“Good morning to you too,” I said, clenching and unclenching my fists three times to release tension.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Didn’t sleep well.”

He was preaching to the fucking choir.

“So what’s up?” he asked.

“I was wondering if you could do something for me.”

“Depends.”

“Any chance you can you get your hands on some birth control?”

A lengthy pause ticked by. “I think I can manage that.”

“Thanks,” I said, watching as coffee began dripping into the carafe.

More silence. “So,” he finally said, “guess what Nate told me last night after I left your boat?”

My eye twitched, but I kept my tone neutral. “What’d he say?”

“He said you and Shelton are getting into something lucrative.”

Fuck. People and their big mouths.

I must have muttered the obscenity out loud. His dry laughter filtered through the phone. “Funny how I had to hear it from a fucking stranger.”

“What else did he tell ya?”

“I know Zach’s involved. Is that what you’re worried about?”

Basically, yeah.

“You need to put a stop to this,” he said. “You’re gonna get yourself thrown back in jail, or worse.”

“What do you expect me to do? Zach wouldn’t be a problem if you hadn’t carted him off to Mexico.”

“You want to kill him? Fine. I won’t stop you this time. But shit, man, don’t be stupid about it. Don’t do it in front of a bunch of witnesses.”

“Shelton’s already got him. I’m supposed to see for myself at noon. I was hoping you’d keep an eye on Alex while I’m gone.”

“This is fucked up,” Jax said. “Do you really trust Shelton?”

“I don’t have much choice. He’s playing hardball.”

He cursed under his breath. “If you go through with this fight…how do you expect to come back from that? This is Zach we’re talking about. Not Brock, not even my old man. He’s Alex’s fucking brother, for chrissakes.”

“You came back from what went down in that tunnel just fine.” I pointed out as I set a mug next to the coffee pot. “You killed your own blood, so who the fuck are you to lecture me?”

“We’re not the same. I did what I needed to. I was born from a slave and raised in that ditch. But you…” He let out a sigh.

“Say what’s on your mind, Jax. Wouldn’t want to stop you now.”

“You’ve got a fucking huge ass conscience, whether you want it or not.”

I bit down on my lip hard. Part of me agreed with him, and it wasn’t because I cared what happened to Zach; I cared about what Alex would think of me.