Games of the Heart (The 'Burg #4)(167)

Rhonda stared up at Dusty, face wet and getting wetter but Dusty was done.

She moved through the room saying to her father, “Tell Mom I’ll be back in a while to eat.” Then her eyes came to him and she whispered, “I gotta ride, babe.”

Then she was gone.

Rhonda got up and dashed out of the room, up the stairs and Mike heard another door slam.

Dean stalked out, muttering, “Gotta talk to Della.”

Mike, No and Rivera stood in the living room, silent.

“Welp!” Rivera ended the silence. “Kids wanted spring break in Disneyland. I like my roller coasters but, gotta say, this is a f**kuva lot more interesting.”

Mike clenched his teeth to stop himself from smiling. If No tried this he didn’t succeed but luckily his amusement came out in a low chuckle.

Mike looked between the two then told them, “I’m gonna go talk with Kirb.”

“Good luck with that, bro,” Rivera muttered, Mike shook his head at him then he walked out of the room, up the stairs and knocked on doors until he found Kirby.

*

Mike stood in the barn, back against the side of a stall, Blaise’s starred nose over the door. Moonshine’s stall was empty since Dusty was now on her back somewhere on the land. Rivera was three feet away, arms crossed on his chest, legs planted, eyes on Mike, ears peeled.

Mike was waiting for Dusty and he was on his phone. Rivera was waiting for an update.

“You gotta step this shit up, Ryker,” he said into the phone.

“I told you, this dude is slippery,” Ryker said back.

“He hit the sister-in-law. Don’t know how but do know she has a five thousand dollar check,” Mike informed him.

“Well, I do know that I hope like f**k the bitch hasn’t cashed it because of all the nothing I know about Bernie McGrath the one thing I do know about him is that he doesn’t take refunds for payoffs,” Ryker remarked.

“Is that all you got for me?” Mike asked.

“He’s in bed with the sister,” Ryker told him something else he knew.

So he informed Ryker of that. “Already know that, Ryker.”

“No, he’s in bed with her. Got an in close to this guy who don’t know much. What he does know is that there was some showdown a while ago, the bitch from DC was ticked and she showed at the office, spread her bitch love, stormed into McGrath’s inner sanctum and she worked out her anger by lettin’ McGrath f**k her on his desk. Apparently, the bitch is noisy and active. The computer fell off the desk. Everyone in the office heard it.”

Jesus.

“He’s since hit DC twice. Not business,” Ryker went on.

Only Debbie would end what had to be, from her disposition, a dry spell by letting a shady real estate mogul bang her.

Fuck.

Mike’s eyes went to Rivera. “I gotta make an approach to this guy that succeeds in gettin’ him to back off this land. This means I need intel, Ryker. Somethin’ that I can lean on him with. And I need to do this yesterday.”

“I hear you, man, but I’m tellin’ you he’s slippery and when I say that, I mean there’s a reason why. Only folks who got somethin’ to hide make an art outta bein’ slick. And this guy’s the master. He’s not wet. The man is lubed.”

Fuck a-f*cking-gain.

Mike sighed and looked to his boots. “This means I gotta talk to Tanner.”

And pay him. Tanner had two boys and a wife and although he regularly did freebies out of the goodness of his heart, he still had a family to provide for. His Robin Hood act he played out for those who needed it and could not only not afford anyone near the talent of Tanner Layne but also anyone who was substandard.

But what Ryker couldn’t find, Tanner definitely had the skills to get. And if he didn’t have time, he could set his crotchety sidekick, Devin Glover on the job.

Mike’s back straightened away from the stall when Ryker stated, “He’s already in, bro. Rocky and her posse are worried about this business so she got all up in his. In a good way, if you get me. She gave him some, he asked me to brief him last week, I did and we’re workin’ this together.”

Mike was not surprised. He was pleased but not surprised. He’d watched more than once ‘Burg women take each other’s backs or, more to the point, activate the men in their lives who could do it.

So he muttered, “Right.”

“Just a side note, McGrath is married,” Ryker told him and Mike blinked.

“What?” he asked.

“He’s doin’ the nasty with the sister and even headin’ to DC to dip back into that but at home, he’s got a God-fearin’ woman who hits church every Sunday and Bible study every Wednesday night. Her Daddy was a preacher. Like you got on your hands with the sister-in-law, bro, Tanner and me feel the wife is the weak link but in a different way. This bitch talks to God and the way she acts, she thinks God talks back. They live in Plainfield and last fall, if you remember, they had that big bust up, those Bible thumpers burnin’ books. She was the mastermind behind that. Tanner is lookin’ at her the same time he’s got Devin lookin’ into seein’ if they got a pre-nup. See, it’d suck for him, her comin’ into the know that he’s got shady dealin’s and on top ‘a that is bangin’ some lawyer who lives in DC…in his office…for his entire staff to hear, and she gets shot of his ass and takes half of his hard-earned money with her.”