Just as I expected, it wasn’t long before Locke turned and followed Delilah out of the club. As soon as they were certain he was gone, the girls got busy getting the decorations and food together. I took that as my cue to head back to my office. I closed the door and sat down at my desk, then got to work on the previous night’s receipts. I’d been at it for a couple of hours when there was a knock at the door. I figured it was one of the girls coming to get me for Danny’s patch in, but it was Aubrey who peeked her head inside the door. “Hey… You got a minute?”
“Yeah, I’ve got a few.” I motioned her inside and tried to play it cool as I said, “Whatcha need?”
“I was hoping I could talk to you about something.” She sat down in the chair in front of me and immediately started fidgeting. “I went by the coffee shop this morning and had a talk with Frankie.”
“Okay. Was this talk about anything in particular?”
“It was about you. Well, technically it was about all the brothers, but she said something about you that concerned me.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” She started to fidget even more as she continued, “She said you look into the people you hire to work for you. That it’s part of your job, and you have real talent for finding out things that others can’t.”
“She told you that, huh?”
“Yeah, that’s why I came to talk to you.” Her eyes skirted around the room as she pressed her lips together. Hoping this was the moment I’d been waiting for, I didn’t push her to continue but instead waited until she gathered the courage. “Have you looked into me?”
“Like you said, it’s part of my job.”
“I know, and I get why, but if you haven’t already, please don’t go looking for information about me. I know I shouldn’t ask that of you, but I promise you I’m not a criminal. I haven’t done anything wrong. I just...”
“Just what, Aubrey, or whatever your real name is.”
“So, you already know I’m not Aubrey Cash?”
“I do.”
“Oh God. I shouldn’t have come to you with this.” She stood and started to leave. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m just gonna go.”
“Seriously? That’s it? You’re just gonna run again?” I leaned back in my chair and tried to say whatever I could to keep her from walking out. “You said yourself that things were going good here.”
She turned around to face me. “They are, but...”
“Then, why are you giving up so fast? No one asked you to go.”
“You don’t understand. I don’t have a choice. If you’ve looked into me or if you’re going to, it’s only a matter of time before they find me and I can’t let that happen.”
“You can’t let who find you?”
She looked over to me, and seeing the worry and pain in her eyes got me right in the gut. I wanted to stand up and go to her, wrap my arms around her, and assure her that everything would be okay, but I resisted and remained planted in my chair as I listened to her say, “I wish I could tell you. I really do, but I can’t. It’s just too dangerous.”
“So, you’re in danger.”
“You have to stop, Menace. Please.”
“That’s not gonna happen.” I couldn’t stand it a moment longer. I stood up, walked over to her, and brought my hand up to her face, softly brushing my knuckles across her cheek. “You don’t have to keep dealing with this all on your own. I can help you if you let me.”
“And what happens when you get hurt, ’cause the last time someone tried to help me, they ended up dead.” She took a step back and shook her head. “I can’t take the chance on that happening again. I just can’t. Not with you.”
Before I could respond, she turned and bolted out of my office. I was just about to go after her when I spotted Viper and Axel walking down the hall. As soon as Viper saw me in the doorway, he shouted, “You coming or what? Locke will be back any minute.”
“Yeah, sure.”
I followed them back out to the main bar, and the whole place was completely decked out with decorations and enough food for a fucking army. Normally, we’d have our prospects complete a final run or a trivial-but-difficult task before patching them in, but we’d all agreed that Danny had gone above and beyond during his year of prospecting.
When Hawk gave the signal, all the brothers gathered by the door and waited as Locke got out of Delilah’s car and started over to the door. As soon as he entered the bar, the girls started cheering, and Locke just stood there staring at us with a look of utter disbelief. Viper took a step forward and held up Locke’s new Ruthless Sinners’ cut and said, “Welcome to the brotherhood.”