21
I sipmy coffee as I wait for my lunch order, my head resting against the window facing Kuppajoe’s storefront.
“Sure you don’t want one?” Miller asks as he nudges a freshly made Boston Cream across the table. “They’re still warm.”
Frustration swirls in my chest. “What I want is to know what the fuck Allen is up to.”
According to Miller, he’s been talking a whole lot of shit aboutfinally putting an end to the Donovan reign.I don’t know what the fuck he means by that, but it feels like something’s coming. And if it is, I need the details before he lays down the full wrath of the OPP on the Sinners.
It’s why I’m here. Axe promised me an arrest, and he’s about to deliver. With a Sinner in the back of my cruiser, I’m all but guaranteed a spot on Sergeant’s good side.
“You can wonder about the sergeant andalsoenjoy this donut,” Miller says.
“That’s not a lunch, man. Keep eating like that and you’ll wind up as round as the chief.”
He snorts. “I keep up with you just fine. And Mel made me a lunch today. Meatball sub. This is just the pregame.”
“Yeah?” I take another sip of coffee. “What’d you have to do to convince her to do that?”
“Nothing.” He takes another bite and wipes at his mouth with a napkin. “Sometimes when people are in a relationship, they just do nice things for each other. Try it sometime. Maybe it’ll get you more than a first date.”
“And why the hell would I want that?”
“Everyonewants that. It feels good. I imagine you’d be a hell of a lot more pleasant to be around if you had a nice girl on your arm.”
With a snort, I snatch the donut from his hand and bite into it. “I don’t do nice.”
“Fine, then a mean one. You could stand to be knocked down a couple pegs anyway. Speaking of which,” he says with a grin. “How’s Grace?”
I narrow my eyes. I haven’t heard from her. Four days, and no text. Not like I’ve gone out of my way to call her either. She’s supposed to be out of my system. She’s supposed to be out of my fucking head.
But she’sallthat’s in my head.
Pretty smile, that little eye roll she loads up every time words come out of my mouth. I can’t stop picturing her in my garage, on her knees, grease-covered fingers and a wrench in her hand. I don’t know why the image is so damn sexy, but I want to fuck up my motorcycle just so I can call her to help me fix it. And maybe after, we could go for ride. Grace on her bike, tearing up the pavement, slicing over the road like she fucking owns it.
That would feel good, I think. Like Miller said.
And the sex? All thatgetting her out of my systemdid the exact fucking opposite. It’s a problem. This feeling needs to go away. This need to pull her into my arms, to touch her, to wrap my hand around her throat, memorize the beat of her pulse as she takes exactly what I want to give her. I can’t afford to bedistracted right now. Between Allen, the Sinner prez breathing down my neck, and the shitstorm about to drop on South Bay, shit is about to come to a head.
I shouldn’t be thinking about her. I shouldn’t be thinking about how she rolled out of my bed sometime in the middle of the night without saying goodbye.
She did leave me with one thing, though. The answer I’ve been looking for. A way out.
Axe has a weakness. Just sitting right out in the open.
I don’t know how I didn’t see it. Even Allen figured it out before me.
Grace said it. She does something that puts Kat in danger, Axe would obliterate her. Jack is the same. It’s their women. I put a gun to Kat’s head, and Axe will fold. He’ll fall to the ground and put his neck under my boot just the way mine’s been under his for ten fucking years.
It’s all about that leverage. Gaining control over the one thing they’d lay down their fucking lives for.Applying pressure.Only thing stopping me from lighting that candle is the tiniest part of my conscience that’s still holding on. But push comes to shove, backed into a corner, I think I could use that, useher.
My phone vibrates, pulling me from my thoughts, and when I tug it from my pocket, Grace’s name pops up on the screen.
“That her?” Miller asks.
I glare at him. “Mind your business.”
He chuckles. “It is, isn’t it? Every time I bring her up, you get this little twitch in your eye. Like you’re trying to wrestle your dick into submission. And losing.”
