“You harassing the customers again, sweet thing?Pretty sure we had that discussion a few dozen times,” Lord said as he stepped out from his office, closing the doorbehindhim.
“It’s not like they’re here to buy anything.I mean, I couldmaybeguilt Rix into buying this super-sweet stained glass pendant that came in last week because Valentina would lose her shit over it, but I know that’s not whyhecame.”
“What do you guys need?”Lordasked.
“Information,” I said, finally joining theconversation.
Lord’s expression didn’t change, nor did he seem surprised to see me here.I guessed word had already gotten around that I was back in town.“Whatkind?”
“I’m looking for a Saint Michael medallion that got stolen last night.Gold, probably about fortyyearsold.”
“Whosewasit?”
“Skip Sampson.He got jumped by two guys who might’ve been with thecartel.”
One of Lord’s eyebrows rose when I mentioned the wordcartel.“You know I stay away from that.Don’t need that in my shop.They use Hector’s shop to fence their shit.They know better than tocomehere.”
“It was a worth a shot,” Rix said with a shrug.“Let’s hitHector’snext.”
Lord leaned a hip on the counter.“You sure you know what you’re doing?Fucking with those guys would be a bad move.They fuck back with a whole lot of firepower ...if they get permissionfirst.”
“Who gives permission to the cartel?”Elle asked.“I thought they were a law untothemselves.”
Lord shot her a pointed look.“No one you need to know about, because he doesn’t existforyou.”
“Who?”she demanded with aglare.
Lord didn’t have to say his name.Rix and I knew who he was talking about.Everyone did, but they didn’t talk about him ...a man who lived in the shadows but had his hands in everythingthat happened in this city.I knew exactly where I needed togonext.
“We’ll get out of your way.See youaround,Lord.”
“I heard you’ve got a girlfriend now.Word on the street is you took Heath Sampson’s sister on a date last night to the Distillery.Your old partner, Mac, was in here this morning on another case, and mentioned his wife was there last night with her sister and sawyouboth.”
I had to suppress a sigh.I swear, men gossip way more thanwomen.
Rix turned to me.“You’re dating Sampson’s sister?Forreal?”
It wasn’t like I was keeping it a secret.“Yeah.You’ll be seeing more of her.”To Elle, I added, “She doesn’t have a lot of friends in town, but I don’t know if I trust your crew not to scareheraway.”
“Oh, hush.We don’t scare anyone away.We welcome them into the fold.What’s her number?When can we meet her?How long is she staying?Does she like Thai food?We’re going laterthisweek.”
Lord wrapped an arm around her chest and pulled her back against him.“Let the man talk and maybe you’ll get a few more answers.”He dropped a kiss on her red hair like he couldn’t resist, and he sure as fuck didn’t care who waswatching.
“She’ll be around a while.I don’t know if she likes Thai, butI’llask.”
The declaration was enough for the men, but clearly not enough for Elle.She opened her mouth again, but Lordsqueezedher.
“I’ll get your number to her.She’s goodpeople.”
Elle clapped her hands.“I can’t wait.Freshmeat!”
I was a little worried I’d unleashed a tidal wave that would be uncontrollable, but helping Ari make friends wouldn’t be a badthing.
Being back and seeing familiar faces after staying away for a year made me realize how much I missed home.Maybe it was selfish of me, but I wanted to give her even more reason to stay too.Also, unless things had changed, she’d never been the kind of girl to have a posse of girlfriends, and from what I knew of Elle, Vanessa, Yve, Valentina, Charlie, and Delilah, they’d be goodtoher.
As we walked out, Rix mumbled to me, “You sure you know what the hell you’redoing?”
He could be talking about either me going to see Lachlan Mount, the man whose name no one spoke, or about unleashing the girls on Ari.The answer was the same in bothcases.