“No.”
Total fucking lie. Brass knew it too.
“Bullshit. I know a man who's falling when I hear him, and you're crashing like a goddamned redwood.” He paused, mumbling a few more curses under his breath. “You're lucky my breakfast just showed up, and Missy's the best fucking cook in the world.”
Another pause. I heard lips smacking over the other end of the line before he came back. “I'm not gonna jerk your balls all day, Asphalt. Get your answers and then you can sort the rest of this shit out. This is your last chance before we ride up there ourselves. We've gotta move, before we all wind up with the Chinese and Tacoma kneecapping the whole club.”
“Yeah, you know I will, Brass. Take your fucking doubt and choke on it.”
The line went dead. Motherfucker.
I took a long pull from my smoke. Couldn't even enjoy it, the fucking thing tasted like ash. I ripped it outta my mouth and stomped it flat with my bare foot, not caring about the burn.
Turning back and looking into our room was almost as bad as some asshole shoving a gun in my face. I'd have to risk the miracle we'd found over the last week for the damned club, or else I'd be putting a lot of brothers' lives on the line.
I needed answers. I had to drill deep, break her wide open, or else I'd be giving up my patch for a chick who couldn't even tell me the damned truth.
Rock, meet fucking hard place. All I could do was try not to get smashed between boulders.
We sat in a cool Tacoma park, overlooking the coastline. Several ships were rolling in, big steel bastards hauling wares from distant shores. Some illegal cargo too, no doubt.
Funny thing about the underworld, once you're in it, you realize it's everywhere, like a foundation to everyday life.
She gripped my hand on the bench, going on about her big career plans, everything she'd wanted before her asshole father interrupted 'em with this arranged marriage.
“I know, it probably seems like a useless degree sometimes, but I swear it isn't. China's going to be a powerhouse in a few more years. I can do anything, Asphalt, go anywhere.”
“You can own the fucking moon, babe, as long as you're still riding behind me and looking cute. You'd damned well better keep riding me like a nun in heat, too.”
She elbowed me in the side playfully and laughed. “Oh, God. That's really all you think about, isn't it?”
“Fuck, girl, you tell me.” I smiled.
Elle didn't know I'd softened her up as much as I could before I lobbed the grenade I'd been hanging onto all evening. And if I didn't throw that fucker at her soon, get it out in the goddamned open, it'd blow us both to pieces, everything we'd built.
“It's okay, I know it's really me you're after,” she said, nuzzling into my shoulder, breathing my scent. “I can't believe I actually want this to work out. I told myself it wouldn't all those years at college, and then when I came back, and saw how big an asshole you could be...”
“That's when you fell for me, babe. You didn't have a prayer, and you fucking know it.” I stroked her soft blonde locks and looked into her eyes. Those baby blues beamed like lighthouses.
“There's something I gotta ask you again,” I said, shuffling my feet together like a nervous fucking kid.
She gave me a sharp look when she sensed the pause. Spit it the fuck out, I told myself, and my lips started moving.
“What's really going on that I don't know about? If your old man's been fucking with the Chinese behind my club's back, then we've got a bigger problem than just you and me, babe. Give me the truth. We're solid now. You can trust me, open up, give it to me straight.”
For a second, her face rippled. I thought she might actually spill it.
Then the girl's hand crashed across my cheek like I'd just pinched her ass without her loving it. The sting shot up to my temple and down through my jaw.
“Shit!” I snarled, jumping up and moving my fingers across the hot, numb patch on my cheek. “Did you just fucking hit me, Elle Jo?”
“You're damned right I did,” she said, getting up and moving several steps back. “You should know better than to bring that crap up. We were having a nice time. I was starting to think I was wrong about you, Asphalt, but I can see the club still comes first.”
Fuck, no. My fists balled into stones at my sides. I ran after her as she began quick-stepping away, weaving between some old couple walking a big, spindly mutt on a pink leash.
“Goddamn it, Elle, you're wrong.” I grabbed her, twisted her 'til she looked at me. “You're wrong about everything. Don't you get it? We're all fucked if this deal goes off and your daddy's doing wrong. Yeah, I got my club duties, but I'm doing this for you, babe. I'm saving all our asses. I'm trying to get this shit dead and over with for us. Long as you're keeping secrets, I'm gonna keep drilling you, and that's poison for all the sweet fucking moments we could be having, without all this bullshit piling up in the way.”