“Make me,” he says.
“Decker,” Wells snarls. “Gun. And. Badge. Now.”
My fists ball, but I will them to stay at my sides, no matter how badly I want to pound them into Allen’s face. I glare at Wells. “Letting this asshole into our town was a mistake, sir. He’s the one who should be under investigation. He’s used unnecessary force, planted drugs, put out a fucking hit on?—”
“Stop,” Wells says.
My fury only grows. “But he?—”
“Don’t embarrass yourself any more than you already have. Are you gonna relieve yourself of your weapon, or does Sergeant Allen need to do it for you?”
Allen and I have a good thirty-second stare down. While a smile crawls up his smug fucking face, I’m working to keep myself from lunging at him.
He’s won. For now.
With my focused set on the sergeant, I unholster my weapon and hand it to the chief. Then, slowly, I unpin my badge. My lungs constrict. No more numbness. The second that shield leaves my chest, I feel fucking everything.
“Your father would be ashamed of you,” Wells says.
“Maybe. But we both know he’d be ashamed of you too. At what this place has become.”
William Decker wasn’t perfect. And yeah, he took a few things too far. But he had a line, a limit. Cops planting drugs? Breaking the law for somegreater good? He’d have fucking died before stooping so low, before betraying his badge.
Knowing how I turned out, though? Yeah, that would have killed him a lot quicker than the bottle did. In the grand scheme of things, I guess I’m no better.
Without a glance back, I yank open the door and storm out. Miller throws me a questioning nod from his desk, but I shake my head, grab my wallet and keys, and head out to the parking lot. I’m almost at my truck when a deep voice calls my name from across the lot.
Allen.
He catches up with me, and despite every cell in my body screaming at me to attack, I plant my feet firmly into the pavement.
Deep. Fucking. Breaths.
“What the fuck do you want?”
He gives me that smug fucking smile again. “Don’t be so sore. You should be thanking me.”
“Yeah? And why’s that?”
“I kept your secret. Imagine what would have happened if I’d told them what else you’ve been up to.”
Throat closing up, I glare at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I wasn’t sure at first. You put on a good face. And you’re careful. I guess that’s why it’s so hard to catch a dirty cop. You know how we think.”
My heart thunders against my sternum, my stomach dropping like a brick. Out of habit, I reach to the small of myback, grappling for an invisible gun. Just like my knives, it’s not there. Not that I’d kill a cop in the parking lot. Well.Probablynot. Guess it depends on how much he knows, how many buttons this fucker is planning to press.
His grin broadens. “There it is. That panic. I’ve been waiting for that. The second that calm finally cracks. You’re good, Decker. Real good. So good I barely have any proof. Last night, though, finally tipped me off.” He steps closer, and I match his step back as I eye his hand sliding to his holster, to his gun. “You warned him, didn’t you? That I was coming for his VP. He’s not the only one with eyes in that place, you know. McKenna was on his way to a death sentence, and because of you, he’s still breathing. And then I saw you with the She-Donovan. That why you’re doing this? Biker whore pussy?”
Deep.
Fucking.
Breaths.
“Whatever you think you know is wrong. You’ve made this too personal,” I say, keeping my tone surprisingly even. “This vendetta against Donovan? It’s messing with your head. Take some time off. Reflect. Meditate. Whatever you need to do to bring yourself down a couple notches.”
He chuckles. “No, Decker. I got you. That quick little fuck with your whore isn’t the only thing I saw last night.”
