Pulling out my cell phone, I dialed Zodiac’s number.
“Hey, Scorpio, what’s up?”
“Can you have someone come meet me over in the alley behind the pharmacy?”
“Sure, but why?”
“I need someone to drive my bike back to the clubhouse, there’s been an … incident,” I said carefully.
“Incident?” Zodiac’s voice dropped to a disapproving tone. “What kind of incident?” He was still angry about the whole fire thing. I couldn’t blame him for that one. I was still angry at me too. Hell, it was probably the reason the Artillery were acting up the way they were. They’ve never been this bold before, and now they were assaulting women—women who had badges. I knew they were dangerous, but if I ever got my hands around their necks it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Not like that. I’ll explain later.”
“I’m coming myself. I’ll bring Cap with me. Be there in twenty,” he informed me, which had my heart dropping. Shit, he usually had other members handle this shit.
I hung up the phone, and held Juliet even closer to me. “It’s gonna be okay, Juliette. They can’t harm you now.”
“But they hurt you,” she countered. “They had guns.”
“So did I, even though I shouldn’t have.” I chewed on my bottom lip, afraid to reveal what I had done. But she needed to know. She had the right to know why the Artillery was getting so bold all of a sudden.
“I want to tell you something, but I’m afraid you’ll arrest me if I do.”
She took a step back, leaning against her squad car like she was ready to run.
“I didn’t kill Brooklyn. I’m pretty sure you know that by now, but I also wasn’t doing something legal that day when she was killed, and I’m afraid that my actions are what may have caused you to be attacked by those men.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, reaching for a gun that was out of bullets. The men had stripped it away from her, and shot every last one of them in the chamber at me before she knocked it out of one of their hands and got it back. She was going to have to report this assault, but I didn’t know if it would do any good with how corrupt Hollender was.
Carefully, I gripped her waist, sitting her on the hood of her squad car, then took a step back to give her space. She tensed when I picked her up, only relaxing when I put some distance between us.
“I already told you that someone stole my dad’s bike. It was the only thing I had left of him, and it made me extremely upset and angry. I was ready to kill whoever took the bike from me, and I had a sneaking suspicion it was the Hell’s Artillery MC that did, because Beretta wanted to buy my bike off me a few days before. Zodiac believes in being a peaceful club. No violence… no confrontation. My father was the same way, and I’m thankful he has kept the club’s morals the way they are. But sometimes you have to do something wrong in order to make things right. I wanted my bike back, so I started pushing people for information. I got violent with a few tweakers who worked for the Hell’s Artillery drug labs. They told me they thought my bike was being held at one of their drug houses on the other side of town. I staked out the place for a few days, not really seeing if they were holding my bike there, then I saw them dragging a woman into their building kicking and screaming. She looked young, maybe in her late teens, early twenties. She was wearing a short skirt and crop top, which made me believe she was selling herself on the streets for money. The men inside the building started to rough her up and looked like they were going to rape her, so I knew I had to do something. I reacted before thinking, grabbing a few of the gas cans that were lying on the side of the building and spreading it all over the thin wooden walls. Then I flicked on a lighter and set it ablaze.” I looked down at my feet ashamed over what I had done. I was an arsonist, whether my intentions were good or not, people got hurt because of what I did.
“Okay…” her voice trailed off. “What happened to the girl and the house?”
“The house went up in flames. It was enough of a distraction to make the men inside stop what they were doing and try to put out the flames before the fire blew up their meth lab. While they weren’t looking, I snuck inside and freed her. They had her bound at that point and gagged. Then I told her to run and not look back. She did. But as she was escaping someone punched me, when I whipped around there was an Artillery member standing there, ready to throw down. We got into a fist fight, and I rolled him into some flames that were near where we were fighting, burning the side of his face. It was enough to get me out of there, minutes before the whole place exploded.”
She gasped. “Shit I remember that. But I was so consumed with the shooting that I totally forgot about it. I’ve actually cased that place before. It was a known drug house, but Hollender refused to let me investigate it further. It was a thorn in this town’s side. Was your bike there?”
“No… I realize now it was a trap. The guy I was ruffing up was just trying to get me killed.”
She nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably true.”
I held out my hands, offering them up to her so she could cuff me. “So, are you going to arrest me, Deputy. I know I deserve it.”
She cupped my face, giving me a warm smile. “No, I’m not going to arrest you.”
“Why not? I committed a crime, people could’ve been hurt because of me. People did get hurt because of me.”
Her smile warmed her face. “Because you helped me get rid of one of the problems in Rising Star, that says something about your character Buchanan. Yeah, you committed a crime, but you didn’t kill anyone, and after what I’ve seen the last few days, I know in my heart that someone is trying to frame you for Brooklyn’s murder. The question is who?”
“I still stand by the mafia. They were here and they have motive. I want to go check on Valentina, but I know they’re watching me, so my hands are tied. She’s safer where she is, then if I tried to go help her myself.”
Juliette nodded her head. “Agreed.”
The way she was looking at me had my dick hard as a rock. Her eyes were hooded with desire, and she drew that bottom lip into her mouth so evilly, almost like she knew the hold she had over me.
“Juliette, if you keep doing that, I’ll end up taking you right here and now,” I growled, gripping her waist and wedging myself between her legs. “You have no idea how much my body craves you,” I whispered along the slope of her neck, igniting a soft moan from her lips.
