Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
RHYS
“Where are we going?” Raven asks for the tenth time in as many minutes.
“You’ll see.”
She grumbles under her breath, making me smile. Apparently, she doesn’t like surprises. I have a feeling she’ll like this one, though. Her performance is the day after tomorrow. She’s been working her ass off to get ready, but she won’t divulge any details. All I know is that she needs a piano.
“Do you like living on the island?” she asks as we wind our way through downtown. Traffic is heavy, reducing us to a slow crawl. Typical for late evening. I intended to cut out of work early but got stuck working another fucking robbery.
The only thing that annoys me more than drunk tourists are assholes who prey on tourists.
They come to the island specifically to pick off unsuspecting tourists.
They’ve been doing it for years. With so many out-of-towners concentrated in one area, they can hold up a tourist and then slip into the crowd and disappear.
This idiot didn’t check for cameras. We’ve got his ugly mug front and center on a couple of security cameras. We printed off the photos and sent them to the docks. Once he tries to leave the island, he’ll be in cuffs.
“Usually,” I say. “Traffic is a pain in the ass.”
Raven makes a face at me. She’s been quiet since we talked about Marnie last night, lost in her own thoughts.
Truth is, I have been too. I’ve been lying to myself, believing I could hold her close and keep the truth from her at the same time.
I can’t. She deserves to know everything.
I’m an asshole for touching her without confessing to what I’ve done.
I’ll burn in hell for that.
But the pieces are finally coming together.
I think I’m finally beginning to understand what I’ve been missing all along.
I know what Marnie is after. I think I even know why she killed Brant.
Before I tell Raven the truth, I need to ensure that I’m right.
If I am, it changes everything. If I’m not, I lose her for good.
I’m balanced on the blade of a fucking sword.
Nothing justifies the choices I made, and I know that.
But I made them for her. Because God help me, there’s not a fucking thing in this world I wouldn’t do for her.
I don’t merely love her. That word isn’t strong enough for what beats in my chest for her.
My soul is hers. I gave it into her keeping long ago.
I pull into the church parking lot and kill the engine.
“You’re taking me to church?” She eyes me sideways. “I’m not dressed for church, Rhys!”
“Songbird, it’s an island,” I say with a chuckle.
“We don’t get fancy for church. Besides, you look beautiful.
” She does. Her dark tresses are pulled back from her face by a purple headband that matches her purple and white sundress.
She’s fresh-faced, her nose pink from the sun.
“But there is no service here tonight. The place is only open for services on Sundays. The rest of the week, islanders use it for gatherings or meetings.”
“Oh.” She breathes a sigh of relief. “What kind of gathering?”
“A private one.” I smile and pocket the keys before climbing out of the truck.
A stiff breeze blows in from the Sound, rustling through the treetops.
Seagulls scream overhead, their cries mingling with the sounds of traffic and the voices carrying from restaurant patios.
Friday Harbor is never quiet at this time of day.
I circle around the truck and open Raven’s door, helping her down.
I shouldn’t do it, but I slide her down my body, gritting my teeth when my cock immediately stiffens in my pants.
Keeping my hands off her is an exercise in futility, but I’m trying like hell to behave.
She needs a break. I was rough with her last night.
I couldn’t stay out of her this morning either.
She slept in my bed where she belongs, her naked ass nestled against my cock.
I ate her for breakfast and then fucked her as the sun rose.
Thought about calling in to stay in bed and do it again, but knew if I didn’t leave the house, she’d be too sore to move today.
She stumbles into me, her breathing choppy when her feet finally touch the ground. She has stars in her eyes. I love that look on her face, as if she thinks I’m something special, something mighty. Does she know she could fell me with a single word?
“Come on,” I growl, determined to get her inside before I lose the willpower to do it at all.
We walk hand in hand to the church.
“You have a key to a church?” she asks, wide-eyed when I pull it from my pocket to unlock the side door.
“I’m a cop.”
“Oh, yeah.”
I chuckle, shaking my head. “Got tired of waking the pastor up in the middle of the night every time we had to come and deal with another break-in, so he had keys made for me and Rodrigo.”
“People break into churches?” The horror in her voice is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.
“Afraid so, princess,” I say. Churches get broken into frequently. People think they keep cash lying around. When they can’t find that, they grab laptops, gift cards…whatever they can carry. Criminals are criminals even in houses of worship.
“Wow,” she mumbles, shaking her head like she’s completely disappointed in the human race.
I flip the lights on and lead her into the sanctuary. The church is small, with a center aisle and a dozen pews on each side. An organ sits at the right side of the stage up front, a grand piano on the left. I lace our fingers together and pull her up the aisle toward the piano.
“This is why we’re here, songbird.”
“Oh,” she whispers, reaching out to trail her fingers along the keys. And then she snatches it back at the last second and peeks around. “Are you sure it’s okay?”
“I cleared it with the pastor. You have permission to practice here right up until the show on Friday,” I say, handing the key to her with a flourish.
“Seriously?” She gapes between me and the key.
“Seriously. It’s all yours, sweet Raven.”
She squeaks and flings herself at my chest. I catch her, dropping the key in the process. It bounces against the wooded floor at our feet. Somehow, she ends up in my arms, my hands on her ass. Our lips crash together, our kiss hot and heavy.
I dive in again and again, drinking from her lips like she’s wine. My hands rove all over her ass, squeezing, kneading…doing things they damn well shouldn’t be doing in the middle of a church. Christ, not even Jesus could blame me for this. She’s too sweet.
I reluctantly break the kiss, pressing my forehead to hers with a groan. “You keep kissing me like that, we’ll be doing a whole lot of things in this church that aren’t sanctioned by Pastor Bob or the Holy Spirit, sweet Raven.”
She laughs softly, the sound full of happiness. My stomach clenches, my cock throbbing. Does she have any idea what she does to me? How wild I am about her?
“No way,” she says, squirming for me to put her down. “I need to get into heaven.”
“Yeah? Why is that?”
She beams at me over her shoulder, her blue eyes bright. “It’s where you’re going.”
* * *
“What’s up, my man?” Michael Kincaid asks. “You bored as fuck on your little island and ready to come work for the big boys yet?”
“Nope,” I say, grinning. Kincaid works for the DEA’s gang unit in Seattle.
He’s a chameleon, the last person you’d expect to be as smart as he is, and yet he knows everything there is to know about gangs and gang crime.
He’s been shot, stabbed, and left for dead more than once, but they never manage to kill him.
When you need info, he’s the guy you call.
He can find out anything about anyone. He’s the scariest motherfucker I know.
Criminals with brains respect him. Those without sense quickly learn to fear him.
“Hell will freeze over before I come work with your crazy ass, brother.”
“Well, fuck you too then,” he says, laughing. “I could use a little begging in my life today. Kincaid, please save me before my nuts shrivel up and I die of boredom sounds like a good start.”
“No can do, fucker.”
“Fine. Then why are you blowing up my phone at ass o’clock on a Thursday?”
“I need a favor.”
“Does it have the potential to get me shot? Because, gotta say, man, been there, done that. Kinda getting old,” he says. “The big boss is riding my dick about giving me a partner. So if whatever you need help with has a likelihood of making that happen, my answer is probably no.”
“Only probably?” I lean back in my chair, planting one boot on my desk.
“I mean…if it’s going to piss him off, I might be in,” he mutters, making me laugh.
Kincaid has spent most of his life living with gangs and criminals. He never takes anything seriously…and yet he closes more cases than most other agents. He’s a beast. I don’t know what his story is, but he’s a closed book. He doesn’t share shit and doesn’t ask shit.
“It probably won’t get you shot,” I say. “But it may get me fired.”
“Damn.” He whistles. “Now you’ve got me curious as a motherfucker.”
“I know who killed Brantley Calloway. I’ve known for a while. The only thing I’m missing is the why,” I say, not lying to him.
“Who?”
“His wife.”
Kincaid whistles again.
“She claims it was an accident, but I’m not buying it,” I say and then fill him in on the whole sordid story.
I don’t leave anything out. If he’s going to look into this, he needs to know everything.
Is it a risk? Yes. But it’s one I have to take.
As soon as I start pulling threads, the whole goddamn thing is going to collapse on my head.
Kincaid won’t have that problem. He knows people who know people.
“Jesus Christ, Flannery,” he says. “If a goddamn dumpster fire and a shitshow had a baby, and then that baby got together with a bomb and had baby, that kid would still be less fucked up than your situation.”
“I know.”
“You think he’s really working with the mob?”
“No. I think Jack Hale is,” I say. “And I think Marnie’s carrying his kid.
” It’s the only thing that makes sense. Jack was the piece of the puzzle that I was missing.
I think Brant knew the kid didn’t belong to him the minute Marnie told him she was pregnant.
He probably threatened to leave her. Only she and Jack couldn’t risk losing control of the company, so they cooked up a plan to involve me.
She claimed he was the one working for the mob.
Marnie fucking knew I’d leap to protect Raven.
As soon as she had me where she wanted me, she killed Brant.
With him out of the way, she and Jack had control of the company.
All she had to do was keep me quiet and keep Raven out of the picture until the baby was born.
At that point, Brant would be listed on the birth certificate since they were married when the baby was conceived, and she’d be home free.
The courts would split the majority share of the company between Raven and the baby, leaving Jack with the controlling interest. The company would be theirs.
She fucked up, though. I would never have had a reason to suspect Jack had she not tried to keep Raven from graduating.
She tipped her hand and fucked herself over.
They weren’t in a business meeting when I went to see her.
He didn’t look at her like a business associate.
He looked at her like a man in love, one frustrated by a woman playing games.
He hated that I was there. As if I’d touch the bitch with a ten-foot pole.
She’s pure poison. I don’t know when she and Jack started hooking up and I don’t want to know.
All I want is to watch them both burn. They deserve everything they get.
If I go up in flames with them, fuck it.
At least I’ll take the two of them with me.
I owe Raven that much. I owe it to Brant too.
“Goddamn,” Kincaid says when I tell him my theory. “What the fuck is it with rich people? They’ll never be able to spend what they already have, but they’re still so fucking desperate for more. They’ll destroy their own flesh and blood and not even bat a lash.”
“Hell if I know,” I mutter.
“I don’t have many mob connections, but I know a few people who should be able to help,” he says. “I’ll see what I can find out and get back to you.” He pauses. “I’m guessing you need me to hurry it the fuck up?”
“That’d be nice.”
He grunts. “Does this island of yours have boats and shit?”
“It’s an island.”
“Right.”
I laugh quietly. Why am I not surprised Kincaid hasn’t stepped foot on one of the islands? He probably hasn’t ever left the city. I don’t think he ever takes a day off, truthfully.
“Consider me invited.”
“You help me bring them down, I’ll take you out on my boat.”
“Cool.” He pauses. “I’m not going fucking fishing, man.”
“Call me when you find something.”
“Flannery, I’m serious. I’m not fucking fishing!” he shouts.
I disconnect, dropping my phone on my desk. For a moment, I just sit there, staring blankly into space. Having the truth out there feels…different. Like a weight has been lifted. I’ve been carrying it for too long.
That was the easy part, though. The hard part is still to come.
That’s the part I might not survive.