Chapter Eleven
DREW
I’d been questioned in this particular room a hundred times before. There’d been days in my early adult life where I’d had to sit opposite the town’s policemen and women, spending hours convincing them I hadn’t done anything wrong—endless hours of them trying to pin down the cocky rebel kid who they saw as nothing more than a nuisance in their otherwise peaceful small town.
I’d stared into each man’s eyes with pure hatred pouring out of me.
Now?
Now, I wished it was the town’s chief I was looking at instead of the arrogant ATF agent with a bald patch bigger than a baseball diamond on his head, and eyes that wanted to bring me under.
I wished it was Sutton sitting opposite me instead of this fucker.
I stared at the ATF agent as I leaned back in the chair, one arm over the back of it, my other arm resting on the table in front of me. I could stare a guy in the eye for days on end and not feel awkward about it. Especially a guy who was, without intention, declaring himself an enemy.
Time dragged on before I heard the familiar sound of Jedd’s heavy boots stomping down the corridor. When Winnie pushed through the door and held it open for him, Jedd walked in, his eyes cast down before he sat in his chair opposite me.
He rested his hands on the table, leaving me to raise a brow at Winnie and gesture for her to get rid of the asshole in the corner. With a roll of her eyes, she coughed gently and signaled for her colleague to get out of there.
Once he’d left, Winnie shut the door behind her and positioned herself at the end of the table.
“You’ve got ten minutes,” she said, folding her arms over her chest.
“Thanks.” I smiled sarcastically, letting my eyes drift over to Jedd.
He didn’t look guilty.
He didn’t look sorry.
He didn’t look angry, scared, or confused.
Jedd, my ever-reliable vice president, looked… peaceful.
A minute must have passed before Winnie blew out a breath in irritation.
She wanted words to be exchanged. She wanted answers; to be on the inside and to see what happened when the president of the MC she was trying to bring down confronted the VP who appeared to have betrayed them.
She’d be waiting a long damn time.
I watched Jedd, neither moving or making a sound other than to lightly drum my fingers on the table between us as I waited for him to look at me.
It happened slowly—a subtle rise of his eyes as he peeked up through his thick, black eyebrows and locked in on me. My nostrils flared, and my lips twitched, but I never blinked or looked away. Jedd held my gaze, and so many emotions ran through me. Fuck, I’d spent so long looking at the club as awhole, as a family, as a group I had to protect… it felt like a lifetime since I’d looked at the men as individuals.
The day I’d found Deeks outside The Hut crying as he looked at the picture of me, him, and Harry was the last time I’d stared deep into the eyes of a brother I loved and really, truly seen him.
It was happening again with Jedd right then.
I fucking loved him, and he loved me. There was a loyalty in his stare that didn’t need to be questioned, and I realized at that moment that I’d never needed to speak to him.
I’d only ever needed to see him—to be one hundred percent certain he was still with me.
I raised my chin and released a breath through my nose, but Jedd’s face never shifted. His lips never parted, and his eyes never strayed from mine.
My fingers drummed harder, the force finding a rhythm that matched my racing heart and quiet mind.
“Five minutes and not a word exchanged. Don’t waste this time, boys. Who knows when you’ll get it again,” Winnie eventually spoke.
Jedd’s smirk pulled at one corner of his mouth, making his long beard twitch.
