders rolled back and head held high. If they called church, then I was going to be part of it. Hell, I helped with these efforts this entire time. I deserved to be part of those meetings just like my brother’s crew deserved it. So when I saw the congregation of men heading toward the front door of the clubhouse, I fell in line with them.
My brother turned around and held out his hand. “You know you can’t be part of this meeting.”
“I don’t care,” I said with a shake of my head.
He crooked an eyebrow. “Go back and be with the girls. Keep watch over them. They?—”
I tried to shove past my brother, but he grabbed my shoulders. He slowly led me back to the position where I stood while the rest of the men slipped around him, heading outside.
“I’m going to be part of that meeting, Kay,” I said as I looked up at my older brother.
He didn’t budge. “No, you’re not. You’re going to stay safe like the rest of the women?—”
I slapped his hands away. “What the fuck is this? Some kind of ding-a-ling club? I’ve helped you assholes front to back this entire fucking way when all you wanted to do was ice me the fuck out in the beginning. I had to shoulder my way into that conversation then, and I’ll shoulder my way into it now.”
“Anna, you can’t?—”
“You’re not going to get away with lying to me!” I exclaimed.
Everything fell silent around us. Everyone stopped. My brother wrinkled up his face as I drew in a sobering breath through my nose, and his hands slid from my arms to my own hands. He took mine within his, and I just looked away from him.
I hated them all.
“I haven’t lied to you,” he said, his voice a bit lower than usual. “What are you?—?”
I ripped my hands out of his. “Fine. Enjoy your meeting.”
I stormed away before he had a chance to say anything.
I pressed my back against it and just stood there, jaw tight, waiting for the anger to settle into something I could work with.
I slammed my bedroom door closed behind me.
I pressed my back against the door and stood there in the silence of my room for a second. Down the hall, I heard one of the girls ask somebody for water. Just that. Just water. A small, quiet ask like she wasn’t sure she was allowed to make it. I closed my eyes. I’d been going sideways at these men all day, and she was in there just trying to ask for a glass of water. I pushed off the door, grabbed the water bottle off my nightstand, and walked it down the hall before I could talk myself out of it. Knockedtwice. Slid it under the door when nobody answered. Then I went back to my room and didn’t say a word about it to anyone.
