“I know. But you’ll think of something, right? You always do.”
“Scott, wecannotkeep this a secret. Not only would it be a huge betrayal, but Flynn needs to know. This is serious. It’s our family business. If it goes under, we are fucking screwed.”
“It’s not gonna go under. We’ll fix it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know! But we will, I know we will.”
“If Flynn?—”
“Stop,” Scott yells, pointing his finger at me, his breath coming hard and fast. “I am not being grouped with Seb and Ben on this. I amnotthe fuckup brother. I was given this responsibility because he trusted me. If I tell him what’s happened, he’ll never let me near the business again. I love running this club with you, Jax. The last six months have been amazing. I don’t want Flynn to stop trusting me.”
Then why have you been lying to both of us for so long?
“I understand, Scott, but we have limited options here. He’s going to find out, it’s inevitable.”
“I could organize another game,” he mumbles, tugging at his lip with his thumb and forefinger. “I could get a group together, make some quick cash.”
“You are not fixing a gambling debt by gambling,” I growl. “That’s how you ended up in this mess. What does this Nick Monroe guy do anyway?”
“Officially, he runs a business refurbishing cars, but I think he’s kind of a gang leader. Cal’s brother knows him, and when I asked how they met, Cal wouldn’t tell me.”
“Brilliant.”
“I know. Iknow, but I trusted Cal. I thought Nick was legit. He was really flash, looked like he had a lot of money.”
“They always do, and they’re usually the ones who don’t have any of their own.”
Scott starts to pace back and forth across the room, and I think feverishly about our options. In my mind, there’s no way Flynn won’t discover the truth. Scott has never been able to keep a secret in his life, and I’m shocked he’s kept it under wraps this long.
Finding 80k might have been achievable, but 200k? Shit… where’s it going to come from?
Sometimes I fucking hate my brothers.
My cell vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out to see Aidan’s number flashing up on the screen.
“Everything okay?” I ask him as I answer.
“Yeah, but I need to go on break. I’ve swapped with Laurie. You okay to watch the upper deck?”
“Sure, I’ll be there in a sec.”
I hang up, catching Scott’s gaze. His expression is wrecked, and half of me wants to hug him, the other break his nose.
What an absolute fucking nightmare.
“I have to go back to work,” I say. “The one thingyouneed to do is get the books in some semblance of order. If you really want to keep this from Flynn, you need to delete any evidence of that deficit. If he senses a whiff of financial trouble, he will dig until he finds the cause. You stay here and deal with that, and I’ll deal with the club.”
I leave the room—rage, worry, and anger seething in a ball in my chest. I can’t spare a smile for anyone as I go down to the floor, heading back toward the atrium.
As I come to the edge of it, resting my hand on the cold metal bar, I lean against it, staring down at all the people below me.
Do any of them have this kind of problem? Is anyone out there fighting for their life just to get through each day?
There’s a loud shriek of laughter from nearby, muffled but audible, and I twist around, focusing on the little group of women in the VIP lounge.
From this vantage point, the edge of the blue room can be seen to the side of the atrium. They all look like they’re having a fantastic night, food and drink overflowing on their table.
