“And good morning to you, too, Master.”
“This isn’t the time for your smart mouth. I’m standing outside your house and you’re not here. And I fucking need you.”
“I’m not there because I was kidnapped by a biker last night and I’m with him.” I ignored Nitro’s grunt next to me.
“What the fuck?”
I sighed. “I’m okay. But apparently Silver Hell want me dead because of my involvement in their member’s death the other night and Storm want to keep me alive. They sent one of their guys to look after me until this all blows over. The only catch is I have to stay with him.”
“Jesus, the shit you get yourself into. How the hell am I supposed to get stuff done without you?”
“I can work from anywhere, Billy. What do you need?”
“I could protect you, you realise. You don’t need to do what Storm say.”
“I don’t think they’re gonna let me go.”
He was silent for a moment. “We’ll see. But until then, I need you to work on Graham’s defence. They formally charged him last night.” Graham was one of Billy’s security guys who’d managed to get himself into some trouble over a fight between club patrons. He’d punched one of the guys a few times too many and the cops had been brought into it.
“Shit. Okay, can you email whatever you have and I’ll work on that today. Is Jensen taking the case?” One of the lawyers Billy used.
“Yeah.”
“Good. I like working with him.”
“I’ll send the file when I get back to the office. And Tatum, I’m getting you out of there.” He hung up before I could respond.
Dammit.
This was going to get messy.
Turning my face to the window, I counted to ten slowly and took a few deep breaths while focusing my thoughts.
“You still do law work even though you were disbarred?”
Looking back at Nitro, I said, “I don’t practice law anymore, but I advise the lawyers that Billy hires.”
“As in, they’re puppets doing whatever you tell them to?”
“That’s one way to put it.”
He stopped at a red light and stared at me. “You must be good.”
“I am. I dig for the shit that can’t be found easily, and put in the hours most don’t want to. And I figure out how to make whatever I find work for us.”
“You win every case for him?”
I nodded. “I haven’t lost a case in years.”
You’re so full of shit, Tatum. You even believe your own lies. Lying to win doesn’t really count as winning.
My stomach knotted with guilt and self-hate.
Not wanting to talk anymore, I said, “Your niece seems like a good kid.”
“She is,” he said before we fell into silence again. Exactly the path I’d hoped the conversation would take.
It was the truth about Renee. After Nitro took me back to his house last night, they’d discussed some family stuff they had going on. I’d deduced her mother was in hospital due to her current mental health, and it appeared that Renee was perhaps more able to care for herself than her mother was. It also seemed to me that she got away with a bit where Nitro was concerned. She’d given him hell for a few things and he’d let her. That had both surprised me and impressed me. It was another side to Nitro I wouldn’t have expected.