White Lies (Lost Kings MC 15)

She smirks at me. “So are you.” She shifts. “Except I’ve got cum in my underwear.”

I lean down and kiss the tip of her nose. “Good, let it remind you who you belong to for the rest of the night.”

“Filthy fucker,” she mutters. She presses her hands to my cheeks and pulls me in for a kiss. “I love you,” she whispers against my lips.

“I love you, too.” I’ll always love her no matter what and she deserves to know that.

I’m still not sure if she understands the severity of the situation we’re in, though. Losing my mind and fucking her senseless probably didn’t help.

Some dipshit running around photographing us on club business? Bad. MCs have gone to prison over stupid shit like that. That he threatened Heidi? I can’t focus on that aspect yet or my head will explode.

“Tell me about the pictures again.”

She stares at me, and I stare right back. No, we’re not done with this conversation.

“I told you. Most of them were at Furious.” Her eyes take on an evil shine. “I told him the one of you bending me over the bike was hot, and I wanted to give it to you as a wedding present.”

Jesus, only one person in the world could make me laugh right now—Heidi. “You did, huh?”

“Yeah, I wanted him to know I wasn’t intimidated by him. He said he was going to send it to your boss at Furious. I laughed and told him to go ahead.”

This woman. She impresses me almost as much as she infuriates me sometimes.

“When did he show you the photos?”

She shifts from foot to foot and averts her eyes. “A couple weeks ago.”

“Heidi?” I prompt. “Anything else I should know?” I ask in a low voice.

She stares at me for so long, my heart starts up its bass drum impression again. “Heidi?

What the fuck else could she possibly be keeping from me?

Her gaze drops to the floor. “Axel cheated on me.”

Huh? How did we end up talking about Axel?

“How do you…?” I pull her closer. “What are you talking about?”

“When I saw Lucas. He told me. Penny told him she and Axel...”

Fucking Penny. I remember her coming on to Teller plenty of times when she was a teenager. Used to creep him the fuck out. In a lot of ways, she was always a rotten friend to Heidi as far as I was concerned. “She’s always been bad news.”

She sniffle-laughs and wipes her face. “Yeah.”

But Axel cheating on Heidi? That’s a shock. I disliked him for obvious and a few not-so-obvious reasons. But he genuinely seemed to care for Heidi, even I had to admit that. And with his sanctimonious attitude toward club girls and MC parties, I never pegged him for a cheater. Certainly not with Heidi’s best friend.

I step back and look down at her until she finally meets my eyes. “I’m sorry Lucas told you that.”

“It was the same day Bryce threatened me with the photos.”

“Shit,” I mutter.

“Then we went out that night.” She lowers her voice. “The shooting. The hammer thing.”

“You forgot someone was blackmailing you?”

The fire in her eyes snaps to life. “Forgive me, bludgeoning a person to death will do that to you.”

“You didn’t bludgeon anyone to death.”

“Another thing you could’ve told me.”

I pull her closer. “I want you to know as little about that as possible. For your own protection. I don’t want anyone to know you were even there. Remy destroyed the tapes from the security camera. Nothing ties you to that night.”

“What about Whisper?”

“He’s off for sunnier climates soon, and he’d never say anything to anyone either.” I may not like Whisper all that much, but he lives by the same outlaw code we do.

That finally seems to satisfy her. “I worked my ass off with Dawn finishing the part of the project he didn’t do. I couldn’t let you down again by not graduating on time.”

“You’ve never let me down, Heidi.”

“I didn’t see him at school during finals at all. I really didn’t care what he did with the photos. They weren’t anything that terrible.”

“What exactly did he say he was going to do with them?”

“Send them to the dean of the school. And to any job I might apply for.”

“Jesus Christ.” There’s a throbbing in the middle of my forehead, and I rub my fingers over the spot. “What about the photos from Zips?”

“They didn’t look like anything.” She bites her lip, thinking it over. “You, Rooster, Dex, Eraser, Remy, and Griff were talking to two other guys who had their backs to the camera.”

Other than some threats and intimidation, we didn’t do anything illegal that night. Still don’t need the photos falling into the wrong hands. No need to announce our alliance with Eraser’s crew to the world prematurely. “Bryce drives that hideous beamer with the orange and black paint job?”

“His tiger.” She makes little air quotes with her fingers. “He used to brag to Dawn about racing guys and getting up to a hundred and ten on the Northway, but we just thought he was making up dumb stories. I never expected to see him there.”

“Did he send the photos to anyone?” I need to see the photos, but I’m pretty sure the night he took them is the night someone tried to follow me home. Could it really have been the dumbass kid who almost pissed his pants when I told him to get away from Heidi before?

Why the fuck would he follow me? Was he planning to find out where Heidi lived so he could pay her a visit when I was at work? Did he want to lead someone else, like the Sons of Satan to our clubhouse? The possibilities leave me cold.

“Well, I got my diploma without a visit to the dean’s office, and the hospital offered me a job, so I don’t think so.” She jabs her thumb over her shoulder. “That’s what he was saying to me out there.”

“He has the pics on his phone? You’re sure?”

“That’s how he showed them to me, but he said he backed them up other places. I’m sorry I didn’t say something sooner. I was worried you’d kill him if I told you.”

“Oh, I plan to—”

She covers my mouth with her hand. “We’re getting married. I can’t have you in prison.”

“No one’s going to prison.”

Not even Bryce.

Nope. That motherfucker’s going in the ground where he belongs.

Thirty-Six

Murphy

Nothing much has changed when we step back out onto the main floor.

Loud, shitty music.

Two fighters beating each other senseless in the ring.

Ring girls with their ass cheeks hanging out, fawning over the winners from the earlier fights.

I sling my arm over Heidi’s shoulder and search the crowd for the skinny, freckled, white dude I’m about to kill with my bare hands

. “You see him?”

“No.”

Jake comes up wearing a what-the-fuck face and slaps my shoulder. “Thanks for having my back.”

“Sorry, I needed to handle something.”

“Yeah, I heard.” He jerks his head toward the locker room.

Heidi lets out a nervous laugh and clings to me tighter.

I give Jake a quick shove. “You didn’t hear anything with all this noise.”

He opens his mouth, drops his gaze to Heidi, then zips his lips.

Jake might be a dick seventy-five percent of the time, but he won’t embarrass Heidi just to rag on me.

Griff punches my shoulder. “Where you been?”

“Give me a second,” I say to Heidi. “Stay with her?” I ask Jake.

Griff leads me over to a quieter corner. “What’s on your mind?”

“I need to find a guy here. Tall, skinny kid. Freckles. Douche hair. Tank top with arm holes so big you can tell he’s never been inside a gym.”

“Look around you, Murphy.” He holds his arms open wide. “We’re swimming in basic bros. They’re my bread and butter.”

“Drives that ugly orange and black BMW.”

“Yeah.” He nods slowly and scans the crowd. “The whiny bitch whose ass I whipped at the track. His name is Brent? Ben? Dunce?”

“Bryce?”

“That’s it. I saw him earlier. Why? Did he bother Heidi?”

“Bother doesn’t begin to cover it.”

“Fuck me.” His gaze scans the room again. “If I see him, I’ll text you. If you find him first and need help, call me.”

“Thanks.”

“You sticking around?”

I really want to get Heidi home. Never should have brought her here in the first place. I also want to give Rooster or Z a call. They can help me track those photos down. But this might also be my best chance to find Bryce. “Yeah, we’ll be here.”

“Cool, thanks.”

I nod even though I don’t feel like I deserve any thanks. Haven’t done a whole lot for him tonight.

“You see him?” I ask Heidi when I return to her side.

“Not yet.”

Jake lifts an eyebrow. “Who you looking for?”