Page 45 of Grave Stone

“I don’t want the detective to come here to talk to me.” I’d already brought a court reporter and a private investigator into their clubhouse. I did not want to add a detective to the list.

“Let’s see what they say first,” Hadley said, walking toward the door.

“Now?” I asked. “I’m not ready now.”

“You’ll be fine. I’ll go first and do the talking.”

“Promise?” I was a giant weenie and didn’t give a single fuck.

“Promise.” She pointed to my bed. “Bring your phone.”

I grabbed it and followed her into a part of the clubhouse I hadn’t seen before. “Where are we going?” I whispered.

“There’s a second set of stairs at the end of this hall. Tomb’s room is the second-to-last door on the right. I’m gonna bang on his door a couple of times before we run down the stairs.”

“We?”

“Fine. I’ll give you a head start on the stairs, but you better step to the side if you hear me coming. I’ll run you over or take you down with me.”

“Are you trying to annoy him?”

“No, I’m trying to wake him.”

“What? Why?”

“I didn’t judge you for getting your biker husband by jumping out of a casket. Don’t judge me for how I choose to get mine.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I am, and this is your only warning. Go.”

And because I was loyal as fuck, I took off, making it halfway down the stairs when I heard Hadley’s booming knocks through the wall. I reached the bottom seconds before she did. As she passed, she grabbed my shirt, dragging me down the hall with her and slowing to a normal pace as we entered the common room. Naomi saw us and raised her hand to wave just as Tomb yelled from upstairs, “All right, motherfucker! You wanna play? Let’s fucking play!”

“What the fuck did you do?” I whispered.

She shrugged. “Poked the bear. Waved the red flag at the bull.”

“Hey,” Naomi said. “Are y’all finished with work for the day?”

“Not yet. We need to talk to Sin about something. Do you know where we can find him?”

“He’s probably in his office,” she said. “I’ll show you where it is.”

Following her back the way we came, we ran into Tomb as he was stomping down the steps. He stopped when he saw us and pointed an accusatory finger at Hadley. “You!”

“Me, what?” she asked, instead of pissing her pants like I would have if he yelled at me like that.

“Tomb!” Naomi snapped. “They were down here with me when someone banged on your door. It was probably one of the prospects.”

He grumbled something I couldn’t hear and turned around to go back upstairs.

“Maybe try not stepping on the flaming bag of dog shit next time,” Naomi suggested.

He turned back, looking confused. “What?”

“You’re reacting like a psychotic jack-in-the-box. It’s fucking hysterical.”

He held up his middle finger. “Piss off, Gnome.”