Corrupting Cinderella (36 page)

When we’ve gone far enough for our voices not to carry back to the rest of our crews, we stop and face each other. Not a lick of fear runs through me. Fuck, nothing is running through me. Mild curiosity mixed with a hint of irritation, maybe.

“Look, Rock, I know you think we’re just a bunch of street punks,” he starts, then nods when I don’t agree or disagree. “That’s true for a lot of them. Me, I grew up with a different mindset. I got bigger ambitions.”

“Okay.”

“I’m telling you this so you understand why I know the shit I know. I ain’t fuckin’ playin’, man. You got access to more product, we want it.”

I keep my face completely neutral even though I’m seriously fucking pissed. “No problem. I thought you had all you could handle.”

“Yeah, Gunner was fuckin’ lazy.”

“Kidd and Pinky ain’t much more helpful, from where I’m standing.”

He narrows his cold eyes at me. “Kidd’s my blood, man.”

I don’t give an inch. “Sometimes blood is the most unfaithful and disloyal relation you’ll ever have.” I’m not fucking joking either. No one can fuck you over worse than blood relatives.

He takes a step back and looks at me like my words made him shit his pants.

“I got mad respect for you, Rock. Your fuckin’ crew is solid. Loyal. I want to understand how you made that happen.”

Seriously? I don’t even have words for how surreal this conversation is. Is he telling me he took a run at one of my brothers and came up empty? The thought that he might have tried makes me want to empty my clip in him right this second.

“We’ve been through a lot of bad shit together. Trust. Like you said, loyalty. Always got each other’s backs.”

Loco nods at me like there has to be more to the story. It’s like he’s asking me to explain what makes a good human being and what makes a bad one. I don’t fucking know. It depends on your perspective. I’m sure your average citizen thinks I’m a lowlife criminal, while a more hardcore criminal might think I’m a sopping wet pussy.

“You’re confident that if I stepped to you right this second your guys would put a bullet in each one of my guys’ brains, right?” he asks.

Yeah, I’m not liking this conversation. At all.

“I ain’t threatening you, Rock. I’ve got genuine curiosity.”

“Something like that.”

“What’s your end goal?”

“Family, freedom. I don’t give a shit about much more than that, Loco.”

“Not money?”

“Got that.”

“Not enough that you don’t have to roll out to meet me.”

I snort at that. “You got me there.” I think more about what he’s actually saying. “You trying to tell me you wanna be a kingpin, Loco?” There’s a sarcastic edge to my voice, but Loco either doesn’t catch it or straight up ignores it.

“Yeah, man. And I think you can be a part of that.”

Aw, I’m flattered.

“You got a woman, Rock?” When I don’t answer, he chuckles. “By that face you makin’, you dizzy on some dame enough that you want to slit my throat for even askin’ ‘bout her. Why just one, when you can have your pick of them fuckin’ dancers you got in your club?”

“Are you asking for dating advice?”

That makes Loco laugh pretty fuckin’ hard. “No.”

If this conversation goes on much longer, no amount of breathing exercises will stop me from killing this fuck. “How much more weight can you handle?”

“All you got.”

I stare at him. “You know we’re a small operation.”

“Not that fuckin’ small from where I’m standin’. Best shit in the state. Probably the East Coast.”

I don’t doubt it. Sparky takes his crops seriously. But I don’t like the idea of Loco talking us up to anyone outside of the area.

“I got a few other obligations, but I’ll talk to Sparky. We can probably come up with five crates on the same schedule.”

“That’ll work, man. Why you wanna cart that shit out West, when we be right here?”

“Told you, thought you were at capacity.”

“These other obligations?”

This I won’t budge on. “MC ties, non-negotiable.”

“Even if I could triple what you’re getting?”

Fuck. “Yeah, even then.”

“See, a man who isn’t motivated by money unnerves me, Rock. I don’t get that mindset.”

There’s a lot of shit about Loco I don’t “get” nor do I ever want to. “To what end do you want the money, Loco?”

“Dude, I won’t rest ‘til I’m sittin on a big ol’ pile o’ cash. You feel me?”

“Sure.” Yup, known plenty of guys like that.

“Besides that, it’s security for me and my kids. You got kids, Rock?”

“No.”

“Ah, maybe that’s why you’re so content. You got a kid, man, you look in their eyes and want to do better for them than was ever done for you. Make sure they don’t struggle.”

Holy fuck. All right then. He’s most definitely some sort of sociopath, but I guess Loco’s not a complete soulless fuck. Good to know.

“Everyone’s gotta struggle a little bit, Loco, or they never appreciate what they have.”

He stops and takes that in. “Yeah, good point.”

We walk back up to the guys and work out the logistics of the new arrangements with Cheeky. I’m feeling some serious what-the-fuck coming from Z. I’m assuming he thinks the club should have voted this.

Loco dismisses his guys, and I nod for everyone except Z to hang back.

“You cool working with Cheeky?” Loco asks.

I’m shocked he cares about my opinion. Cheeky seems soft and easy to manipulate so…“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Cool.”

He gives me another gangster handshake. “Let’s not wait so long to meet up again.”

Yeah, I can’t wait.

I’m not as fond of the f-word as Rock is. To him, it’s a medium he uses to create all sorts of artful expressions.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

My use of the word tends to be more prosaic.

Rock fucking bugged my phone.
Holy frick!
Did I suddenly end up in some twisted, made-for-television movie and no one told me?

That Rock thinks I would ever cheat on him and he needs to monitor me makes me completely rage-crazed. Like, I wish to God I had the same app installed on
his
phone, so I could track him down and choke the life out of his Cro-Magnon, cave-dwelling ass.

There’s no way in hell I am driving back to his house. I don’t want to go to my house, though, either, because I’m sure it’s the first place he’ll look when he realizes I didn’t come back to his house.

I honestly think this is it for me. The last straw. Time to get off this ride of crazy before I end up sequestered away at the MC tied to his fucking bed like a damn hostage.

This shit actually scares me.

After finding out that he tagged me like some damn dog—on top of the fact that he took off to do who-knows-what dangerous mission tonight—I think I’ve had enough. As I check into the nearest Holiday Inn, I’m filled with a grim glee that he’s going to freak the fuck out when he can’t find me.

Hope hasn’t answered my calls or texts, so I assume she gave up waiting for me and went to bed. At least I want that to be true. The more likely scenario is she’s pissed at me and not answering on purpose.

She can be cute that way.

My ass is dragging as I drive Z and Dex back to CB. Dex gives me a fist bump before he leaves. Z sticks around.

“Prez, the fuck?”

“I don’t like it any more than you, brother.”

The more I think of the conversation, the less I like what I heard. My takeaway is this: Loco is a goddamn sociopath. While he might like me or even respect me in his own twisted way, he’d have no problem gutting me if I was standing between him and a slice of his favorite cake. The fact that he basically ascertained the only way to hurt me—through my loved ones—is also not sitting well.

Suddenly any games Hope might be playing don’t seem as funny.

I’m consumed with an urgent need to see her.

“Listen, I didn’t like some of the shit he was saying. How he knows what feelers we got out there ain’t exactly making me happy. I also got the impression he tried to pry some info out of one of us, and since no one has stepped up and said anything, I’m concerned.”

Z blows out a long breath

“That’s bad.”

His phone buzzes in his hand. “It’s Wrath.” He answers and puts it on speaker phone.

“What the motherfuck, Z? I’ve been going nuts. Everyone whole?” his voice booms through the car.

Normally, I’d have a good chuckle over his reaction, but I’m not feeling very comical tonight. “We’re good, brother,” I answer.

“Rock, you dick. You coulda at least let me ride along.”

“And do what, watch if Loco decided to blow us up?”

“Fuck you. I’m not an invalid. What are you talking about? Loco came?”

“Yeah. Wanted to introduce Gunner’s replacement.”

Wrath snorts. “Knew that little shit wouldn’t last long.”

“Also wanted to let me know he was onto our Western connection and that he wants it.”

“Fuuuck.”

“Yeah.”

“You tell him yes for now?”

“Of course,” I answer, throwing a glance at Z.

“I’ll call everyone in for church tomorrow,” Wrath says.

“I’ll do it, brother. It’s my job,” Z answers.

“We seem to have flipped jobs, bro, if you haven’t noticed,” Wrath says with a glum laugh.

Catching Z’s eye, I shake my head slightly. Let Wrath do this.

“Thanks man,” Z says.

“You guys comin’ back here?” Wrath asks.

My hesitation says everything. “Fucking bring her with you, Rock. I’m sure Trin wouldn’t mind some alternate company.”

I choke on a laugh over that. I’m sure she’d be relieved to hang out with someone else.

“Tomorrow, I promise.”

We sign off, and Z glances at me. “Is Hope doing okay?”

“Yeah.”

He slaps me on the shoulder as he gets out. “Go give her a special wake-up call, prez.”

“I plan to.”

I do
not
plan to come home and find Hope’s car gone from my driveway. Storming inside, I find the place cleaned up and a note waiting on the counter for me.

Broke phone. Running to mall to get a new one.

Love, Me.

So that explains why she didn’t answer any of my texts earlier. Maybe. Since it’s almost midnight and she’s not back yet, my stomach churns. The mall closes at ten. It’s less than five miles from my house. There is no way she shouldn’t be back by now.

Maybe she came back and got pissed when she realized I was still out?

Something’s wrong.

I got that fucking conversation with Loco messing with my mind. Asking about my woman. Trying to get inside my head. He could have had his crew come here and nab Hope while I was at that bullshit meet and greet. I pull out my personal phone and call up the app that will give me an idea of where to find my girl. When I had Z install it on her phone, I swore I’d only use it when necessary.