Wild
Page 12
Cruz came up beside me and clapped me on the back.
“You gotta be pretty fuckin’ flattered we created a whole Counsel just so you could get laid.”
He was so pleased with himself; I couldn’t help but smile even though I couldn’t take my eyes off Chance. She let her hair down, so feminine, blowing in the breeze, a sharp contrast to her black jeans, gray t-shirt, and some weird leather and knit jacket thing she said was more appropriate for a cookout than her beloved leather kutte.
I snorted at Cruz’s words.
“That wasn’t the reason asshole.” I took my eyes off Chance for a second and grinned at him. “But yeah, it feels pretty fucking good.”
We shared another laugh and it felt good because shit had been too dark and too serious around here lately. Again.
“It’s a fucking good idea.”
I had to agree with Cruz. Gunnar was already making plans, and that meant good things for everyone’s futures.
“A female VP, huh? You don’t like to do shit the easy way do you?”
I frowned at his question. “What do you mean, Cruz?”
He frowned and then once again, Cruz’s blue eyes were filled with wicked joy.
“You mean…you don’t know? Shit man, wait till I tell Hen about this.”
I grabbed his shirt, and the fucker only laughed.
“Don’t say shit to anyone about anything.” I let him go. “There’s nothing to say anything about anyway.”
Cruz barked out a laugh and pretended to straighten his t-shirt. “If you say so bro.”
He took a long pull from his beer and my gaze instinctively found Chance, laughing it up with Brick like two little kids. “I mean, you fucked someone in another club, even after you found out she was in a local club. Both of you know better than that, so y’all came up with this whole Counsel shit so you could be together. Not just fuck buddies. You do realize that, don’t you?”
He laughed at my dumbfounded expression.
“Please tell me you realize that, man.”
I pushed his hands off me and gave him a dark glare. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. You’re a married man who sees love everywhere.”
He rolled his eyes with a shrug. “Look, this idea is good for both of the clubs, I get all that. But man, this isn’t just fucking for either for you. This is real, and judging by that pinched look on your face, you might finally be starting to understand what’s going on.”
I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t. It didn’t make any sense. “You’re talking out of your ass again, Cruz.”
“Believe what you want, but when you need to talk, you know where to find me.”
Cruz’s gaze landed on his Hennessy, and his smile brightened.
“I’m gonna go promise to use some of that barbecue sauce in the bedroom tonight. You stand over here and keep lyin’ to yourself, bro.”
“Asshole,” I called out as he walked away.
Cruz turned to me with a grin. “I love you, too,” he mouthed before flipping me off.
“You two are more like the kind of brothers who grew up together than the kind formed in battle, you realize that?” When I looked at Chance, she smiled up at me.
“Hi.”
“Hey, babe. Where’d you come from?”
“Over there.” She pointed to Curt chatting with Gunnar and Peaches while Brick was deep in conversation with Holden.
“You were preoccupied with your bromance.”
“Bullshit.”
She laughed, and the sound was sweet and feminine, reminding me of the way she arched into me and purred when I slid into her.
“Maybe. It’s cute but in a totally manly way. I swear.”
“You’re a bad liar.”
“You gonna punish me for it later?” The glimmer in her eyes wasn’t lost on me or my cock who stirred to life behind my zipper.
“Maybe. If you ask real nicely.” The smile the curled her lips at the corners was fucking erotic.
“You want me to beg?”
I shook my head. “Not at all. I don’t want you to beg, but I’m sure as fuck gonna make you beg. Over and over and over again.”
“I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?”
I leaned in close until her scent wrapped around me, and my lips brushed the edge of her ear.
“I love a challenge, Chance.”
Then, because I could, I curled my tongue around her earlobe and sucked until she moaned. Then I took a step back. “Love it.”
“You would.” She rolled her eyes but her lips were curled into a smile that could only be called affectionate.
Someone lowered the volume on the music, and Gunnar stood beside Curt with his hand in the air, where it stayed until he had everyone’s attention. He raised his beer in the air with a wide grin.
He bellowed, “To new friends!”
“To new friends!” everyone shouted back, happy and full and a little bit tipsy.
“He doesn’t waste words, does he?” said Chance.
“Unless he’s pissed.”
That pulled a laugh from Chance, and she leaned in close, heat burning her eyes when she looked up at me.
“Is it late enough to get outta here yet?”
I nodded and clasped her hand to mine. “Yes. Let’s go.”
It was a ten-minute walk to my place from here, but we could make it in six if we hurried. Five if she let me carry her. I was already moving forward, but Chance’s feet were stuck to the ground. I looked back at her, puzzled.
She nodded behind me. “Cops are here.”
I turned, and sure as shit, two squad cars pulled up on the dirt path behind Gunnar’s house. Two deputies, both of them familiar, stepped out with regretful looks on their faces. My stomach sank.
“Deputies, you here for the barbecue?” Peaches’ voice was as smooth as silk and smoky as the best cigar. Her smile had the cops focused squarely on her.
“Afraid not Miss Peaches. Official business.” Deputy Kellogg’s gaze skipped through the group until he found Gunnar.
“Deputy Byrd will let you know what’s going on while I speak with Ella Mae Ambrose.”
Chance gasped beside me; her hand gripped mine and fingernails dug into my skin.
“It’ll be all right,” I whispered, though there was no way in hell it could be all right.
“Don’t start lying to me now, Slayer.”
“I’ll do everything I can to help. No matter what.”
Her grip eased. “Thanks.”
“Ella Mae Ambrose?” Kellogg looked like he didn’t want to be here anymore than we wanted him here.
“Yeah, that’s me.” Her voice was shaky but still strong.
Kellogg whipped out the cuffs. “Turn around for me, miss. You are under arrest for involuntary manslaughter related to the death of Leon Evans.”
“What the fuck,” Curt roared into the air. “He fucking killed himself. You do know that, right?”
Gunnar put a hand to his shoulder to stop Curt’s tirade.
Kellogg nodded.
“I also know ol’ Russ had a heart attack last week, and his deputy has it in mind to make his new job permanent. The dead guy’s family is making a stink and here we are.”
He cuffed Chance easily and as gently as he could, his sympathy clearly with us on this matter.
“You have the right to remain silent.”
Chance’s expression never changed. It remained stoic as he led her to the cruiser while she listened to her rights. “I understand.”
“I’m glad you do because I sure as shit don’t!”
Seeing Kellogg put her in the back of that car with the cage separating her from the deputies tore something apart inside of me.
“Get her a good lawyer, Slayer. Someone who’ll take the time to go through everything. Got it?”
I nodded. “Yeah, thanks. Can I have a minute?
Kellogg nodded. “One minute.”
“We’ll figure something out. Soon.�
��
Chance nodded. “I know. Just ironic that Leon is still fucking with my life, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know,” I said gently. “Maybe it’s because he realized what he missed out on.”
Her grin softened, and she shook her head like she didn’t believe my words.
“Tell me something, anything else so I can stop thinking about the fact that I’m somehow being charged with Leon’s suicide.”
I flashed a grin because I knew what I was about to say was reckless.
“Cruz thinks I’m in love with you.”
She blinked, expression turned from blank to confusion. “And what do you think?”
Shit, I hadn’t expected that question. “I don’t know.”
Chance flashed a quick, sad smile. “Let me know when you do, because I don’t fucking know, either.”
Kellogg came then and shut the door, leaving me there as he took my woman away. To jail.
For a bullshit non-crime. “Fuck!”
Cruz’s hand landed on my shoulder, and I didn’t look at him because I didn’t want to see sympathy in his eyes. I didn’t want his sympathy. I wanted this shit over and I wanted Chance back in my arms where she belonged.
“We’re on it, man.”
I knew that. But it didn’t make me feel any better about this whole fucking situation.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ella Mae
It was pretty fucking hard not to freak out while I sat in an interrogation box by myself for more than an hour. Possibly two hours. I didn’t know because I stopped keeping track at the seventy-five minute mark. But I was doing everything within my power to keep my face blank and my body still as I sat in the hard metal torture device they passed off as a chair.
It was hard not to freak out, even if I knew this was some political bullshit. I heard what that cop told the men. Some fucking lawyer wanted to use my neck to propel him to the next rung in local fucking politics. Too bad for whoever that fucker was. I refused to go down without a fight. And since they had me in a room instead of a cell all this time, I knew it was just a ploy to fuck with me.
That gave their ploy a lot less power.
Still, that didn’t mean I was cocky or even confident I could get out of this mess without doing any time. I knew what happened when the deck was stacked against me. Had seen more than a few kids go down for shit they shouldn’t have because the system was a train. Once it left the station, its only job was to drop you off at prison. By any means necessary. Fucking Leon!
Yeah, it was Leon’s fault I was in this mess but it was also my fault. I knew I shouldn’t have let it get this far, which made all of this sting a little harder. I couldn’t focus on Leon screwing me one last time. I had to figure out a way to get myself out of this mess full fucking stop. If I did time, it would be for my MC or some shit I actually did, not because some guy I used to fuck ate a bullet.
His own goddamn bullet at that.
The door opened, and my gaze went to the man entering the room. I had to hide the shock when I realized it wasn’t a detective in a cheap suit. My visitor was a short man with thinning brown hair, shockingly green eyes, and a slightly more expensive cheap suit than I was expecting.
It had to be the lawyer, based on the smirk he wore and the overall greasiness that oozed off him. He studied me, and I studied him back, happy to show him that I wasn’t afraid of him. Or his threats.
“Ms. Ambrose. I presume you’ve been mirandized.”
I said nothing since neither of those were questions.
“Smart.” His grin widened. “But I believe that once you see the stack of evidence against you, you’ll change your tune a bit.”
I knew that was what he wanted to believe, and he’d work like hell to make sure I believed it before he walked out of this room. But until they tossed me into a prison cell, I wouldn’t stop fighting. Hell, probably not even then. I leaned back in the hard metal and tilted my gaze to his.
“And who would you be?”
He blinked, a smartass response poised on the tip of his tongue until the idiot realized he hadn’t introduced himself.
“I’m Calvin McAllister, District Attorney.”
My lips twitched a little.
“Interim DA from what everyone around here is saying.”
McAllister seemed rattled, but he wasn’t as new as he looked. Not to mention he was a smallish man who might have thought he had to be tougher just to be taken seriously. Most of all, he knew I was innocent and didn’t give a damn.
“For now,” he said with what could only be described as an evil smile.
Until he convicted me, then the job would be his.
“Okay, Kevin McAllister, tell me what you have against me.”
He held up one small hand with thick fingers, and I swear his grinned widened as he ticked off each item.
“You were at the scene of the crime. You have a connection to the victim. A gun of a similar caliber used is registered to you. He’s your ex and from these sworn affidavits, you played with the poor man’s head until he didn’t know if he was coming or going.”
He sat down and leaned back in the chair with the uneven leg. “It couldn’t be clearer. I know what happened. You must have pulled the trigger.”
A lot of what he said didn’t make sense, so I tried to file it away in an organized way to make sure I didn’t forget anything for later. Instead of responding and telling him what a fucking liar he was, I stared and stared until he started to squirm.
“You were there, weren’t you?”
I frowned. “Was I?” From what Slayer and the others had pieced together for me, they’d gotten me back to the house with Annabelle before the cops showed up. But I knew The Barn Door had a shit ton of security, which meant he had to know all of that. Didn’t he?
“According to witnesses.” His smile tightened, a tell if I ever saw one. Too bad for him I knew the only witnesses besides me and Leon were all Reckless Bastards. A sliver of unease slid down my spine, but I ignored it and kept my expression blank. I had one enemy right now, this dumb fucker.
“This happened at a sex club I believe?” Another smug grin sprinkled with a smarminess he couldn’t hide if his life depended on it.
“Why do you believe that?”
He blinked again and stammered over the unexpected question. “I ask the questions.”
And he’d answered all the questions I had about the reason for my arrest, so there was no point keeping the asshole around any longer.
“You should leave asking questions to the detectives since you didn’t ask one.”
He opened his mouth to say something, probably something shitty and condescending, but I beat him to the punch.
“I think I’ll take this moment to exercise my right to counsel.”
That one statement wiped the stupid grin of his bloated fucking face. “Your lawyer? You have a lawyer?” His incredulity would have been insulting if I was capable of being insulted by a little boy.
“Am I not entitled to legal representation by law, Mr. Interim District Attorney?”
He grumbled under his breath as he stood up, making a big show of going to the super obvious mirror. He tapped on it before he turned back to me, leaning against the mirror with a smile.
“We can make a deal right now and have you back at home in five years. If we have to go to trial, I’ll push for fifteen, and I’ll get it.”
He was bluffing, but dammit, it was hard not to take that kind of bluff seriously. Fifteen years of my life was a long goddamn time. It was my whole life really. The time I would decide if I wanted to get married and have kids, maybe take over the Lords when Curt settled down and his old lady made him step down. But fuck, I knew he was bluffing.
“I’ll pass on the message. To my attorney.”
McAllister smirked. I was sure he imagined I’d make do with some overworked public defender. But I had money put aside. I’d get a shark. Hell, I’d find a fucking mob lawyer if I had to.
“That’s twice my client asked for an attorney, McAllister. I’d hate to bring this to the attention of the Bar.”
He heard the threat and hid the fear her words invoked, but not before we both caught it flash across his face.
“Monica Stevenson. You’re representing her?”
The disdain in his voice didn’t bother me. He was the real piece of shit here.
“I am.” She flashed a smile that looked more like a grimace. “So I really hope for your sake, that this case isn’t as weak as it looks at first glance. If so, what I’ll do to you will pale in comparison to the threats you’ve made.”
McAllister snorted, but he didn’t say anything in response. I knew then and there; I’d pay whatever it cost to keep Monica Stevenson on my side.
Her blue gaze stared right through him. “We need privacy. You can go now.”
McAllister left, and as soon as we were alone, Monica took the seat across from me. I leaned in close and said, “Who are you, how did you get here, and what do I have to do to keep you?”
She gave me a throaty laugh and explained that Gunnar had set up this arrangement. “Don’t worry about my fee. We’ll work it out. I want to get these scumbags off your back as much as you do. It’s personal. Now talk to me. Tell me what happened.”
I took a deep breath, in part because the woman was a total badass and I couldn’t believe this miracle had dropped into my life. But also, because my side was hurting like a bitch. To take my mind off my pain, I gave Monica a quick rundown of the whole Leon shit show.
“I know they don’t have any witness statements,” I told her and cast a quick look over my shoulder. I couldn’t see anything, but I knew we were being watched. I didn’t know if it was only the DA who was corrupt.