CHAPTER SIXTEEN
– LIVI –
My heart lurches at the sound of the lock. The book I was reading falls onto the mattress and I scoot back to sit up with my back to the wall. Thorsten steps through the door and the look on his face is a mixture of anger and frustration.
“What’s wrong?” I ask without thinking when he shuts and locks the door behind him.
I shouldn’t care; the man is holding me hostage. He checks in every now and then with food. Ever since I attacked him on the first day, he locked me up in this room which has a tiny bathroom. I’ve kept my mouth shut and simply ignored him ever since.
He rubs the back of his neck. “Someone torched your place.”
My place? Out of all the things I thought he would say? I certainly wasn’t expecting that.
“Well, at least I quit so I wasn’t gonna spend another night there.” I shrug. “I bet Rye Beckett is bummed. He’s got insurance, right?”
Thorsten spreads his arms away from his body and grits, “It’s not his place he set on fire, Livi. Your. Fucking. Home. The one that’s in your own damn name, okay.”
No, definitely not okay. My stuff. All of it burned? Thank fuck I put some boxes in storage before I went undercover.
Wait. “You said ‘he’ do you know who did it?”
“An assassin from the cartel. Your cousin and aunt informed me this morning about your house. Every single member of my MC knows you’re a cop and the first thing I jumped to is the realization that I have a rat in my house. A-fucking-gain.”
“Holy shit,” I whisper.
Thorsten is completely oblivious to my reply when he continues, “I’ve been shaking down every single member. It doesn’t make any damn sense. I know my brothers. We were all focused on one fucking thing, and that’s getting this club out of the shit Rainer put it in. All of them know I’m handling you and any backlash it might cause. None of them spilled anything about you to anyone.”
“Maybe the cartel found out the same way you guys did.”
His gaze hits mine. “No. Lenz is the fucking best when it comes to computer stuff. The cartel doesn’t have anyone with his talent. Besides, Archer said the task force killed one biker during transport, four others got away. There are only four older fucks, three of them always backed up Rainer. That makes four, which means there’s one member two-timing us. The only two I haven’t had a chance to talk to are the prospects. They are out scanning the street for Rainer. Though, they weren’t in church when we discussed your information.”
Oh fuck. Kayden. The other undercover agent. He knows my real name, and the fact I was an undercover agent. I’ve heard from my supervisor that he’s enjoying his cover a little too much.
“I need to talk to Archer.” I can tell he’s about to deny me with the look he’s giving me. “Please, it’s important.”
“You know I can’t allow that.” He takes a step closer. “Anything you want to say to him you can tell me.”
“Yeah, right. ’Cause you’re trustworthy.” I can’t help but snort. “Look at where we’re sitting. My prison cell because you had me kidnapped and are holding me hostage. For what reason I have no clue, other than to punish me for doing my job. A job I quit for you, by the way. I was fucking stupid to think we had something real…something throwing away my career over. Believe me, if there’s anything I’ve learned from sitting in this shithole? It’s the fact I only have myself to blame for being a damn idiot.”
Biting down on my bottom lip is the only way to stop the verbal diarrhea. Dammit, I didn’t want to throw all of it out in one go. I sound completely pathetic. Okay, I did want to talk to him about it before he had me fucking kidnapped. Now? I definitely have completely other thoughts than before he locked me up in this room.
“I thought we had something fucking real. For the first time in my life I let a woman in, only to have it blow up in my fucking face,” he snarls.
I glare at the asshole, throwing all the blame on me. “Yeah, well, I guess we made shit detonate together and have to sit in the ruins of our consequences.”
We fall silent. Both breathing hard, eyes connected while the air between us is charging with intensity.
He surprises me when he says, “Fine. If you say we’re sitting in the ruins of our consequences, then how about we use it as a foundation for trust? I’ll go first since it works both ways.”
I give a slight inclination with my head.
“I’m the one who killed Ruben Arturo. We wanted to pin a murder on Rainer and either have the cops throw him in jail or have the cartel deal with him.”
His confession shocks me.
The corner of his mouth twitches as if he’s amused by my reaction. “Rainer made a deal with the cartel because he wanted to fill his own pockets. None of the younger members wanted any part of dealing, or transporting drugs, or work for a damn cartel. Rainer sucked a bullshit rule out of his ass, putting the deal in place without our consent. We were going to found another chapter, but during our secret meeting we decided to push Rainer out instead. We made a plan to frame him for murder. We picked Ruben because we knew the fucker was the one responsible for taking young women, breaking them, and then handing them off to be sold or used in underground brothels owned by the cartel. This little piece of information isn’t to justify my actions or make me out to be a good guy, Livi. We both know I’m not.”
“Definitely not,” I mutter, making the corner of his lips twitch once again.
“Your time to share.” He looks at me as if the killer information dump would make me rat out an undercover agent.
Especially since Thorsten just confessed to killing someone to take down his own damn father.
Shrugging, I spill, “I only killed twice, both in the line of duty.”
I expect anger, with me clearly not spilling the information I wanted to talk through with my cousin.
Instead, Thorsten asks, “I was there when you killed Nilo. What happened the first time you killed someone?”
The incident still bugs me and it’s why I glance down and release a deep sigh.
Without getting into many details I tell him, “Fresh out of the academy my partner and I were called to a dispute about a parking spot. It was right in front of a tattoo shop and the owner was trying to soothe things over between an older man and a young asshole who thought being a gang member meant he was the king of the block. When he saw us he pulled a gun, shot the old man and was about to open fire on everyone standing near. I had no choice; it was either him dead or a lot of innocents.”
“You had a choice, and you made the right one,” Thorsten states. “Both times.”
We fall silent again.
Thorsten clears his throat. “Your actions saved lives, mine included. If it were any other woman coming out of that bathroom while I was lying in bed? I don’t think I’d be standing here now.”
I tilt my head. “So, you don’t make a habit out of kidnapping women who save your ass?”
He barks out a laugh. “Only the sexy ones who have a smart mouth and feel damn good wrapped around my cock.”
I narrow my eyes. “I’m definitely the first one then since the chicks I’ve seen at the clubhouse are kinda docile.”
Stepping closer, his voice turns husky when he says, “You’re anything but docile.”
My belly flips, my breath catches, butterflies erupt, and all the feelings I had for this asshole come rushing back. I reach out and fist the leather of his cut.
“You hurt me,” I whisper in an accusing tone. “Not just by making me crash my bike due to your stupid kidnapping plan. You really hurt–”
“I fucking know,” he growls and pulls me against him.
His arms are wrapped around me, caging me in to envelope me with his warmth and scent. I feel his lips on the top of my head and even if my body is still aching it feels damn good to get a hug.
The ache in my bones isn’t just from crashing my bike. I hate how good it feels when he holds me, while he was the one who turned his back on me. I gave up my dream and in return he gave up on us.
“You were done with me,” I murmur and try to push him away.
His arms tighten around me. “I had to get your family off my back, or I would have been high up on their suspect list.” His chest expands as he takes a deep breath, voice cracking with emotion when he adds, “You fucking hurt me bad, babe. My upbringing is filled with betrayal and it’s why me and my brothers wanted a change. I let you in when no one ever had so much as a chance at an opportunity. Then to have it backfire? You have no idea how badly you hurt me…no wounds on the outside, but fuck, woman…I have no words for it, just actions that followed.”
His confession is real. The look in his eyes, the sound of his voice; he’s opening up and letting me know he’s right there with me when it comes to us.
This time I’m not trying to push him away, and am clinging to his leather cut when I tell him, “Kayden is an undercover agent.”
He stiffens in my arms, and I know in his eyes this is another reminder of my betrayal. His arms leave my body as he steps back, taking his warmth with him. Turning, he unlocks and opens the door. I hang my head, knowing we moved two steps forward and four steps back.
That is until I hear him grunt, “Are you comin’ with me, or what?”