Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 67975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67975 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
She’s a smart girl, I’ll give her that.
Smart as fuck.
“You’re right about that. You tell me where we start with Bennett and we’ll go from there.”
“I’ve tried tracking him, tried locating his phone, but he’s smart. He’s so damned smart. He knows people are looking at him and he knows that he’s going to get away with whatever he’s doing. Because of that, we need to be smarter than him.”
“How do you suppose we do that?”
“We need to put someone in his life that he trusts, someone who has nothing to do with any of us, someone who is basically a person he meets on the street and can lure into the trap.”
“You want us to find a random girl, throw her in the mix, and hope he falls for it?”
“Yes,” Zariah says blandly. “Yes, it’s the only way we’re getting in. Magnolia was unsuspecting, and it worked. We need to do the same thing, only this time we need that person to be on our side, giving us information.”
“It’s a risk to her life.”
“Yes, it is, but we’ll do everything we can to keep her safe.”
“Have you got anyone in mind? Guessin’ since Bennett works with you, he’s going to know all your close family and friends.”
“Not all of them ...”
“I’m listening.”
“I have a step-sister, our parents broke up years ago and she doesn’t live here. I don’t speak about her, not to anyone, but we’re super close, and I’ve already had a chat to her. She’s willing to do it.”
I study the woman, the cop, standing in front of me. I have a choice right not to fully trust her, or to send her on her way. I don’t know if I’m making the right choice letting her in, but I do know we have to do something. “Call her,” I say. “Send her my way. What are we goin’ to do about this body?”
“Leave it with me, I’ll have it covered. Your club won’t come into it.”
I nod.
Not going to ask how she’s going to do that.
I’m just going to trust her.
“Let’s get this sorted then.”
She nods and stands.
Here’s hoping I’ve made the right choice.
“GET IN HERE,” I MUTTER to Briella, calling her into my office after Zariah has left.
Hesitantly, she stands and follows me in. I close the door behind her and turn. She needs to get one thing straight, what she did today was fucking stupid. It was stupid and it nearly cost her her life. Thinking about how close that bullet got to her, thinking of the fact that I could have walked out and found her lifeless form, makes me sick to my stomach. The idea of losing her makes me sick, and she needs to know it doesn’t fly around here.
“I’ll tell you this once, Briella, and I need you to get it through your stubborn skull. What you did today will never fuckin’ happen again. You risked your life and the club’s lives, you risked so fuckin’ much runnin’ out that door. I don’t need to explain to you how clubs work, you know because you were fuckin’ raised in one. You do not fuckin’ go against orders. You do not risk everyone for your own feelings.”
She drops her head.
I know she’s regretting what she did, hell, I can see the fear lingering in her eyes even still. She knew she nearly died, and she knew it was stupid.
“What I say goes, do you understand me?”
She nods, and whispers, “I’m sorry, Flick. I never meant to put anyone at risk. I never meant to put myself at risk. I understand what I did wrong and I won’t do it again. It’s just ... the idea of her body lying there, in the dirt ...”
“Sometimes life ain’t nice, it’s fuckin’ ugly. Sometimes you have to do shit you don’t like. None of us liked that girl layin’ in the dirt but we also knew there wasn’t a choice at the time. We knew someone was watchin’ and we knew it was dangerous. You gotta trust me, and you gotta understand I make calls based on the safety of this club, respect it, yeah?”
She nods, closing her eyes briefly. “Yes, sir.”
God dammit, the way she said that, it sends shock waves right to my fucking dick. I love nothing more than a woman who is willing to give herself to me fully, and that’s exactly what Briella just did, she just handed herself over to me.
God dammit.
I need her.
I step forward and take her around the waist, pulling her closer to me. Then I tell her the truth, the whole fucking truth, because she deserves to know how that made me feel. “What you did today scared the fuck out of me, and for a moment, for a single moment, all I could think about was losing you. And it killed me, it fuckin’ ripped parts of me apart that I didn’t realize needed you so fuckin’ bad.”