“Yeah, you must, because I know for a fact that we just lost around three hundred grand thanks to the cops netting that last run, and I also know that a ghost gun is worth two thousand dollars. So there.” I blew him a raspberry—childish, maybe. But sheesh.
Ink rolled his eyes. “Well, you know all the pertinent information then, don’t you? Why don’t you petition your father for his seat at the table?”
I laughed. “I’d make an epic Prez. Pretty tattoos for everyone and afternoon naps as a standard.” When both men sniggered, I grinned. “Anyway, the cops aren’t going to hurt me. Aren’t they supposed to be the good guys?”
Ink snorted. “Some are good, some ain’t so much.”
“That’s a very cynical way of looking at it.”
“Your granddaddy’s been bribing a ton of them up in Fort Hancock, baby girl. They sound like good guys? That’s the trouble. Knowing who to trust.”
Because he wasn’t shutting the conversation down, and had, in fact, leaned back into the counter like he was settling in for a chat, I asked, “What’s Kenzie got to do with it?”
He cut Saint a look behind me and sighed. “Neither of you are supposed to know this. We haven’t held full church in days because of this shit.”
I shrugged. “We’re family.”
“Exactly why you shouldn’t know. Plausible deniability.”
Sniffing, I told him, “I’m Lucifer’s daughter and granddaughter. I think I can tell some white lies when I need to.”
“Hardly white ones,” Saint answered. “More like great big, dirty gray ones.”
I shrugged. “Don’t care. I want to know. I can handle it, Ink. Trust me, I can. I wouldn’t say it if I couldn’t.”
He released a breath. “Your granddaddy thinks she’s a plant.”
Well, I was assuming he wasn’t talking a houseplant…
“Rodeo didn’t raise a snitch,” was all I could think to say to that.
Saint curved his arm around my waist. “Stop thinking the best of people. Especially bitches like that one. Jesus. All Kenzie is is mean to you.”
I shrugged. “She’s Keys’ sister. I have to be nice to her. She’s family.”
Saint laughed slightly. “You little minx. You’ve been planning this for years, ain’tcha? In your mind, she’s been your sister-in-law for a while, am I right?”
I shot him a smirk over my shoulder. “Of course. But, I’m not being nice for the sake of it. I know she’s a bitch, but I’m not defending her—I’m defending Rodeo.”
Ink shook his head. “You didn’t know Rodeo, babe. Not like me or your daddies.”
I scowled at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” He ran a hand over his face. “Keys doesn’t know any of this because his momma and daddy made sure of it. But the cancer that took her, it had already hit her twice. Each time, Rodeo went off the rails. Did shit I know he regrets, but regretting don’t take back the crap he did.”
“Like what?” I queried gruffly. I had fond memories of Rodeo, and really should have gone to visit him but he was in an out-of-state prison and me and out-of-town didn’t work in the same sentence, never mind state.
“Cheating, too much drink. Even started on some drugs.”
Saint tensed. “Drugs? Where the hell did he get them from? We don’t allow that shit.”
My daddy’s sister had died of an OD, so he was real strict about having drugs on the premises. We didn’t even sell them anymore or distribute them for cartels because he was against them so much.
I truly believed I could star in a porn film and he’d prefer that to me scarfing down a pot brownie.
“He got it from the Knights on a run, of course.” He grimaced. “All I’m trying to say is that Keys was too young to really notice him going off the rails. Mostly because his mama made sure of that and, to be honest, so did your mommas. That last year, Dorie and Lucie closed ranks around Keys, but it was too late for Kenzie. She’d already seen the shit her daddy was doing.”
“So, that’s why she’s a bitch?” Saint argued, shaking his head. “I don’t think so. She’s always been that way. Whether her daddy pulled shit he shouldn’t or not. And he sure as fuck didn’t raise no snitch.”
I grabbed his hand and squeezed. “I agree.”
Ink just shrugged. “I’m only telling you how it was. She took a nosedive around about that time too. Nothing any of us could do. I wasn’t surprised when she ran