Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
E mily shoved her hands in her pockets and paced from one end of the dealership to the other, trying her best not to freak out.
When the guys had dropped her off at work, they’d been worried for her safety.
Dane especially had not wanted to leave her alone.
They had insisted on coming inside and checking everything out, and even held an in-depth conversation with with brother about everything that was going on, which had been… interesting.
She had completely forgotten that Teddy was even on the Saturday roster, and to say he was furious was the understatement of the century, although she wasn’t sure which part of the story irritated him more.
The fact she’d caught the attention of someone like Shane Spencer, or the fact she’d spent the night with Eric and Dane.
Either way, it was a miracle the guys had left in one piece.
And as soon as they were gone, she had received the chewing out to end all chewing outs from her over-protective big brother. And it had felt worse than anything her parents could have said, because Teddy had spoken from experience.
Her guilt had threatened to overwhelm her, until he’d pulled her into his arms and squeezed her so tightly she’d thought her ribs might burst. That’s when she’d realised her brother’s anger had come from a place of fear.
That he was scared for her.
Join the club.
Emily supposed Teddy had hoped she would have learned from his mistakes. Not that she had put herself in that position on purpose, and not that she would ever be able to see what had happened as a mistake. Not when it had led her back to Eric and Dane and the passion they had shared.
She would never regret that.
By the time her men had returned with lunch—from her favourite sushi place, no less—Teddy had almost accepted the fact their relationship went beyond the physical, that they were in love. Almost.
He’d been staring daggers at them ever since they’d returned from their meeting with their superiors.
Of course, it hadn’t helped when Dane had relayed The Plan, which essentially boiled down to:
Emily race psychopath.
Emily beat psychopath.
Police arrest everyone at the finish line.
Eric and Dane take Emily home and fuck her brains out.
Although she was pretty sure that last point wasn’t an official part of The Plan, and more likely Dane needing to express his frustration at how vehemently he opposed The Plan.
Considering he wasn’t opposed to her racing Shane the night before, he had certainly changed his tune. But then, so had she. Sure, it had seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but now, many, many hours later, she saw her actions for what they truly were.
Completely insane.
And it was that insanity that her boyfriends wanted her to repeat.
Well, not them. Not really. They had both made it perfectly clear they would rather walk over red hot coals than put her in danger again, but she could see their point and that of their superiors.
If they wanted to get the Spencer brothers and their drug dealing friends off the streets, they needed to think outside the box.
Even so, Dane reminded her that she didn’t have to go through with it. She was a civilian. They couldn’t make her do it, but then Eric reminded her that she’d made a fool out of a crazy person who wasn’t big on forgiveness.
And that person was walking towards her with all the swagger of a lion in a butcher’s shop. He saw her as easy prey.
And that really pissed her off.
Staring Shane down as he approached, Emily resisted the urge to shake the nervous tension from her hands and reminded herself that Eric, Dane, Teddy, and three other undercover officers posing as customers and staff were in the store with her.
All of them willing and able to help her should she need it.
Still, she could have gone the rest of her life never seeing this douchebag again and would have been very happy to do so.
But earlier, when she’d sent the text message to his brother asking for the details of the next race, she’d known there was a chance he would come looking for her.
As much as she loved being proven right, this was one case she would have loved to have gotten it wrong.
Thanking that powers that be that she’d worn trousers and a very modest blouse— nothing even remotely revealing for Shane to ogle—Emily crossed her arms and scowled at him as he ran his hand over the vintage BMW 328 they had on display in the showroom.
Her father always said it was a reminder of quality workmanship and design.
In reality it was a sales ploy to make rich arseholes feel like a part of motoring history.
“Nice car,” Shane said. “Sexy curves.”
Emily refused to bite. “Why are you here?”
Shane smiled, and again she was struck by how seductive he looked. It really was no wonder why women fell for bad men. When the outside looked so good, it was easy to imagine the inside looked the same. “You wanted to know where the next race was, didn’t you?”
“You could have texted.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“Fun?” She snorted. “Fun will be when I win your ride, dismantle it and sell it off for scrap.”
“Scrap? That’s cute.” He moved closer. “You’re cute.” His gaze narrowed. “But you have an attitude, and when you lose, that’s the first thing I’m gunna to fuck out of you.” Then he reached out to touch her, but she slapped his hand away.
“Don’t touch me,” she snarled, a sliver of fear creeping up her spine, causing goosebumps to form all over her.
Shane held up his hands in surrender and chuckled.
“Okay. I won’t touch you. Yet. But when you lose our race—and you will lose—I’m gunna touch you as much as I want, in any way I want.
And maybe,”—he leaned closer, lowered his voice—“I’ll let my brother touch you too, since you’re into that sort of thing. ”
Fury stumbled over fear as Emily stared at the shithead. “Fuck you!”
His smile broadened, taunted her, but before he could say anything else that might upset her, Eric and Dane marched towards them looking ready to murder him.
“What the fuck do you want?” Dane demanded, manoeuvring Emily behind him and Eric, forming a protective wall in front of her.
“Don’t shoot the messenger,” Shane said, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Just delivering the details for tonight’s meet.” He dragged his teeth over his bottom lip and stared directly at Emily. “And reminding myself of what I’m winning.”
Dane took a step forwards but Eric clamped his hand on his brother’s shoulder and stopped him. “You won’t win. She will never be yours.”
He chuckled. “We’ll see.” Then he tipped his chin at her. “Won’t we, cutie?”
“In case you didn’t hear me the last time, let me say it again. Ew.”
A muscle ticked in his cheek but he quickly smiled again to cover it.
“I love it when you play hard to get.” Then he tried handing the piece of paper to Emily but Eric snatched it out of his hand.
“See you tonight, cutie,” Shane said, then winked, but there was nothing playful about the action.
“And don’t forget to bring your boyfriends.
I want them to watch when I humiliate you.
” Then he turned and walked away, casually waving one hand in the air as if they were the oldest of friends.
Emily flipped him off.
As soon as Shane was out of sight, Teddy joined them, his face as thunderous as her men. Eric read the note. “We have a time and a place,” he said, then pulled out his phone. “Excuse me for a moment, kitten.”
Eric left to make his call, the undercover cops around the store filing out after him, but Dane stayed and pulled her into a hug, tucked her head beneath his chin and held her close. “You don’t have to do this, Em,” he told her again. “Not if you don’t want to.”
“He’s right,” Teddy said. “You don’t owe anyone anything.”
She buried her face in her lover’s chest and breathed him in. Let his masculine scent wrap around her. “I know,” she said, her stomach churning with a caustic combination of fear, anger and anticipation.
“Then let the cops handle this.”
“We just want to keep you safe, baby.”
“And I appreciate that.” She leaned back and pressed a fist to her mouth, fought the urge to vomit, then took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
She shook her head. “It was my own stupidity that got us into this mess, and while I don’t particularly want to race Shane, I think doing this, doing my part, matters.
” She stroked Dane’s cheek, adored the way he leaned into her touch, as if he couldn’t get enough of it, of her.
“I am so lucky. I am surrounded by people who want to protect me. People who love me, who would miss me if I ever—” She cut off the thought.
“But what about the next person he goes after? They may not be that lucky.” She leaned into him again, sought out his strength.
“I don’t know how much help I can be, but I want to try. ”
She felt Dane’s heavy sigh through his chest. “And by try you mean scaring the shit out of us all by driving through suburbia at insane speeds.”
She pulled back again and grinned up at him. “Whatever helps.”
Eric returned a moment later, slung his arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Everyone has been notified.”
Teddy snorted. “And just like that everyone’s on board?
” He stared at them like they were all nuts, then shook his head.
“Fuck me dead,” he muttered. “You know what? Fine. Emily is an adult and can make her own adult decisions, but”—he drilled a finger into Eric’s chest—“if anything happens to her— anything —I swear to God not even the love I have for your sister will save you.”
“Aye, aye, convict,” Dane said, throwing him a mock salute.
Emily jabbed her elbow into his ribs. “What did I say about calling him convict?”
Dane didn’t look even remotely sorry, but apologised anyway. “Sorry, baby. Force of habit.”
Her brother’s eyes narrowed as he stared at them for a moment longer, then he shook his head, muttered, “For fuck’s sake,” under his breath, then left to see to the customer that had entered the store.
“So what do we do now?” Emily asked, allowing Eric to pull her into a hug. “Just go about our day like normal?”
“Cross said to relax and get some rest. We have a busy night ahead of us.”
“I’m too wired to rest,” Emily grumbled.
“Is that so?” Eric said. “In that case, how would you feel about going on a date instead?”
“A date?” Emily repeated, her heartrate kicking it up a notch at the thought of what a real date with the Walker brothers would entail.
“Not just another family barbeque but a proper, proper date?” No more sneaking around?
No more hiding her affection? Any thought of getting rest, no matter how small, was crushed under the weight of her excitement at getting to spend quality time with her men.
In public. “Where are we going and when do we leave?”