“Fine, maybe I was being overly sensitive. I’m done now. Let’s move onto the strategy part of the conversation.”
“Little girls who lie don’t get to listen while the adults talk.” Drake’s head whipped around because Aiden didn’t sound like he was teasing. He was still pretty pissed.
“Who died and made you God?” Evie demanded.
Fwheeeehooo
All heads turned toward Karen, and her fingers were still in her mouth as the sound of the whistle faded.
“Damn. That’s loud.” Evie grinned.
Trenda, Piper, and Bella came out from the hallway. “Who whistled?” Trenda asked.
“I did,” Karen said looking slightly embarrassed.
“Well, it’s perfect timing. The second round of lunch is ready.” Trenda smiled. “Piper can bring you a bowl of chili, I’m going to put Bella down for a nap.”
“Then we can have our strategy meeting,” Evie said.
Aiden sighed. “As long as there’s information, I’m in.” He watched as Trenda walked upstairs with his niece, then he noticed Karen struggling to push up from the couch. “Where do you think you’re going, Miss Eastman?” he asked.
“I’m not going to eat out here when there’s strategizing going on in the other room.”
“We’ll all eat in here, so you’ll be involved.”
Chapter Eight
Piper sat on the floor with her back against the couch, her head close to Karen’s shoulder. She had a notebook and pen in her hand. “I can take notes,” she offered.
“Thank you.” Aiden smiled.
Fuck, what were they running, a sewing circle? What was it that his friend Declan always said? Bunnies, rainbows, flowers, and shit. Maybe if he thought about that, he wouldn’t be pissed off that they were having a strategy session with his high school sister taking notes. Drake immediately felt bad for his thoughts. He needed to cut down on his caffeine intake.
“My first note is that Miss Eastman has to remember to go to the doctor tomorrow.” She smiled over her shoulder at Karen.
“Our dad’s a fucking lunatic asshole who needs to die. Write that down, Piper.” Evie motioned to Piper’s pad of paper.
“Don’t listen to her, you only notate things that are constructive.” Karen’s prim little teacher’s voice made him hot, how wrong was that?
“Well, what’s constructive, the fact that you got beaten up by two lowlifes? What did they want from you, Karen?” Evie demanded.
Karen shot his sister a mutinous expression.
“Enough, Eva. We need to talk about what we know, like who the players are.” Aiden held up his hand when she opened her mouth. “I got it, your father is a player. We need to know all the others. We need to know their motives, and we need to know what they’re planning.” Evie slumped down in her chair.
“I saw two different men in front of my house, and the sheriff,” Trenda volunteered.
“Trenda, can you describe the first man? The second man, the one I talked to, is no longer an issue,” Drake said.
“When he got out of his car to relieve himself, I saw that he was big. Bigger than even you, Drake. His car was an old station wagon.”
Drake knew exactly who she was talking about. “Piper, write this down. I saw four men outside Mom’s house. One was the guy Trenda’s describing, one was the guy I shot, one had tattoos, and there was another guy who seemed to be directing traffic.”
“Directing traffic?”
“He’s not the leader, Huey and our dad are running the operation,” Drake ground out.
Piper was writing everything down as she shuddered.
“What’s wrong, Piper?” Karen asked as she touched Piper’s shoulder.
“I hate him.”
“Stand in line,” Trenda said.
“He’s a fucker,” Evie bit out.
“Thank God I put Bella to bed,” Trenda said.
“Every couple of months he’d come and tell Mom some story about how he was working on getting Dad a new trial. She’d buy it hook, line, and sinker. As soon as his car would pull up, I leave out of the basement door, or my window if I had to,” Piper explained.
“I pulled some of the records before I came out here. It looks like there’s a Judge Comey as well as the sheriff who are mixed up in all of this, am I right?” Aiden asked.
“Our beloved cousin has quite the operation,” Evie said bitterly. “I don’t know how he’s managed it, considering the fact that he’s dumber than a rock.”
“Turns out that Dad had more pull from prison than we imagined,” Drake explained. “I just don’t know what they’re dealing, do any of you? Is it all meth?”