Chapter 18 #2
“Don’t act like this is all on me, Rowan Knight.
You want to know what happened just as much as I do.
” Sadie slammed a small stack of papers against my chest, hard enough to leave a bruise.
“Here. This is what the mayor was planning. And did you know that people died in that house fire? Nora from the council office thinks that’s what my mother was looking into. Apparently.”
Laughter drifted in from the bar. Smoke hung in the air. One of the guys slammed a cue ball into the wall like the whole fucking club wasn’t about to implode. Sadie had scrambled my brain, and now I was putting everyone in more danger by talking about this shit at the clubhouse.
I handed Bear the documents. We’d deal with that later. Sadie was about to ruin everything by spilling what we’d just uncovered. There was only one way I knew how to shut her up, and based on the conversation we’d just had, Sadie wasn’t going to be thrilled about it.
I pushed away from the desk and stalked towards her.
The look on her face was worth every ounce of her wrath.
Her eyes went wide, and she took a step backwards. “Wh-what are you?—”
I grabbed her face between my hands and crushed my lips to hers. Her breath caught. Vanilla and the hint of mint hit my tongue, and it was all I could do not to devour her. It was the only way I could feel sane again. Our last kiss had been all I could think about .
I was doing it for show, right? For the cover. But it didn’t stop the staggering heat that surged through me. Didn’t stop the way I dragged her closer and drowned in her like I always did. This was supposed to be pretend.
But nothing I felt for Sadie had ever been pretend. That was the fucking problem.
Sadie placed her hands on my arms. At first, I figured she was going to push me away, fight me off. Maybe even slap me. But she didn’t. Instead, she melted, just like the last time. And it was fucking perfect.
A hundred different emotions slammed into me, each one fiercer than the last. Possession. Anger. Desire. The need to keep her safe, the need to protect her, to protect what was mine. But more than anything, I just wanted to keep her . That terrified me more than losing her.
A throat was cleared—Bear’s, I think. Sadie pulled back, breathless, her hazel eyes piercing into mine, searching for answers I didn’t have.
“Now,” I said, leaning in close to her ear as Eddie stepped up beside Scout. “Are you going to be a good girl and behave?” I stood to my full height, motioning to our company with a quick glance over her shoulder.
Sadie stiffened and glanced back. Then her upper body deflated, and she exhaled sharply. “And here I was thinking I’d earned the right to choose.”
I shook my head, my expression neutral, the exact opposite of how I felt. “Nope. Afraid not.”
“Fine,” she said, the smallest hint of defeat in her tone.
But she wasn’t stupid. The stakes were bigger than any single one of us, so she played along, her obedience hitting me harder than her disobedience. With a snap of her fingers, Scout jumped to attention. She had him wrapped around her little finger—he either didn’t notice or didn’t give a shit .
“Let’s go,” she said, glaring at me, but obviously speaking to Scout. “We have errands to run.” The words rolled off her tongue sweetly, but her eyes warned me she’d never stop chasing the truth.
She was going to keep digging. And she’d keep going until she filled in her damn grave if I didn’t intervene.
Scout groaned, stalling in the open doorway. “Now?”
If he was trying to grow a backbone, he was failing miserably. With Sadie, I suppose it was hard to do much of anything but agree and go along for the ride.
She levelled him with that same glare she’d given me and Bear only minutes earlier. “Yes. Now. Unless you have something more important to do?”
“I—” Scout looked to me, searching for a lifeline.
Not a chance, kid. Not a chance.
I waved him off with a flick of my hand. “Get going Prospect. Before my old lady cracks her whip across your arse.”
Bear snorted out a chuckle, ducking his head. It was the most I’d heard him laugh in six years. Not that I could help my own smirk. It made no difference.
“Leave him alone.” Sadie huffed out a breath and slapped Bear’s shoulder. Her boldness seemed to be growing, as did Bear’s little crush.
He’d recovered just enough to wipe a hand over his mouth. “Sorry . . . it’s just, you’re what—five foot nothing? And yet here I am wondering if you’d kill me in my sleep.”
He could probably bet on it.
I nodded towards Bear. “You going to let him talk to you like that, Firefly?” I could almost see the wheels turning in that stubborn head of hers.
She flashed me a devastating smile and sauntered closer to Scout as she levelled me with her full gaze. “Are you going to let him speak to me like that? Or are you just going to use that dirty mouth on me?” She popped her hip out, eyebrow raised.
The air between Sadie and me had that same static charge it always did when we danced around each other. It was all attitude, and if I’d had my way I’d have spanked it out of her, but she wasn’t mine—not for real. Fuck.
If it wasn’t for the look in her eyes, I’d almost believe she was offended. I knew her better. She was playing with me. Playing with all of us. And that made me want her even more.
A smirk crossed my lips. “I’ll deal with you later, baby. My house. Seven. Make sure you wear that see-through tank top I love so much.” That last part slipped out, but I couldn’t help it. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the way it made her squirm. Now we were even.
Her hair was wild from the heat, sticking to her cheek.
She brushed it away and narrowed her eyes on me, patting Scout’s chest. “Yes, sir.” Biting her lip, she leaned in conspiratorially.
“Or I could just crawl into your bed naked.” With that she took off, flicking her hair down her back, and disappeared.
She was baiting me, and she was doing a damn good job of it, too. I just stood there like a fucking idiot while Bear and Eddie stared at me—like I was a fucking idiot.
Goddamn it. Imagining Sadie naked was not what I needed at that moment. I guess I’d asked for it.
“Arseholes,” Scout muttered, then stormed out after her, mumbling something incoherent under his breath.
A little dramatic if you asked me.
Eddie stepped fully inside the office, the smell of whiskey and poor decisions trailing behind him. He strode across the room. “Thought you’d want this, VP,” he said, handing me a thick white envelope, the weight of it heavy in my grasp.
It wasn’t just cash. It was a debt I owed to my brother, and to the man my father used to be .
I gave it a quick glance and shoved my thumb under the flap, tearing it open. “This everything?” I said, peering inside.
A stack of greens sat strapped together with a rubber band.
He nodded. “It’s all there. You can check it if you like. Damon said he should have the other part for you by the end of the week.”
Another part to piece together the car my brother had left me to finish.
“Great.” I closed the envelope, my grip tightening around it. “Thanks Eddie.”
He threw me a tight smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes, then practically ran out of the room.
Bear shifted in his chair, breaking the quiet even though my mind was anything but. “That for your old man’s bike?”
I sniffed and tucked the envelope into my desk drawer. “Yep.”
I’d been hanging on to that old beast for way too long.
It had to go. There was no point it sitting in my garage taking up space and gathering the kind of dust you couldn’t just wipe away.
The goddamn thing was practically part of who I was.
Of how I’d gotten to where I was. But I couldn’t hold on to the memories of the father I knew before the alcohol, drugs, and the club took over his personality and turned him into a spineless creature.
The man who used to teach me how to ride could barely look me in the eye at the end.
That version of him didn’t deserve the bike.
Besides, ghosts had no need for material possessions.
I scrubbed my hands over my face and dropped back into my chair, the leather squeaking beneath me. “I’m in way over my head here.”
The ceiling fan above us spun lazily, failing to cut through the heat Sadie had left me to suffer in.
“Want me to pull Scout off Sadie duty for a couple of hours?” Bear said, a small smirk on his lips.
It was bad enough Sadie had chewed me out earlier. Now I had to deal with this arsehole’s humour. I stared at him, considering everything. The dangers. The risks. The web of shit we were tangled in.
Pulling out a cigarette, I nodded as I lit the end. “We’ll go together. Don’t want to get caught out in the cold. Tell him to be here by five.”
Bear gave me a single nod and headed toward the door, his boots thudding on the wooden floorboards underneath the thin carpet.
Everything was piling up, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep from drowning under the weight of it all. Still, I had hope that I could at least get to the bottom of who was stupid enough to steal Ridge Riders’ property.