Tomorrow, I vowed, I'd make sure Griff got that delivery – and with interest, too.
48
Dangerous Friends
Ryder
Outside the darkened bike shop, I stared down at the screen. Maddox, concise as usual, had replied to my text with a message even briefer than my own.
Two words.Call me.
So I did.
He answered on the first ring. "What's up?"
I almost laughed."Youare, apparently. You know it's almost three in the morning, right?"
"Not here, it isn't."
On this, the guy had a point. Chicago was in a different time zone, which made it almost 2 a.m. there. But that didn't change the facts. As I started walking toward my hotel, my footsteps were the only sounds on the empty street. "Yeah, but it's still late."
"Sothat'swhat you need help with? Figuring out the time?"
Maddox McGuiness wasn't a man who wasted words. He didn't rant, ramble, or explain himself twice. If he called you back in the middle of the night, it wasn't because he couldn't sleep.
It was because he was willing to help.
Some might say he owed me.Not the wayIsaw it. And already, he'd done me that favor with Griff – setting up the scenario that had sent Griff on his extended getaway.
Sure,Griffwouldn't see it as a favor. Not yet. Still, I'd bet my last dollar, he would eventually.
But right now, it wasn't Griff dominating my thoughts. It was Tessa. To Maddox, I replied, "I need to borrow someone. No.Multiplesomeones. Got any you can spare?"
There was a long beat where I could practically hear him recalibrating. "Is this about you? Or someone else?"
It was a simple question with a complicated answer, because I knew for a fact that if anything happened to Tessa Sinclair, I'd never forgive myself. I had money, clout, and dangerous friends – some who swam in waters a lot murkier than my own.
And at the top of that list?
Yeah, that would be Maddox.
I was still thinking when he said, "Fuck."
I stopped in mid-step. "What?"
"Who is she?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's the middle of the night, you're calling for help, and you won't say if it's personal. So I'll ask it again." His voice darkened. "Who is she?"
I saw no reason to bullshit. "Tessa Sinclair."
He paused. "Wait…you don't mean the one who went viral?"
That caught me off guard. "So you saw it?"
"That meeting meltdown?" He laughed. "Hell, everyone saw it."
