A LIL' LESS LOST (The Kingsmen Book 2) by Tara Oakes Read Free Book Online Page A

about this. The last thing I need right now is for things to get even more escalated by throwing another chip on Shade's pile of leverage. “I saw the package you left open on the counter... the order we placed. Remember?”
    My girl was making tiny sounds of confusion. Come on, Lil's, I need you to read between the lines. She quickly breathed sharp. “Oh my God... I forgot. It.. is it... did it get ordered ?”
    There's my girl. Wait, how could she ask me if it got ordered ? Shit. She doesn't know. “Lil's, baby... it's fine. You're fine.. relax. We have plenty of time. It's on back order. Won't arrive till later this year.” She breathed deep, and then again. Ok.. she was settling into this. Now she knows. “I need you to make sure you take care of yourself, OK? Try not to get too worked up, we're gonna get you home the second we can, OK? I love you, Lil's.”
    “OK... OK... I... I love you too, Jay. Tell Pops and Tiny I'm OK. It's alright. I can do this.” Click.
    That was it. That was all we had of Lil's. I threw the phone as hard as I could against the far wall, shattering the plastic shell into dozens of pieces. Pop slammed his fist down on the worn heavy oak meeting table. “Calm down! We got what we needed. We know she's OK.. we have a direction to work toward now.”
    I exploded. “SHE'S OK?! She's not fucking OK. She's being held by a fucking maniac and probably saw some girl have her fucking brains blown out in front of her. Glad you think she's OK, Pop!”
    Dad took my words hard, but kept his cool. He and I had only come to blows once before and we both recognized that we were dangerously close to a repeat. “You know what I mean, son. We wait for Tiny and Clink to get back in the morning. Church first thing and we get the vote out of the way. No one's gonna object, you know that. We'll have her back by tomorrow night, the latest.”
    Butch glared at his old friend before pushing back hard out of his chair and storming out slamming the door behind him.
    Pop turned to me again, “Jay... I know you love her. Hell, I love her like she was my own... but we gotta do this right, son, can't make this worse than it already is.”
    “She's pregnant.” I spat at him, my eyes unrelenting on his. He inhaled and sat back. I could see him start to say something more than once but stop himself before he did. Instead, he nodded to me and stood putting his hand on my shoulder. When he saw that I didn't reject it, he pulled me in fast, holding onto me, letting me hold onto him.
    Neither one of us spoke. There was nothing to say. What could he say to me at this moment? And anything I wanted to say to him would just turn this from bad to worse.
    “Get some sleep, son, you're gonna need it.” He gripped my arm one last time before he left me alone in the boardroom.
     
    ******
     
    The clubhouse was dark and quiet, almost completely foreign to me as I navigated my way through the sleeping bodies and beer bottles. This building had a life of its own, witnessing the evolution of the club through the years. I've known every nook and cranny, every alcove, but found no peace within these walls tonight. I needed to get out, get fresh air before I suffocated, lying in my old bed staring at the fucking clock waiting for the minutes to change.
    Today was going to be a turning point, I could feel it in my bones. The full weight of things started to bear down on me. Lil's was going to need me to be on top of my game, too much depended on it. The rooftop beckoned me... a safe place to be alone, to sit and prepare. This was where I go to clear my head, to put myself in the mental space I needed to be in to do the things I've had to do in my life, for my club. This is where I've come after those things were done to find the solitude that was necessary to process my actions, what I was capable of and then burying them away before they crept out.
    Lil's had rarely seen the side of me that I came here to deal with. That part of me was