Chapter 35
R iordan
At Deadwater’s city centre police station, a duty cop opened the service hatch of my cell. Pacing the floor, I met his gaze.
“Ready to let me go yet?”
The man clucked his tongue. “With your rap sheet, no chance, sunshine.”
“I don’t have a rap sheet.” I’d stayed well off the cops’ radar, keeping my head down and my nose clean.
His eyes gleamed. “Don’t you now?”
Something sounded in the corridor behind him. Voices. The cop glanced away, the little window remaining open.
I dropped my head back and stared at the stained ceiling. My gut was a tight ball of stress, at war with the logic of why I was here. Cassie would never throw me to the wolves. She wouldn’t have arranged this, to whatever extent she’d been involved, without knowing I’d walk free.
Despite the officer’s words, all I’d done was break the speed limit and cause a fuss around town. Nothing was damaged. No one had been hurt. I should get away with a slap on the wrist.
Except for the knife.
Being caught with a blade carried a minimum sentence. It could be argued that I’d been the aggressor, chasing down another man with the intention of doing him harm. From the outside point of view, that’s exactly how it looked.
My hands formed fists at my sides.
What if their plan didn’t work? What if I never got to hold Cassie again? To kiss her?
Another thought rushed in. I was already in deep after stealing from the mayor’s house. As far as I knew, they’d only had a report of an unknown woman which they’d guessed at being skeleton crew from her mask. My name hadn’t been mentioned. That might’ve changed.
Maybe that’s what the cop had meant by the length of my rap sheet.
My palms sweated. Further voices sounded outside the cell, and I gritted my jaw.
“What took ye so long?” Struan snapped at someone unseen.
I rushed to the door and peered out.
In the stark corridor, he emerged from an opposite cell, glowering at a uniformed cop.
The officer said nothing, only jerked his thumb at the exit.
Struan passed my door and spotted me. He thumped on the thick metal. “You’re next, lover boy. Hold tight.”
He disappeared, and a few minutes later, with a beep of the keypad, my cell door clicked open.
The duty officer stood in the frame, his mouth twisted in a scowl. “Seems you’re free to go.”
I hid the effects of my speeding pulse and exited the narrow room. No way could it be this easy. We jogged up steps and through a couple more pass-coded doors until we emerged in the brightly lit reception area.
Through the front doors, I spotted Struan with two other men. Sinclair was one, and the other was an older man with grey hair and in a suit. A solicitor, perhaps.
I twisted back to the cop who was saying something to me.
He took a clear plastic bag of my possessions and set it on a tray, then deposited it on the countertop.
My bike keys. My jacket. The knife was missing, no surprise.
I avoided his gaze as I shrugged on my leathers and pocketed my keys. It felt like at any second the narrative would flip and I’d be right back in that cell.
I needed to get out of here like I’d never needed to escape a place before.
“Thanks,” I muttered then wheeled around.
From down another corridor, a man strolled, confident and smug like he owned the place, with two people who looked like plainclothes officers at his side.
The mayor of Deadwater.
I froze at the sight. In all my years in this city, I’d never been this close to my father. I’d once visited his house with the intent of challenging him, but he hadn’t been home. That was the nearest I’d come.
His gaze flicked over me then away.
Heat surged in my blood. He hadn’t even recognised me yet he’d dismissed my presence.
The trio stopped at the reception desk with one of the plainclothes officers leaning in to address the duty sergeant.
“Heard anything about my missing painting?” the mayor questioned.
Fuck, I hated his superior voice.
I should leave. Walk right out while I had the chance. My ideas for revenge against him were meant to start stealthily. I wasn’t ready for a face-to-face attack.
Still, my mouth opened. “Hey. Nothing to say to me?”
The mayor and the other cop peered around at me.
I only had eyes for the man I unfortunately shared DNA with. I saw Everly in his features. Small details of myself.
His lip curled. “Have we met?”
“You should know exactly who I am.”
He snorted like I was hilarious. “Really? Why?”
“Aren’t I familiar?”
“You believe the mayor should know the name of every one of his citizens? This is what comes of extending my office hours to help the residents of the city. You give an inch and they take a mile. What is it? About to be evicted by your long-suffering landlord? Trouble with whichever gang you run with?” That narrow-eyed gaze flicked over me again. “Make an appointment and wait in line. Stay out of trouble, son.”
He turned back to his companions, commenting about the amount of hands that he had to shake and complaints he had to endure.
My blood boiled at his casual use of ‘son’ when that was exactly who I was. But my brain finally restarted and my sense of self-preservation rushed back in.
He would know my name. The next time he saw me, I’d make him remember.
I forced myself to move and left the police station without a backwards glance.
Outside, Struan produced what was suspiciously like a genuine smile and hauled me in for a bro hug. “What was that about in there?”
I stepped back to give Sinclair a more sedate slap to the hand. “A little father-son bonding moment.”
Both men balked.
Sinclair recovered first. “Your dad is the mayor of Deadwater?”
“Our sister aimed high.” Struan whistled.
I couldn’t summon a smile. “He’s nothing to me. Or more accurately, I’m nothing to him. I intend to change that, but not in the happy families sense.”
Sinclair’s gaze took me to pieces. We exited the police compound, barbed wire over the gate, and took to the street. Further down the road, Jamieson stood with my bike and Struan’s sports car behind. Struan jogged ahead to join him.
The huge man beside me spoke low. “If you need help in plotting the downfall of a useless parent, we’ve been there and done that. I know Cassie has told ye about McInver. We’ve also fought greater battles than him.”
I lifted my head in surprise. “You’d help?”
“According to Cassie, you’re practically family, in the happier sense. We look out for each other.”
I halted, and Sinclair did, too.
My mind was a mix of emotions, the strongest of which mirrored those of the night Arran and Shade had inducted me. Because of the conflict they had with the mayor, I hadn’t intended to ask them for assistance. Shade only wanted me to pull the punch and not kill the man. At the time, that had felt easy. I wasn’t a killer. I wanted to piss him off. Hurt him like he’d hurt my mother. Me . But the more I learned about the man, the less I believed he was fit to walk the planet.
The offer Sinclair made presented an opportunity I couldn’t ignore.
“What if Cassie breaks up with me?” I spluttered.
Seeing her family again brought those feelings right back to the fore.
Sinclair’s eyebrows formed a stern scowl. “Why would she?”
“She said her obsessions burn out. I figured I’m one of them.”
She’d told me so, which was why we had a deal, but I didn’t want to reveal that to her family.
Her brother’s scrutiny undid me. “Her obsessions? We’re talking about being crazy for a band or a book series featuring fantasy boys with magic powers. Typical fads. Not someone she loves.”
I dropped his gaze. I didn’t need the hope his words gave.
Sinclair’s arm landed around my shoulder, and he got us underway once again with a brief slap to my back. “Good to know where ye stand, though.”
“What do you mean?” I hadn’t revealed anything, yet my heart thumped.
“She could do worse.” He shrugged. “Take the help, Riordan. Struan and Jamieson are sticking around. They’ll be waiting on your word.”
Fucking hell. He strode on ahead and left me to get back on my bike. All the while, reeling in the hope that he was right.
We travelled back to the warehouse in a convoy. My mind twisted over the confiscated blade. Shade waited outside the back door, the car park almost empty apart from crew vehicles. Our game with the police had taken up most of the night.
I killed the bike’s engine and stepped off the bike.
“Have fun?” Shade asked.
At last, I could see the experience with a little more perspective. Cassie hadn’t lied. Not that I’d thought she had, but I’d just committed crimes that any other version of me would’ve been charged for. Yet I’d walked straight out of the police station.
Holy fuck.
“It was an education.” Then I added, “Did Gen tell you and Arran about Adam’s knife?”
He nodded. “We heard.”
Sweat broke out on my brow. “The cops have it now.”
He didn’t flinch. “Good to know. We’ll handle it.”
Of course he would. The world I’d found myself in flipped everything I knew on its head.
“Congratulations on the baby,” I added. It felt like days ago that Everly had included me in her call, but it had barely been a few hours.
“Thanks, uncle.”
Shit. I would be. He and I were related by that child. Another, deeper connection bound me into the skeleton crew.
The door behind him opened, and a missile shot out. Cassie dove at me with a squeak of emotion, her arms and legs tucking around me. I absorbed the impact and hugged her back, all the stress of the evening shifting to something far better.
I kissed her hair. “Everything’s okay.”
“I had a live play-by-play from my brothers, but that did nothing to chill me out. I hated every minute of ye being in there.”
“I came back to you.”
She lifted her pretty face. Desire flashed in her eyes. “Aye, ye did.”
God, I wanted that love to stay. I’d do anything to make it so.
Cassie kissed me. “Take me somewhere on your bike and strip me naked?”
One of her brothers made a choking sound. “Fuck’s sake, Cass.”
She smiled into the kiss. Kept her gaze on me while she pointed between us, saying for their benefit, “Fucking, now.”
If only it could be for always.