More chin lifts, Chace took another sip of beer and sat back in his chair before he went on.
“Got a visit from one of my father’s men. Man’s name is Clinton Bonar. You may know him,” Chace stated, his eyes not missing Tate’s flashing with recognition. “You might not. My advice, you get the chance, don’t. He introduces himself, walk away then five seconds later, call me. He’s an asshole and of all the varieties of asshole there are, he’s at the top of the scale of the worst there could be. Unfortunately, the last time I saw him, he was an asshole with a message.”
Chace took another sip of beer and continued, sharing what Bonar shared and as he did the alert but relaxed vibe in the room lost the relaxed part. This came especially from Ty when Chace mentioned his father’s tapes.
So when Chace finished, he did it eyes on Ty and he did it quietly.
“I do not give a fuck you have them. I also don’t give a fuck what you do with them. What I ask is that if you intend to use them, you give me a head’s up so I can do what I can to soften the blow for my mother. Me requesting you being here was not me doin’ what Bonar wanted. I do not intend to be the errand boy for those assholes. I’m outta that shit. No more. I’m just sayin’ this so all of you can keep your eyes and ears open, be aware, be cautious and report to me or Frank anything that concerns you. Frank and the Cap know all of this. Whatever happens, we agree, we deal with it openly, within protocol, as a matter of police business. Maybe they’ll see the wisdom of backing off and dealing with Newcomb quietly. Maybe a storm is brewing. We just need to be vigilant.”
“Not gonna use those tapes,” Ty declared when Chace stopped talking.
“Like I said, don’t care what you do with them,” Chace replied.
“Not gonna use ‘em, don’t even fuckin’ want ‘em. Got a kid comin’, don’t need shit like that in my house. I’ll collect ‘em, give ‘em to you. That way, at least you’re clear with your Dad and they think of doin’ somethin’ stupid, Lexie and I are outside their warpath,” Ty returned.
“You do not need to buckle to these men,” Chace told him quietly and Ty leaned across the table toward him.
“I’m not bucklin’ to those motherfuckers.” His deep voice rumbled firmly. “I do not want that shit in my house. I have no use for it. I got a wife who don’t need any more bullshit and handin’ over some sick-ass sex tapes is a small price to pay for keepin’ her clear of that shit. I have no intention of fuckin’ with your mother’s head. We both been forced down a murky road together, you and me, and as we moved down that road, we didn’t know we had company. When shit got extreme, you had my back. You also had my wife’s. So I’m also doin’ this for you. What I’m not doin’ it for is those motherfuckers. But they can think I am. I don’t give a fuck. They don’t factor in my life and once those tapes are out of it, the last nuance of them is too.”
Chace saw his point, seeing as it was hard to miss, and nodded.
“Am I the only one here that thinks that maybe a full frontal assault to teach a lesson that the town’s not gonna be fucked with anymore is the way to go?” Deke asked and this was not a surprise. Deke behaved himself in Bubba’s because if he didn’t, he’d get an ass full of buckshot from Krystal’s shotgun. But Carnal to Sturgis was paved with bars that saw Deke’s blood or, more often, blood he caused to flow hit the pavement in parking lots. He was not a man to sit on his hands or back down from a fight.
His question got two “Yeahs”, one from Wood, one from Chace with a, “Uh… yeah, Deke. It’s only you,” from Tate.
Ty just grinned at him. Max grinned at the table.
Then Max looked at Chace. “You need me to give Mick a head’s up about this?”
The Mick he was talking about was Mick Shaughnessy, the top guy at Gnaw Bone’s Police Department.
“You wanna do that, it’d save me time,” Chace answered. “He has questions, tell him he can give me a call.”
“Will this reach to Gnaw Bone?” Max went on and Chace kept his gaze.
Then he replied, “It happens. Yes. Two men vulnerable in Gnaw Bone. One sits on the City Council. One has an office down the hall from your wife.”
Chace watched Max’s face get hard then he whispered, “Fuck.”
“Don’t know what they got on him and don’t know who Darren’s squeezin’. Just know he’s made payoffs in the past and he’s provided free legal advice,” Chace informed him.
“This does not make me happy,” Max informed Chace.
“It wouldn’t make me happy either,” Chace agreed. “But my understanding is, Nina put out her shingle and shares office space with George but she didn’t partner with him. If Newcomb’s after George then he’s runnin’ scared. He’ll do all in his power to keep this from Nina. My guess only, she’s legally and financially clear, unless he’s outed and dishonored, she never has to know and there’s no need to drag her in. She’s your wife, your call. But you tell Mick. He’ll have her back.”
Max pulled in breath through his nose before he sighed and sat back and what Chace knew of Max, by that evening, both Mick Shaughnessy and Nina Maxwell would know. What Chace knew of Nina Maxwell, by Monday, George Nielson, a prominent attorney in the area, would have the side of her tongue, something feared widely since she knew how to use it, and possibly he’d be looking for new office space. She’d moved in with him when she’d moved to Gnaw Bone to marry Max. Still, she’d get the offices. Nina Maxwell was also not one to back down from a fight, she fought on the side that was right and she rarely lost.
“Right, so, our shit storm might not be over. Bad news but fuck it, we’ve been livin’ with worse,” Wood said at this point. “Now, what I wanna know is,” his eyes came to Chace and his lips surrounded by his goatee twitched, “are you seriously datin’ the town’s librarian?”
At this point, Chace sighed.
“Saw her with him and Bubba’s,” Deke confirmed then said with emphasis and a scary grin, “Tight.”
“You think I’ll man up while you trash talk Faye, I’ll shut that down now,” Chace said low and there were more lip twitches.
“Is it possible to trash talk Faye?” Tate asked then went on, his lips surrounded by a full on beard curved upwards, “Pure as the driven snow.”
Fuck.
“Been around,” Wood muttered, grinning at Tate. “Done a lot. Never been down a road no one’s ever taken.”
Fuck.
“Sweet,” Deke whispered, his grin aimed at Chace.
Chace took a healthy slug of beer this time as he rose. After he found his feet, he put the bottle on the table and announced, “Now, I’m shuttin’ this shit down. Thanks for the beer and the time,” he said to Tate then moved his gaze through the men before he began to leave.
“You don’t get it, Keaton,” Ty’s voice stopped him and his tone made Chace look back. “Clean pussy therefore undoubtedly sweet pussy, we’re happy for you, man.”
“Not sure I like you referring to Faye as ‘pussy’,” Chace warned, not giving that first fuck Ty had five inches and a shitload of bulky muscle on him.
“Lex don’t like it either but she got used to it. You will too,” Ty replied.
“Terrific,” Chace muttered not thinking in a million years that Ty Walker would be his bud. Now after getting the Walker Style “you’re in my posse” statement, he was at odds with how he felt about it.
“He’s not lyin’, Chace,” Tate said quietly and Chace looked to him. “That works out, pleased for you. You get a good woman in your bed, life has a way of straightening itself out.”
“Road can’t be murky, it’s got light shinin’ on it,” Ty added. Chace shook his head, not at odds with how he felt about Tatum Jackson and Tyrell Walker, two of the biggest badasses he knew, demonstrating signs they were pussy whipped and didn’t give a shit.