As I turn to exit the room, he stops me. “I know you and King are in a world of shit, but that won’t last.”
“I’m not so sure, brother.”
“I am. He wouldn’t be reacting so violently if you didn’t mean something to him. He just needs to move through whatever shit is in his head over this.”
I leave the office and head into the surveillance room, not convinced of Winter’s take on this. I don’t think anyone knows for sure how King will react in a given situation. When you think he’ll jump left, he fucking goes right. He’s too damn complicated for me to figure out.
Winter follows me into the surveillance room and Axe gives us a rundown of what they’ve discovered. King comes in halfway through, his arm in a sling. He stands next to me, not uttering a word to anyone. The air is tense, but it feels different with him than it has for the last few weeks.
“They were hired by Zenith,” Griff says, looking around the room at everyone. “We found data on their phones to corroborate that. That data has supplied us with a range of new information as to what Zenith is now up to, the thing of most interest being that they’ve started up business in Brisbane. Why, we don’t know, but something about these assholes tells me they have a reason for everything.”
Axe steps in. “The other thing of interest we’ve found are three names in the files they had on their phones. It seems Zenith was in bed with Hagarty and Detective Stark somehow.” He looks at King. “And there was mention of Moses.”
Jesus.
Moses.
“Stark,” King says, his voice a lot fucking calmer than the storm raging in his eyes. “She’s the one we need to get to. She’ll have the answers we’re looking for.”
“She was found dead earlier today,” Griff says. “As was Hagarty.”
Instead of losing his shit like I would expect him to, King exits the room, stalking down the hallway. I hear the sound of a slamming door and wonder where this is all going to end up. When this is going to end. It doesn’t feel like we’re getting any closer to solving the problem; if anything, it feels like the problem is growing and we’re moving further away from figuring it out.
“When will you be back?” Ransom asks the next day as I prepare to go home.
“Next week.”
He lifts his chin at me. “Safe travels, brother.”
It’s been a long twelve hours since the events of last night. Thank fuck I’m flying home; I wouldn’t last the ride if I was on my bike. I’m too fucking wiped.
“Fury,” King says, entering my room. His stance is stiff and not just because of the pain he’s in.
I meet his gaze, wishing like fuck he’d walk back out. The last thing I have the energy for today is more of his shit. “What?”
“You had my back last night, brother.”
“Yeah.” Of course I fucking did.
King doesn’t miss the bitterness in my tone, but he doesn’t mention it. Instead his reaction is a momentary clench of his jaw before he lets that go and says, “I have a big fucking problem with the way everything went down with Zara, but she’s right—that isn’t club shit.”
I have no idea where he’s going with this, so I wait for him to continue before I respond.
“I mightn’t like how it all happened, but I’m not going to stand in your way with her.”
“You don’t get it, King; you were never going to stand in my way with her. That wasn’t my concern.” I step closer to him, my body as rigid and tense as his. “I’m only interested in whether we have trust between us, because if we don’t, we both have a big fucking problem.”
His breathing slows and his mouth pinches. He doesn’t like what I said, but he needs to fucking hear it. Trust is everything in the club and I need to know where I stand with him. Finally he says, “I trust you, brother, but it’s gonna take time for us to get back to where we were.”
I search his eyes. The anger he’s looked at me with for weeks has disappeared, but there’s still strain between us. “I’ve taken everything you’ve doled out over this, King, but I won’t take it again,” I say with unyielding determination.
His jaw sets with displeasure as his dark eyes bore into me. Then, without another word, he exits the room.
This is as much as I’m going to get from King, so I’ll take it, but fuck, if he ever comes at me again like he has, I won’t hesitate to respond. I took his shit this time out of respect for his presidency and as Zara’s father, but I won’t do it again.
46
Zara