Chapter Sixteen
Try sleeping after that, because I fucking failed, but then maybe it was all a failure.
Why the hell did I get so close to that fucking woman, that I ended up inside her?
Oh yeah, because I hadn’t been with anyone in for-fucking-ever, because being a mafia guy, and an undercover biker, kept a fucker busy.
And she was a pushy, mouthy bitch, but she was also pretty hot.
“Are you even listening to me, prick?” Ice asked me irritably, and I flipped him off.
Videochats with him were exactly like being in a room with him, except that I could hit that shiny button and shut him the fuck up, at least until he called back.
He was usually even more pissy after that though, so I saved it for emergencies.
“Yeah, I live to listen to you.”
He snorted, leaning back in his chair and lacing his hands behind his head.
“Look, all I’m saying is this, we know that cop’s badgering you, and we can do something about her. Get her in some kind of trouble, so she gets reassigned.”
“Don’t fucking touch her.”
Ice’s grin widened, and he fought it, lifting a hand to his face as he made a mock ‘oh’ face.
“So you want this bitch around, I get it now.”
“Don’t call her a bitch, and shut the fuck up. This is none of your business.”
Ice clearly wasn’t planning on letting it go, but then he was a tenacious bastard at the best of times.
“No, seriously, I had no idea you had a boner for her. I mean, it’s not like you fucked her up against a wall last night… right?” That fucker. I clenched my fists, as I leaned forward and glared at him through the screen.
“You better not be fucking spying on me, cunt. That’s what I’m here to do for the Pres, and I don’t need you getting into my business.”
“For the record, you know I have access to all the cameras, and you know that I’m keeping an eye on shit too, especially since you’ve had so many deliveries lately, and we wouldn’t want anything happening to them. Are you getting shitty with me for doing my job?”
Was I? Jesus, why was I losing my shit at Ice anyway? He was right, he was being my extra eyes, for when I wasn’t at my screens, and I wasn’t last night, because I was welcoming the guys back. Or I should have been.
“Yeah, sorry. I’m in a bad mood, ignore me.”
“Wish I could have ignored your naked ass last night, or the fucking flashbacks I keep getting of it.”
I cut the fucker off, and closed the chat window, fully intending to ignore him if he tried calling back. He knew. He’d seen me with her, which meant that I had to be more careful if I wanted to be with her again. A cop. The last person a guy like me should be going anywhere near.
Wait. Be with her again? That’s not happening, fuck no.
I nuked some leftover lasagne from dinner, and ate it for lunch, while I tried to work out where my focus should be, because it clearly wasn’t on my job, either of them, and speaking of, I really should check in with my actual boss.
He didn’t like not being kept in the loop, and I was overdue for a check in.
I dialled on speaker while I ate, even though I knew he wouldn’t like being disrespected like that.
“Ah Tesio, you finally remembered who you work for.” Smug bastard, but it’d never really bothered me this much until I had a taste of biker life, had it?
“Afternoon, boss. Just checking in, but there’s nothing much to report. Pretty dead here lately.”
Don Rossi stayed quiet, because that was his thing, waiting for me to do all the work and brief him on shit, but I was struggling with a conflict of interest here.
My loyalty was to him, of course it was, but when it came to the club, and the things I’d update Reacher on, I didn’t feel that I should be sharing that info with Rossi too.
“Uh… I got arrested… again, but it was all resolved.”
“Yes, of course I heard that. She can be eliminated, in fact, that’s probably the best course of action, so that she stays out of our business, and theirs.
” How the hell I didn’t jump in and yell at him, in protection of that goddamned woman, I had no idea, but that wasn’t the way to approach things with the Don.
“Actually, she’s no threat here. She’ll move on soon enough, because there’s nothing here she can use against us. Killing her would only attract more heat right now.” He always went straight for ‘kill her’ rather than something less permanent, didn’t he?
Silence again. Oh joy, how I’d missed these chats.
“I’ll keep you posted, of course, but for now, I’d say there’s no need to waste resources on her, unless we decide to use her to our advantage. Otherwise, all is good here, just keeping an eye, as you sent me to do.”
More silence. Fuck me, man, give me something.
“So uh, any new instructions for me, or shall I just keep doing what I’m doing?”
Finally he responded. “No change to your situation for now. I’m afraid you’ll need to keep slumming it there, until Reacher confirms if they’re comfortable with whatever leadership they put in place.” Thank fuck for that.
An alarm went off on my tech kit, and I turned to see mayhem breaking loose. Oh fucking great.
“I should go, boss. Sounds like I’m needed. Never a dull moment here.” Fuck, I’d pretty much just spent the last few minutes saying the opposite.
“The cop?”
“Nah, just bikers being bikers. I’ll update again soon.”
“Understood.” I was already moving back to my screens, switching cameras to see what had drawn a crowd. Fucking hell. Again?
Jamie
Ididn’t want to go back there, hell no, not after what happened last night.
Never mind the fact that I’d experienced the best sex I’d ever had, but with the way things had ended, I really didn’t want to see Grease again, not yet, not until I’d dealt with my feelings over him, and our little dalliance.
“Fucking hell, copper, why you riding us like this?” A biker named Stag demanded, getting way too close to me. If it’d been Grease, I would have probably felt safe, but I didn’t know this man, and he was intimidating me.
“I just needed to… I left… Is Grease here?” Screw it.
The sad fact was that I couldn’t just go and look for my phone, so I needed him to help me find it.
It must have fallen from my pocket in all the frantic shagging last night.
I hadn’t realised until I got home, and then I’d had to wait until a reasonable time to check back in, in uniform, of course.
Unfortunately, this time I was partnerless, because he was tied up in a training session.
“Seems like you like it here, copper. Maybe you should stay. I could show you my bike. It’s real nice, pretty sturdy for uh, riding, if you get my meaning.”
“Nobody gets your meaning, you dumb fuck,” Grease suddenly gritted out, stepping smoothly between me and the small crowd of bikers looming at me.
He grabbed Stag’s arm, forcibly wrenching him back.
“Get the fuck away from her.”
Stag barked a laugh, and got in his face next.
“What’s it to you? The lady’s looking for a ride, and I’m about to let her-”
“Finish that sentence, and I’ll finish you. Fuck off back to the workshop. You’ve got bikes to repair. The rest of you, get fucked. I’ll deal with our unwelcome visitor.”
Unwelcome visitor? Ouch. As soon as he whirled to look at me again, his brothers departing as per his orders, I took a hasty step back, in case my libido tried to jump him again, because… did he get hotter overnight?
“Why. The. Fuck. Are. You. Here?”
Each word felt like a physical blow, and they hadn’t done that before last night. My god, was I starting to like this asshole?
“I’m sorry, I know you said not to come back, but-”
“But you got horny again, thinking about how good I fucked you?” Ugh! I reached up to slap him, just like I did last night, and once again, he caught my wrist and held it. No, not my wrist, my hand. He held my hand, and his grip wasn’t firm and threatening, it was, dammit, it was nice.
“No.”
He grinned, but didn’t release my hand, and why wasn’t I pulling it away? I had no idea.
“I’m sorry, it’s just I think my phone fell out of my pocket in the… uh…” I used to make whole sentences, but he seemed to be rendering me incapable all of a sudden.
“Ah… in all the fucking. I get that, and, fuck… did I hurt you?” His fingers brushed my cheek, and gently nudged my face up, as he stepped closer.
“Oh. I think I hit the wall at some point. It’s fine, doesn’t hurt. I just uh… didn’t want to put makeup over broken skin. I should have, I guess.”
He was still stroking my cheek, and I almost leaned into it. What the hell was happening to me?
“I’m sorry, cop. I didn’t mean to mark you up like that, I mean, not on the outside. Marked you pretty well inside though, huh?” He winked, and my god, why did my heart speed up?
I had to get the hell out of here, before I jumped him or something.
Why was I suddenly so desperate for him to touch me, as in so desperate, I was still letting him stroke my cheek?
I took a breath, pulling away from his touch, and that softness that had lightened the harsh aggressiveness of his face dissipated, and his mouth thinned.
“Let’s go find your phone, cop, so you can get lost.”
I followed him as he marched straight for that alley again, around the back of the building, catching the eye of a few of his biker brothers, as they loitered outside the clubhouse.
They’d wonder where we were going, and what we were up to.
Oh god. What if they thought he was informing on them?
He could be in real danger because of me.
“Wait!” I caught his arm before we disappeared from their sight.
“What? You need to get out of here, and this’ll facilitate that, right?” He was moving again, and I followed, feeling like I was digging a hole for him, even as I ran behind him like a sad little puppy.
“Wait, dammit!”
He’d reached the aisle, and I saw him glance up at something on the corner of the building, and flip it off with both hands, and that’s when I realised it was a fucking camera.
A camera on a metal beam, protruding from the corner, that was perfectly positioned to see what we’d done last night.
Oh my god! Had he recorded us? Had he watched us fucking and played with himself? Was he storing it to use as blackmail?
“What the fuck is that?!”