“What a bitch,” Jetta huffs. “Ellie, not Lucy. Lucy’s great.”
“Yeah, she is,” I agree, turning to Devlin’s woman. “Will you be there for her? Make sure she moves on?”
“What if she doesn’t want to move on?” Jetta asks.
“Then make her!” I exclaim. “She can’t wait on me. She’ll just end up waiting years of her life before she realizes I’m a lost cause and finally gives up.”
“Dude, we’re going to figure out something,” Devlin says. “Do you really think we would let you rot in prison?”
“We’ll do whatever we need to do,” Malcolm agrees. “Even if we have to bribe a judge or some shit.”
“Let’s just all be realistic,” I tell them. “Don’t do anything crazy that will put you all on the chopping block too. Lay low, and hopefully the DA’s case will fizzle out with me. You know I would never rat anyone else out.”
“We know that,” Silas agrees. “And you should know that we’re not gonna sit around with our thumbs in our asses either.”
“Promise me you’ll all be smart.” I glance around the table, meeting each guy right in the eyes. “I’d appreciate it if you would all look after Lucy too.”
“She may look small, but she’s tough as nails,” Malcolm says. “Do you have any idea what she does to cheating men?”
“What cheating men? What are you talking about?” I ask in confusion.
“She’s in some online support groups for women who are cheated on. Apparently, she decided that talking about it isn’t enough, so she started taking action. Using her skills, she hacks into the men’s social media accounts and posts embarrassing shit like tiny dick pics on their profile pages, images of them wearing women’s panties, whatever she can find to hurt them. It’s savage as fuck but pretty funny.”
“How do you know she does that?”
“Saw the shit on her phone when Naomi nabbed it. When I confronted her about it, she just said they deserved it.”
“What if those assholes find out she’s responsible and come after her?” I say in concern.
“I told her the MC would have her back if she needed it since she agreed to look out for you.”
“I wish you had never made her do that,” I grumble.
“No, you don’t,” Malcolm argues. “You’re just pissed that the charges came down and are fucking things up.”
“I don’t care about the charges. I can take whatever punishment they give me. But Lucy…I never should’ve gotten so close to her.”
“You say that shit, but I can look at your face and know that, if you could be anywhere right now, it would be with her,” Malcolm remarks.
“She deserves more. And the sooner she sees my future, the quicker she can move on with hers.”
“What are you talking about?” Silas asks.
“I appreciate the dinner, Naomi. And I’m glad I got to see all of you before I go,” I tell them as I get to my feet. “But it’s time for me to turn myself in.”
“The attorney said you didn’t have to go into the police station until tomorrow,” Malcolm grumbles as he gets up and stomps over to me.
“I’m ready now,” I tell him as I give him a back-slapping hug. “Take care of everyone.”
Before he can say anything else, I start making the rounds, giving Wirth, Silas, Fiasco and Devlin each a bear hug goodbye and kissing Jetta, Naomi and Honey on their cheeks.
Then it’s time to get this over with.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lucy
I’m working away at my computer, still searching for as much information as I can about the victims when I vaguely hear sirens off in the distance.
Gradually, the noise gets louder as if it’s growing closer before I finally cave and get up from my desk to go look out the front window.
“Holy shit!”
In the dark parking lot of the apartment complex, there are no less than four police cruisers, all with their lights on. The men in uniform are crouching behind the car doors with their guns pointed at one target – Nash.
What is he doing back here? He was supposed to be staying with Malcolm tonight and then turning himself in tomorrow after he talks to an attorney. I may have overheard part of their phone call.
Slipping on a pair of flipflops, I head out the door just as one of the officers slams Nash face first on the hood of one of the cars so hard it probably gave him a concussion.
“Hey! That was uncalled for!” I yell at the officer. Several of the other men turn and train their guns on me, but five seconds later decide I’m not a threat but simply a pest that’s not worth their time or concern.
“What’s going on?” I ask as I head toward Nash.
“Go back inside, Lucy!” he yells at me, which causes the officer to slam his head down again for no reason.
“Stay back! This man is armed and dangerous!” the uniformed officer tells me.
“No, he’s not!” I shout back as tears fill my eyes and overflow.
“He’s the sole suspect wanted for questioning in the murders of six people, ma’am,” a cop comes over and tells me as two others roughly shove Nash into the back of a cruiser. “Once he’s convicted, he’ll be locked up for the rest of his life, so I suggest you don’t waste another tear for him.”
“But…I don’t understand. How did you know he was even out here?”
“We got an anonymous tip that he was raising hell and had a gun on him,” the cop replies. “You should be glad we got here when we did.”
“Right, yeah, glad,” I mutter sarcastically through the sobs.
And I know without a doubt that Nash is the anonymous caller. I just don’t understand why he would
