He shoved the keys into his pocket. “Them’s the breaks.”
He sat in front of me with his legs spread wide and his gaze studying my form. I leaned back and matched his movements, manspreading for the world to see to let him know that he didn’t intimidate me. We stared at one another for a long time. I wasn’t sure if he was waiting for someone else to show up, or if he was trying to psych me out.
Whatever the purpose, though, it’d take a lot more than his beady little stare to rile me up.
“Aria seems to be very curious about you,” he said.
I shrugged. “Don’t know who that is.”
He chuckled. “Trust me, you do, even if you don’t know the name.”
I tilted my head off to the side. “And what’s it to you if I know her or not?”
He shrugged. “I care about her. I’ve known her for a very long time, and she’s been known to get herself into situations that aren’t good for her.”
“She’s a big girl. I’m sure she can handle herself without her ex prying into her life.”
His face fell. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. She doesn't love you, but you still love her. It’s very clearly obvious.”
When he didn’t say anything, a pang of jealousy tore through my gut. I didn’t like the fact that this man had once had his hands on that woman. He wasn’t good enough for her. He was the kind of man that would dull her fire instead of stoking it.
But I was shocked at the idea of me being jealous over a woman whose name I hadn’t known up until an hour ago.
“So,” I said with a sigh, “you gonna tell me why I got thrown in here in the first place? Or are we just going to keep staring at one another until one of us starts blowing kisses.”
He grinned. “You’re here because Officer Daniels—the man who found your stash of drugs—is currently questioning your buddy, Fangs.”
“So, you’re the placeholder until he gets here. Got it.”
His eyes grew dark as he leaned forward. “How long have you guys been peddling coke out of Heist?”
I shook my head. “Never.”
“That bag tells us a very different story.”
I shrugged. “Not ours.”
He chuckled as he leaned back once more. “How convenient.”
I nodded. “I’d say so, yeah.”
“I’m only going to ask you one more time before I turn you over to someone who will absolutely know how to get answers out of you.”
“Is that your way of telling me you’re going to torture me for information? Because it’s been a while since I’ve delved into the world of pain. Might be a nice release for me.”
He ground his teeth together. “How long have you been selling drugs out of that place?”
“Look, Officer. It’s a nightclub. One of our patrons likely left it behind, but we don’t fucking sell drugs out of our nightclub. You think we’re that stupid?”
“No, but I do think that, eventually, you guys are going to slip up and we’re finally going to get to throw all of you behind bars for good.”
I snickered. “And you’re hoping this is us slipping up?”
He drew in a deep breath. “With everything else going on in that club, things don’t look good for you guys. You can deny all you want, but we’ve already got enough just from the basic search to hold you guys until further notice. So, you can either cooperate and we can get bail set up. Or you can spend a couple of evenings in a holding cell and we can see if that brings you and your buddy around.”
I leaned forward, making sure to look him dead in his eyes. “We. Do not. Sell drugs. Out of Heist. Period.”
