“That was weird,” I mutter.
“If Ballistic isn’t worried,” Mace says but stops talking when I turn to look at him.
I want to ask him what he said to King, whether he talked about our disagreement last night or if he kept it to himself but now that she is gone, I can’t help but think about the reason we were close to fighting last night.
Fuck this. I don’t make any attempt to talk to him. All I want to do is get under the hood of the Buick and think through everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours without him glaring at me. I’m not sure what it is going on with Cassie, but I want to find out.
“King is going to speak to you.”
I stop in my tracks and turn back to face Mace. “Ink and Dirt already spoke to me. Why would King want to?”
“He wants to know about the other thing.”
My confusion lasts only a few seconds. “You told him.”
“Had to,” he says matter-of-factly.
“Did you really?” Iscowl.
He huffs out a laugh. “Do me a favor, Handlebar.” He doesn’t wait for me to ask what. “Next time we need someone on a job, be busy.”
Son of a bitch. Fuck him. We both turn and walk away without another word, but a whole lot of fucking anger.
Chapter Thirteen
Cassie
This is going from bad to worse.
I love my job, having this place is a crutch, a way to cling to some semblance of a normal life. King has never questioned my need to work for a law firm away from the club.
The last few days I’ve thought about nothing other than my role here. Even before shit got worse. I’ve had bad or difficult clients before, it’s part and parcel of being a defense attorney. Getting my head around Vance is messing with my equilibrium.
My instincts don’t lie. Vance unnerves me. My only option is to be removed from his case. Which I’ve oscillated on since getting back from Sussex a couple of days ago, going over the pros and cons. It was my intention to talk to Harry about it today.
Mom’s suggestion to have someone protecting me is a joke. I can protect myself. I have a gun and I know how to use it. Not that I suspect it will ever come to that. The other night at dinner was an anomaly. The deposition, seeing that woman cry and try to pull herself together to face the man who terrorized her had me feeling some kind of weird way.
Yes, I pushed the button that was a catalyst to mom’s overreaction and dad making it known they’re watching out for me, I didn’t expect her to be so passionate about her idea.
And Eli, of all people. I could kill her for bringing that up in front of him. Eli being concerned when he asked what mom was talking about, sent something fluttering inside my chest.
Eli has a heart and he truly cares. He never says anything mean, nor does he seem to get angry. Even when I’ve been continuously pushing him away, he doesn’t make me feel like I’m being a bitch. It’s like he’s accepted it and respects my wishes.
Then he looks at me with that hunger in his eyes, remembering what we did.
And now Mace is doing things to my treacherous vagina. Why the hell I slept with him, I’ll never know. That’s a lie. I could think of a lot of reasons, even though it was one of my worst decisions ever.
They couldn’t be any more different, both such different temperaments and looks.
And tempting as hell.
I get the impression they share the same standards and morals. Look at what Mace did for Waverley. He went against his own President to save her. Her safety mattered more than years of loyalty to a club that didn’t give two shits about women.
Shaking myself out of thoughts of those two, yet again, I focus back on the present situation. This is the first time I’ve seen Vance since the ill-fated dinner. He hasn’t been focused on me this time. With good reason.
Watching him pace back and forth in the conference room, I keep my mouth shut as Harry tries to placate him about what we’re going to do next.
True to their word, the oppositions lawyer has come back at us with allegations from two more women. Harry has already asked me to look into, and discredit them, a request that I simply nodded to because I had nothing to add to the conversation. Nothing that wouldn’t get me in trouble.
