Kyle’s and Ryan’s voices came over the line, but they weren’t talking to me, they were going undercover in the bar, and as soon as I looked over at the main doors, I saw two stumbling guys. My heart hammered in my chest, my feet itching to move out of my car and witness what was happening, but I couldn’t. I had to stay put. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
My ears rang the longer they acted like two drunk idiots, and then a murmur came over the line, Kyle’s deep voice ringing out. “They’re in the back corner. It doesn’t look like she wants to be here.”
I clenched my hands around the steering wheel, wanting to scream, “Of course she doesn’t want to be there!” but I had to keep my goddamn cool. It wouldn’t help anyone if I stormed in there.
“C has approached the table,” Ryan said. “Shit, she looked at me. She’s trying to figure me out.”
My eyes widened, and I leaned forward. Fuck, she was too clever for her own good.
“We need to move closer,” Kyle said, and then they were being rowdy, obvious shuffling over the line.
“This ain’t good, Brody,” Jord said, breaking up the music and chatter in the background. “She hasn’t gotten involved with anything, and now he takes her right into the fire? She’s gonna get burned.”
“I know.” I ran my hand over my face and scrubbed it over my hair. “She wants out.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue. I knew what Jord was going to say, and that was one of the reasons why I hadn’t called a meeting sooner.
“We need to use that.”
And there it was, the five words I knew were coming. I didn’t answer him, afraid of what might come out of my mouth, instead, I strained to listen to Kyle and Ryan.
“Have you found out which one it was yet?” Carson’s voice crackled over the line, which meant they were closer.
What the hell were they thinking? They couldn’t get too close—
“Kyle attached his device to their booth,” Ryan said, and then it made sense why we could hear them so clearly. The devices that they wore were one-way, which meant we could hear them, but they couldn’t hear us.
“I’m working on it,” Hut growled, and a soft yelp echoed over the line. “Lola is gonna help me, ain’t that right, little sister?”
My nostrils flared, my hands started to shake, and god-fuckin’-dammit, I needed to get to her.
“Help with what?” she asked, not committing to anything, and I could practically feel the pride beaming from me. She was being noncommittal, which meant she had a chance of walking out of this without us having anything over her. If she slipped up, the guys would want to use it to turn her.
I was at a crossroads, one that I didn’t want to admit to. I couldn’t choose between Lola and the case, but I could do everything in my power to keep her out of it.
“The guy who’s skimming Hut’s product,” Carson answered for her, and she just hummed in response. “Your time is up though, Hut, but I may be able to stretch another four days seeing as you brought me a present.”
Steam was blowing out of my ears at his words, and I swore to god, if he so much as touched her, I’d cut his fuckin' hands clean off.
“I didn’t bring her here for you,” Hut said, but even I could hear the lie in his words. He knew exactly what hand to play, and he’d done it without a second thought. He was using her to get extra time. “She wanted to come and see you. Who am I to deny my little sister?”
“That right, Lola?” Carson asked.
Lola didn’t reply, so I could only guess she’d nodded.
“Well, in that ca—” The ringing of a cell broke Carson off, and he cursed. “Shit, I gotta take this.” The ringing carried on, but I couldn’t hear what he said. Movement sounded, and I gripped the steering wheel tighter.
“Four days,” Carson said, his voice brooking no room for argument. “No more. You know what happens if you don’t deliver.”
“Got it.”
“I expect to be rewarded for my extension,” Carson warned, and even I could hear the veiled threat there. The fact that Hut had taken Lola meant he knew exactly what was going to happen and what Carson would want. He’d sold her out without a second thought.
Footsteps sounded out, and then Hut’s voice filled over the line. “Let’s get the fuck outta here.”
I stared at the door, waiting for them to exit, and after only a couple of minutes, they did, complete with Hut’s hand encased around Lola’s arm. I couldn’t see her face from this distance, but the curve of her shoulders and the way she looked at the ground told me she hadn’t had a choice in coming here, not that I would have thought she had gone willingly anyway.
“Meeting, tomorrow,” I barked down the line at Jordan. I didn’t wait for his answer. Instead, I flicked the end call button and waited for Hut to exit the lot. A few minutes later, I followed, my brain trying to formulate an excuse to get to their house and see if she was okay, but for the life of me, I couldn’t come up with one reason. Hut hadn’t called us because he couldn’t trust us, and me showing up wouldn’t change that. If anything, it’d make me seem more suspicious.
I flicked my turn signal on, going left toward my apartment building instead of right toward their house. It was gonna b