Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 122896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 614(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122896 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 614(@200wpm)___ 492(@250wpm)___ 410(@300wpm)
“No. This is legal.” He shifted in the driver’s seat as much as he could to face her. Even though his face was caught in shadows, she could see how serious his expression was.
She attempted to swallow the lump stuck in her throat. “Then please get to the point. By skirting around the subject in an attempt to ‘prepare’ me, all you’re doing is freaking me out.”
He nodded. “Sorry. I don’t mean to freak you out. Listen… I have a proposition for you, but I don’t want you to say no until you hear me out. I also don’t want you to say no until you give me the opportunity to answer all your questions. As best as I can, anyway. If you ask me something I don’t know, I’ll do my best to find the answer. I want you to feel completely comfortable with this.”
Mel pressed a hand to the racing pulse in her throat.
Before she could respond, he continued, “I needed to see if I could trust you before I revealed some things about me. I will also need you to trust me. Trust will be important for this to work.”
She didn’t know him well enough to trust him completely. He seemed nice enough, but that didn’t mean shit.
“How do you know you can trust me?” she whispered.
He peeled her hand from her throat and gave it a squeeze. “I’m a good judge of character.”
So was she, but that wasn’t fool-proof.
Releasing her hand, he grabbed his phone from the center console. After turning on the flashlight app, he handed it to her. “Keep this low and pointed toward the floor. What I’m about to show you, I don’t want showing up on the security cameras.”
What the hell was going on? Her racing heartbeat now pulsed in her temples.
She accepted the phone from him and did what he said, keeping the bright light pointed at the floorboard at her feet.
He leaned forward and dug into the back pocket of his jeans. When he pulled his wallet out, he kept that low and out of view, too. He flipped it open and held it under his phone. The light bounced off shiny metal.
What the—
“I’m a cop.”
Chapter Thirteen
“You’re a cop,” she repeated, not posed as a question, but a statement of disbelief.
“Yes.” His gut instinct better be correct. It had always been accurate in the past but odds were one day it would be wrong. Finn only hoped like fuck today was not that day.
Even in the Kia’s mostly dark interior, he could see the surprise, possibly even shock, in her eyes. He wasn’t sure if he should be impressed with himself that he’d hidden his true identity so well, or insulted that she couldn’t fathom him being in law enforcement.
“Are cops’ salaries so bad you need to strip as a second job?”
“Being a cop definitely doesn’t make me rich but I’m not dancing because I need the money, Mel. In fact, I can’t keep any of the tips. But… I’m not only a cop.”
The whites of her eyes expanded even more. “What does that mean?”
He dug into the wallet and pulled out his federal task force ID.
When she took it from him, her fingers held a slight tremor. She tilted it so she could read it under the cell phone’s light. “What is this? It doesn’t match the badge.”
“That’s correct. The badge belongs to the Southern Allegheny Regional PD, where I’m an officer, but the ID is for a special assignment I’m on right now. I’m part of a federal drug task force. My current assignment for that task force is being undercover to investigate and gather evidence against the Deadly Demons.”
“Wait… So…”
He waited, giving her a much-needed minute to wrap her head around what he just revealed.
“So…”
He pinned his lips together and let her work through it. But after another long excruciating pause, he couldn’t wait any longer. “I went undercover with the Peckers, but only for the two shows at The Peach Pit.”
Her lips tipped downward at the corners. “Does Nick know?”
“Yes, but he’s the only one.”
“And your friends who showed up tonight… Are they even friends?”
“More than friends, actually. I consider them my brothers. They’re law enforcement and working on the same task force, too, but that’s not how I know them. We’re all members of an MC.”
“An MC? Like the Demons?” she squeaked.
Not even fucking close. “We belong to the Blue Avengers, a club exclusively made up of law enforcement.”
Her brow furrowed. “MCs like that exist?”
“Yes. Firefighters have MCs. Former military. Lots of brotherhoods form motorcycle or riding clubs. It’s one type of bonding and helps cement their brotherhood, their community. Especially since they all have something in common.”
“Do you all ride Harleys?”
“Most of us, yes.”
“Do you wear those leather cuts, too?”
“We do, but only when we ride. Our MC isn’t a way of life like the Demons. It’s only one piece of our life, even if an important one.”