Page 91 of Crave

“Not if I can’t stop Ghost pushing bad shit through my line.” I grimaced as he pulled the bandage snug. “Bastard’s selling cut product, skimming my money, and tanking my rep in one go.”

Why the fuck was I saying all this to a stranger? Painkillers. Had to be. I wouldn’t be this loose-tongued sober. Christ, I needed to tread careful. I doubted cash would keep this one quiet. Not when he was born into money.

Then he frowned. “Ghost?”

“Yeah.” I took the bandage from him, finished securing it myself. “Runs the rival crew your mate bought from on my patch. And the fact that’s a weak mix makes it harder for me to swallow. Which you now know why.”

Tristan leant back beside me, chewing the inside of his cheek, eyes darting as if chasing a thought. “Would he happen to have a warehouse in Bethnal Green?”

I looked at him sharply. “I told you too much when I was out of it.”

“No… you didn’t.”

“Then how the fuck…?”

He shut his eyes, muttered something under his breath, and shook his head. “Shit. Look, I really shouldn’t tell you this…”

I arched a brow. “If this is more half-arsed intel your pint-sized ex was spouting, save it. I’ve heard it. Got me nothing and nowhere.”

Tristan chewed on his lip. “You haven’t heard this.”

The way he widened those pretty eyes had me sitting up. “Okay, you got my attention.”

Then he closed his eyes, as if it pained him to say what he did. “What I’m about to say doesn’t leave this room. Not a word. What you do with it, is up to you. But you cannot bring my name into it. Promise me.” He opened his eyes, stared at me hard. “You keep this, I’ll keep your secret.”

“Alright, Tricky. What the fuck do you know that you can’t possibly?”

“The CPS are planning coordinated arrests on Ghost’s operation. Six targets. Surveillance, test buys, the works. They’ve had an informant inside the crew for months.”

The words dropped like fucking bricks. My pulse kicked. “How the fuck do you know that?”

“My father. Works for the CPS and my brother for the home office. I was there when they were discussing it.”

“Fuck.” I shook my head, a wry smile forming. “I really did land in the right fucking house.”

“Looks like.”

I scrubbed a hand down my face to get my thoughts in check. To get my brain moving away from Levi. From the pretty man I had in bed who’d opened that wound and kissed it better. Who was now giving me intel that might save my fucking life.

“When’s it happening? Who’s the rat?”

“I don’t know the informant. The arrests are planned for end of the week. They’re moving before the next shipment lands.”

I swore under my breath, curling my hands into fists. The line Cormac had me running, the stolen stash, the missing runner, Darren, all of it. It wasn’t just Ghost breathing down my neck anymore. It was the fucking filth.

“You realise what you’re saying?”

Tristan nodded. “I realise it’s information I shouldn’t have and definitely shouldn’t be giving to you.”

“So why are you?”

“Because you’ll die if you walk into that.”

I laughed, short and bitter. “Yeah, well, maybe that’s the easiest way out.”

“Don’t say that.” The sudden heat in his voice drove straight through me. “You don’t get to say that.”

He was shaking. Enough for me to notice and enough for me to care that he was.