I collapse, splayed out over her, her body limp beneath mine. My lips find skin, kissing the back of her neck, her shoulders, the bruise forming on her cheek.
On shaky hands, she pushes up. I pull out of her and twist her around. We’re quiet as the rain hammers down on the pavement.
She loops her arms around my waist and tips her head back, her eyes glassy. “Thank you. For coming for me.”
I take her face in my hands. “I willalwaysfucking come for you, Gracie. There isn’t a corner of this earth I wouldn’t drag you back from. I’ll always find you. I’ll always protect you.”
She swallows, her grip on me tightening. “I’m scared. I don’t know how to fix this.”
I brush my thumb over her damp cheek. “We fix it by killing them. All of them. But I can’t do this by myself. I’m just one guy. Shit’s about to get bloody. I need your brothers. The Sinners are the only ones who can take these assholes.”
Grace nods. “I’m scared ofthattoo. Of what Axe will do when he finds out.”
“Axe gets nowhere near you. Or I’ll take him out myself. I’m in this with you, Grace. No backing down. Got it?”
She breaks into a watery smile, and goddamn if it doesn’t make my chest tight. Because I mean it. Regardless of what happens—with the Raiders, the Sinners, fucking Allen—she comes out of this alive.
Even if I don’t.
29
I stretch out my legs,searching for a comfortable position in one of the squeaky, sinking chairs in Chief Wells’s office. I’m fidgety, my muscles wound up, my leg bouncing like a spring, coiling tight and then popping back up.
Detective Inspector Morgan sits at a small table to my left, ankle crossed over his knee, balancing an open folder on his lap. Other than a curt nod, he’s offered me no acknowledgement since I arrived ten minutes ago for thisbriefingAllen wanted me at so badly.
Since I’ve received no calls from Axe this morning notifying me my brother’s dead, I assume the shit Allen had lined up for Jack last night didn’t go as planned. Meaning this meeting is completely fucking pointless.
Morgan finally spares me a glance, his focus falling to my jittering limbs, my twitching fingers rapping against my paper takeaway cup. He sighs through his nose and gives me a long, hard stare. “Something happen to your face, Officer Decker?”
I offer a tight smile, the tender, raw gash on my cheek stretching painfully under its bandage. It’s gonna leave a hell ofa scar. “I box a little. Guess one got away from me. Took it in the face pretty good.”
Morgan hums. “Doesn’t look like a boxing injury to me.”
I quirk a brow. “You fight much, sir?”
“Can’t say I do.” Eyes narrowed, he closes the folder and angles towards me. “Do you think that’s an appropriate pastime for a police officer?”
“Think of it as community outreach.”
He grunts. “It’s physical violence against civilians. Which is a liability. Your chief should shut that down.”
“People don’t trust cops, Detective. Letting a few of them have a go at me here and there helps with that. Shows them I’m human, that I bleed just like they do.” I smile. “Plus, chicks dig scars.”
More staring. He’s so still that I’m half tempted to get up and poke him to make sure the man’s still breathing.
It’s too goddamn early for this shit.
Leaning back, I fish my breakfast out of a small paper bag. Then, returning his stare, I bite into the sprinkle-covered pastry I got at Kuppajoe this morning.
“Really, Decker? A patrol cop with a fucking donut? You’re a walking punchline.” Allen’s voice grates on my skull as he walks into the chief’s office.
Wells enters behind him, nostrils flaring when we lock eyes. The chief is almost never happy to see me, but today, he looks extra pissed.
With a grin, I shove a little too much of my breakfast into my mouth. “Sprinkles bring me joy.”
Allen scoffs as he shuts the door. The second that click sounds, the room feels smaller, and that bounce in my leg is back.
I shouldn’t be here. Grace is at my place. Alone. And while I mostly trust that she’ll refrain from pulling any other stupidplans out of her ass and diving headfirst into another dangerous situation—like taking on a violent biker gang gunning to kill her—I can’t shake the feeling that shit’s about to get a lot worse. Which means the only place Grace should be is with me.
