could roll off at any time and looks like something out of a horror movie, but still, he fucking manages to shake the fucking thing.
Griff shoves him forward, letting him fall to the floor, while I eye the room, surveying it for things I can use to hurt this motherfucker. I didn’t expect this to be so fucking difficult, so I didn’t come prepared.
“Fuck,” Griff says as I’m poking around the room. “I think he’s had a fucking heart attack.”
“The fuck?” My head snaps back to eye the dickhead on the floor, and sure as fuck, he doesn’t appear to be breathing.
Griff bends over him, checking his pulse, before straightening. “No fucking pulse.”
“Well, that just fucking pisses on our party.”
Griff rakes his fingers through his hair. “It does more than that.” He pulls out his phone and makes a call to Hearst. After a quick conversation, Griff puts his phone away and says, “It’s too risky to move the body due to where we are, so we’re gonna clean the room and get the fuck out of here. I’ll pull the surveillance on the building and wipe us from it. Hearst is gonna make sure this doesn’t come back on us.”
I don’t argue with my VP, but I don’t fucking trust Hearst. If anything, I’d trust him to ensure it did fucking come back on us.
We clean the room and exit the building, keeping our heads down and moving fast. Twenty minutes later, we’re back at the clubhouse so Griff can pull the surveillance.
Scott’s in the bar talking with Blade. He glances up as we come in. “All done?”
Griff gives a shake of his head. “No.” He fills Scott in.
“Jesus,” Scott says. “You trust Hearst to make good on that?”
“I don’t fucking know,” Griff says.
“I’m not convinced,” Scott says. “I think the three of us need to have a conversation with Novak over this.”
“When?” Griff asks.
“Now,” Scott says, ruining the rest of my fucking night. “You take care of the surveillance while I line up a meet.”
The two of them take care of their shit while I change my shirt, and thirty minutes later, we’re on our way to some hotel in the city where Novak’s attending a fundraiser. He wasn’t fucking happy to hear from Scott and tried to say no, but Scott pushed the point and made it happen.
We wait outside the hotel when we arrive, and Scott lets Novak know we’re here. Novak directs us as to where to wait for him, in a hidden alcove around the corner of the hotel. I expect Hearst to be with him when he comes out, but he’s alone.
“This better be fucking important,” he says, throwing some heavy pissed-off vibes our way. “I’m in the middle of a fucking dinner and I don’t appreciate being interrupted.”
Scott steps towards him, his shoulders like stone walls, his face the same. “You know what I don’t fuckin’ appreciate, Novak? Taking care of your dirty work and not knowing if we’ll be backed up when something goes wrong.”
“What the fuck went wrong?”
“Hearst hasn’t told you?”
There’s something in the way Novak scowls that causes me to sit the fuck up and pay attention. “My son-in-law doesn’t run to me with everything, Mr Cole, no. Please enlighten me.”
Scott gives him a rundown on the events of the evening, to which Novak says, “If Joe said he’d take care of it, he will.”
What he says is too fucking dismissive for me, and I can’t hold myself back any longer. “I don’t fucking trust him,” I say.
Novak glances at me and I fucking hate the smug look in his eyes. “Trust me when I tell you that we have our ways of keeping your club out of trouble. You of all people should be aware of that, Mason.”
Scott cuts in. “You need to know that if we do end up going down for shit, you’ll be going down too.”
Novak turns to him, looking less than fucking friendly. “I suspect you’re alluding to sharing with the world the fact you’ve done some work for me.”
“I’m not fuckin’ alluding to anything. I’m fuckin’ stating it loudly,” Scott says. “You fuckin’ take our back or you won’t be premier anymore.”
I watch as Novak walks away from us and think about what was just said. For the fucking life of me, I can’t figure out what my brain is latching onto, but it’s fucking latched onto something Novak said.
You of all people should be aware of that.
I am aware of that. I’m