Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
MICAH
It was well after ten by the time we finished our clandestine debrief with Linc and the small team he’d put together to assist with the Callo investigation. The central topic—as well as the biggest concern—discussed in that meeting was one Ms. Charlie Belmont.
She’d managed to give us the names of two more players in the operation, one a low-level street dealer we already had our eye on and the other a deputy with the Hidalgo sheriff’s department a couple towns over.
It went without saying that Leo and I were unhappy she wouldn’t see reason and get clear, but what surprised us both was the level of pissed-the-hell-off Linc’s guy Dalton exhibited when we told him that, once again, she’d shot down our request to let us get her out safely.
“You either get her to accept she’s no longer a player in this game, or I’ll go in there and drag her off the board my goddamn self,” he’d snarled, drilling his finger into the top of the conference room table.
We’d shut the meeting down after that, knowing we weren’t going to get anything more accomplished other than giving each and every one of us a raging migraine.
We waited to get the all-clear from Xander, who was monitoring the cameras at the alley behind the building to make sure no one was watching before pushing through the heavy steel door and stepping into the night.
“Don’t know about you, but I need a fuckin’ drink,” I gritted out, rubbing my temples as we moved through the alley toward the main drag of town.
“Dani and the rest of her posse are at The Tap Room,” Leo said. “I say we head that way and throw a few back. At least, once we’re done, I can drag my woman’s ass home and into bed.”
“Sounds good to me.” I needed a bourbon and a soft, warm woman to help shake off the ugliness I felt clinging to my skin like mist on a gray, rainy day.
We made the short trek to the bar and saw it was packed for the night thanks to the band I could see playing on the stage through the windows.
I pulled the heavy glass door open and stepped inside, out of the autumn chill that was starting to take over our valley. Moving toward the bar, I did a scan, in search of a couple empty stools, but what I saw instead brought me up short.
“What’s the deal?” Leo asked when I stopped moving. He looked in the direction I was staring and let out a low whistle.
I knew the exact reason behind that whistle.
It was the same reason all the blood in my body was currently rushing straight to my dick.
Leo might have been in a blissfully happy, committed relationship, but the man wasn’t blind or dead.
Hayden was standing at the bar, bent forward to rest her elbows on top.
Her ass was on display for every needle-dicked piece of shit in her general vicinity, and there were more than just a few taking the chance to ogle her.
At the number of eyes on her perfect ass, that irrational sense of anger I’d felt at Fresh Foods the night before, causing me to act like a dick for no good reason, came rushing to the surface.
“You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” I clipped under my breath, glaring at the woman who had the attention of half the men in this goddamn bar, myself included.
I could feel Leo turn his attention to me, but I couldn’t pull mine off the woman who’d been fucking with my head for weeks. “What’s the problem? Figured you’d already be movin’ in on a woman like that. You don’t act fast, no doubt another man in here’s gonna beat you to it.”
“Already had a woman like that,” I grunted. “In fact, I had that exact woman.”
“What? When—wait.” He started laughing at my expense. “No, fuckin’ way. That’s her, isn’t it? The woman from the weekend you did your sister’s baby shower in the city? The one you had a showdown with in the middle of the refrigerated section?”
“Sometimes I hate small towns,” I grunted to myself. I finally tore my gaze off Hayden’s ass to shoot my partner a murderous glare. “Glad you find this funny, jackass. Remind me to never confide in you about another damn thing.”
“Are you kidding? This is great. It’s been weeks you’ve been strung up on this chick. And Christ, man, I can see why. She’s—oh shit.” His humor instantly fled. “We got a problem.”
I shifted my focus back toward the bar and felt my blood turn to ice. “Fuck,” I hissed as soon as I spotted Cormack. The bastard was making his move right then, and he was making it on Hayden. “This can’t be happening, right now. Of all the shitty luck—”
“Not sure how the hell you’re gonna stop that, but you better think of something. Last thing we need is that asswipe turning his attention on your girl.”
“She’s not my girl,” I clipped, but even as I said the words, a voice inside my head was screaming for me to make him bleed if he so much as laid a hand on her.
She giggled at something he said and tossed that thick mane of hair back off her shoulder. A sick feeling hit the pit of my stomach like a sledgehammer when he smiled at her. He shifted closer, she turned toward him, and they shook hands.
I wasn’t aware I was moving until I nearly took down a waitress carrying a loaded tray. I issued a distracted apology and kept moving, closing in. I was just within earshot when I heard her honey-coated voice ask, “What’s the second question?”
That prick actually had the balls to move closer to her. “The second question is, can I buy you a drink?”
“That’s not gonna happen.”
Hayden whipped around, her jaw hanging open in shocked anger, but I was too busy trying to melt the skin from Greg Cormack’s face with my eyes to acknowledge her wrath.
He’d invaded her space. He’d smiled at her.
He’d touched her. His hands were covered in Darrin Callo’s blood, and God only knew who else’s, and this fuck actually had the nerve to touch Red.
His head tilted to the side, his chin jerking back into his neck. “’Scuse me?”
“You need to move on, Cormack.”
“Do you two know each other?” Hayden asked, but I ignored her question, too busy trying to keep myself in check so I didn’t choke the life out of this murderous son of a bitch in the middle of a crowded bar.
“She yours or somethin’?” he asked, an arrogant gleam in his eye, like he was in the mood for a pissing contest.
“Absolutely not!” Hayden proclaimed at the same time I answered, “Sure the hell is.”
Her long hair slapped my arm and chest when she jerked around again to face me. “I am not yours, you arrogant dick!”
For the first time since the standoff started, I looked down at the little fireball standing in front of me, a smirk pulling at my mouth.
“Know how hot your pussy gets when it’s wrapped around my cock, and what your nails feel like, diggin’ into my back when you come. Pretty sure that makes you mine.”
She sucked in a gasp so big it was a wonder her lungs didn’t burst. “I can’t—you didn’t just—that was—Oh my God! You’re unbelievable!”
“You’ve said that before. That time when you were riding me while your hands were—”
“Enough!” she cried, slapping a hand over my mouth to silence me and looking back over her shoulder. “Greg, I’m so sorry, but maybe we can finish this conversation at a later date? You could swing by the shop one day next week.”
His eyes actually gleamed with triumph as he stared me down before slowly turning back to Hayden with a goddamn toothpaste commercial smile. “That’s a great idea. I’ll just leave you to handle this, and we’ll see each other next week.”
“Sounds good. Have a good night, Greg.”
“You too, beautiful.”
Motherfucker!
He walked away just seconds before I gave in to my urge to reach across Hayden and rip his throat out.
Shifting my glare down to her, I bit out, “What the fuck was that?”
“I should be asking you the same question!” she shouted, her sapphire eyes glazed with either rage or alcohol, I wasn’t sure which. “I can’t believe you just did that!”
“Well, you better start believing, Red. And just an FYI, there’s no way in hell you’re seein’ that guy again.”
“Oh my God,” she said, reaching up and raking her fingers through her hair on a bewildered laugh. “You’re insane. Completely certifiable.”
“This isn’t a joke,” I grated, moving in closer and grabbing her arm as I lowered my voice. “I’m very serious, Hayden. You need to stay away from that guy.”
She must have seen something in my eyes that gave her pause, because instead of throwing attitude back, she lifted her chin and said, “Tell me why. You can’t issue a demand like that without an explanation, Micah.”
“Because I said so.” It took less than a second for me to realize that was the wrong thing to say.
The fight returned to her features in a venomous glare as she ripped her arm from my grasp. “God, I hate you.”
I felt my defenses start to rise. It was ridiculous how this goddamn woman could turn me on and set me off at the same damn time.
It was completely irrational how she was able to piss me off with just a look, but the way my body reacted to just the thought of her left me so muddled, my kneejerk reaction was anger.
“Don’t recall sayin’ I was the biggest fan of yours either, Red.”
Her face twisted and scrunched with rage, but, goddamn it, that look made me want to kiss her. “You know what? Go fuck yourself, Micah. I’m done with you.”
Spinning around on the heels of her insanely sexy boots, she started to stomp off. It just so happened, she was heading in the same direction I was, toward Leo, Dani, and her whole crew.
Every few feet, she checked back over her shoulder, frowning when she saw I was still trailing behind her. I had to bite the inside of my cheek each time to keep from laughing. Finally, we reached the cluster of tables, and I noticed everyone was staring at us in slack-jawed shock.
Hayden whipped around, planting her hands on her rounded hips, and hit me with that attitude I kind of got off on. “Who’s the stalker now, asshole? Stop following me.”
“Uh . . . do you two know each other?”
At Eden’s question, Hayden caught on to the attention we’d garnered and looked back to the table in confusion. “Wait. Do you guys know him?”
“They do,” I answered for the group. “Seein’ as I’ve lived here for years.”
Roxanne spoke up then, her shrewd eyes gleaming, a knowing smile on her lips. “What I want to know is how you two know each other.”
“An unfortunate run-in that I wish had never happened,” Hayden spit, skewering me with a murderous glare.
“This is the best night ever.” That little gem came from Leo, who was having way too much fun with this disastrous situation.
Hayden pretended not to hear him and kept me in her sights, flames shooting from her bright blue eyes. “Wow, all you have to do to ruin a person’s night is show up, huh?”
“Oh damn,” Sage said on a giggle. “This is great. You guys, I think we just found the first woman on the planet who doesn’t go stupid at the sight of Micah Langford. She’s like our very own unicorn!”
“I don’t know about that, Red,” I said in a murmur, leaning in so only she could hear. “Think if I got you back underneath me, I could get you to go stupid?”
“You know, I was having a really great night before you showed up. Why don’t you do me a favor and go jump off a bridge or something.”
“If you consider being hit on by a limp dick like Cormack a really great night, we need to reevaluate your standards, babe.”
An adorable little growl worked its way from her throat. “I hate you.”
“So you’ve said. Might want to come up with some new material. Your insults are getting a little stale.”
All the women gathered at the tables started laughing hysterically. “Oh, man.” Dani giggled several seconds later, wiping at the wet under her eyes. “This is the best thing ever.”
“Forget all those other suggestions, ladies,” Roxanne announced to the group. “Pretty sure we found the guy.”
I wasn’t sure what the hell that meant, but my gut was telling me shit was about to get really, really messy.