Twist the Knife (Lost Kings MC #24)

Jigsaw clasps the keys. “Thanks.”

“You’re road captain, right?” Dad nods to the patch on Jigsaw’s leather vest. “That means you’re in charge of the safety of the club out on the road?”

“Yes, sir. Planning the trips and maintaining vehicles too.”

“All right then.”

We say a round of goodbyes and Jigsaw walks me back outside.

“What just happened?” I mutter.

“Ready?” Jigsaw settles his hand at the small of my back and steers me toward the garage.

Jigsaw

Old man Cedarwood might not be as uptight as I originally thought. I didn’t expect him to be okay with me taking Margot out for dinner. Never in a hundred years did I expect him to hand me his car keys and send us off with his blessing.

The garage door next to Margot’s rolls up, revealing a shiny black Cadillac CT5. Not my style but a nice car. Exactly what I’d expect Cedarwood to drive.

I don’t know what to do for Margot. She seemed so…drained when she stepped outside. Pale as a ghost and so damn sad. Fuck our sex lessons, I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and stab whoever put that dull listlessness in her eyes and stole the joy from her expression.

Since she doesn’t want to talk about it, the next best thing I can do is feed her and get her away from this place for a couple of hours.

She’s quiet while I guide the car to the road. When I glance over, she’s staring out the window.

“You never know what you’re going to get, do you?” I ask. How has this just occurred to me? What she does isn’t a regular nine-to-five. It’s unpredictable. And some cases are probably horrible.

“Sometimes,” she whispers. “Hospice gives us a heads-up. Or the hospital does. But other times it’s the worst kind of surprise.”

Hearing her voice, as sad as she sounds, loosens the knot of tension in my gut. But a relentless need to do something to cheer her up continues to bug me.

Remy’s Tavern is the only place I can think of to take Margot. It’s quiet, he won’t ask questions or make her uncomfortable. And the food’s decent.

As usual, it’s not that busy. I don’t know how the fuck he’s going to stay in business at this rate. Since my club uses the place quite a bit, we should do more to boost business. Teller was supposed to be working on that but seems to have put some projects on the back burner now that Charlotte’s due date is getting closer.

I park at the front of the building and hurry to Margot’s side to open her door. She blinks up at me and a faint smile crosses her lips. A big improvement.

“Have you ever been here?” I ask.

“Once or twice.”

“A friend of the club owns it.”

The corners of her mouth twitch with amusement. “You’re taking care of all the friends of the club tonight, huh?”

What? Does she think that’s the only reason I offered to take her out?

I pull her out of the car and close the door. “I think you should know by now my club has nothing to do with what goes on between us.” If anything, I’m heading for an ass-kicking if I keep seeing her behind the club’s back.

It’s only temporary.

And Rock did tell me to keep her happy. Never mind that my own president told me not to mess around with her.

“We wouldn’t have met otherwise,” she says.

“I don’t know about that. I’m spending more and more time out this way. We might have run into each other.”

She stares up at me with a serious, almost sad expression. “You wouldn’t have given me a second look.”