Burn Down the Night (Everything I Left Unsaid #3)- Molly O'Keefe Page 0,79
kite and home’s not safe.”
And then, once I got patched in and moved up the Skulls, I started making the guys do it, too. I switched up the questions and answers because phones got tapped and lost and girlfriends got nosy and half my guys couldn’t be trusted and the other half were stupid.
And with all this dangerous shit we were doing, we couldn’t be too careful.
I took my codes into this drug deal with me, and Lagan had been all over it. Zo not so much, but Zo was a proven idiot time and time again.
And this code, this question was from Lagan. He was texting my number to see if I still had my phone. If I was still alive.
Jesus.
I could text back the wrong answer. I could say “who the fuck is this?” and I would never hear from Lagan again. I would walk away free and clear.
But Joan…
I didn’t even finish that thought. I just typed back the answer. I was in so deep with that woman, I was ready to get back into bed with Lagan.
Four o’clock on a Sunday.
It was nonsense on purpose.
And now Lagan knew I was alive. I had my phone and I was still in the game.
It felt like a steel trap around my throat.
Glad to hear it, friend. I heard you got shot.
He always called me friend. Like he was constantly reminding me that we were together on things.
Rabbit’s always had terrible aim, I texted back.
Yes. Have I not been trying to explain to you the benefits of a monarchy rather than a brotherhood?
I had nothing to say to that besides, fuck you, you fucking fuck. So I stayed silent. Watching the phone, waiting for more. But it never came.
How about you? I typed. Things good on your end?
I don’t know how long I stood in that hallway waiting for an answer, but it was a long time. A neighbor down the hall came out with her laundry, and I jerked out of my daze, opened the condo door, and slipped inside.
It was cool and dark inside, but I was sweating and the phone felt hot in my hand.
The microwave told me it was nine in the morning. I put Joan’s phone back on the counter and hooked it up to the charger. Just in time, too, because Joan came walking in. Yawning and revealing a slice of her flat stomach as she stretched.
“Hey,” she said. “You moved me again.”
“Yeah, well that love seat can’t be comfortable.”
“It’s not.” She tilted her head. “You all right?”
“Fine. Why?”
“You look seriously pale.”
“It’s because I’m starving. Get dressed and let’s go get some eggs.”
“Oh, yeah, eggs,” she said, her face lighting up. “There’s an awesome diner on the stretch—”
She stopped, caught sight of her phone resting on the kitchen counter. For a moment I could see it all on her face. The guilt because for two seconds in her life, she had forgotten about her sister. She had forgotten about her sister and got excited about eggs. And she was now going to spend the rest of the day punishing herself for that excitement.
Just like she punished herself last night for the joy she’d felt during the day. Pushing my hand away when all I wanted to do was make her feel good.
It broke my heart.
In two steps, she crossed the room and nudged her phone awake, checking to see if anyone called or texted but her phone was blank.
Her green eyes slid over to me. “No word,” I lied. “From anyone. Let’s go get some breakfast.”
There were a thousand reasons for me to lie but the main one was the only one that was important. If I told her, all of this would be over.
And both of us would get sucked back into a life that was going to get us killed.
I had to find a way to convince her to let someone help her.
So there was a chance we could survive.
Joan
I took Max to the Spotted Pig, a shack with some picnic tables outside, situated along the canal, nearly under the highway overpass.
“You’re kidding,” he said, watching a dog weave in and out between the tables, snuffling up dropped food. He caught sight of a cat and chased it off into the yard behind the kitchen.
“Nope,” I said and got out of the car. The air was rich with the best smells, meat over fire and salt and something sharp and vinegary. And my stomach growled like I’d never eaten before.