Burnout: A Legal Heat Novella

by Sarah Castille

  “How did you free him?”

  Ace shifted in his chair and Sophie startled. Damn. This wasn’t going as well as he’d hoped. He wanted to see trust in her eyes, not wariness. Definitely don’t tell her Ice tortured Andre in the clubhouse dungeon.

  “Ice had another… talk… with Andre in the… basement. He gave up the location of the weapons as well as the safe house where Jason had hidden the money. Then we got in touch with the Mountain Master. Had a nice chat. Worked out a deal whereby they gave us Jason in exchange for the weapons and his money. Worked out well for everyone. The Red Dragons now owe us a favour. Everyone is safe. Once you report back, Jason will be put under police protection.”

  She chewed on her bottom lip, but her face remained an expressionless mask. Was she happy? Relieved? Angry? Anticipation ratcheted through him. If she could just give him a clue…

  “It’s all here. Unmarked. No tracking device and no counterfeit bills.” Kickstand joined them in the circle of light.

  “Give it to Spook. He’ll take it back to the clubhouse.” Ryder waved Kickstand to the back door. “Out. Now. Make sure no one comes in.”

  Sophie froze as Kickstand ran for the door. “You’re taking the ransom money? That’s stealing.”

  Unable to keep away, Ace pushed himself out of the chair, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. “Cost of business, babe. Someone has to pay the bills. And that money was written off the minute they put it in the bag. They paid to get Jason back, and they will. They’ll recoup the costs through the number of criminals Jason will put behind bars with his testimony.”

  “What about the police? They should have been here after you took away my surveillance equipment.”

  Ryder stepped out of the darkness. “Ice is holding them off. We needed to work anonymously, so we had to play the game until we were sure you had no more wires on you and you weren’t armed.”

  Ace reached for her, but she stepped away. His heart sank. He had to give her time. She needed to reconcile what she would see as the theft of the two hundred thousand dollars with the good they had also done and the neat way they had resolved the entire situation.

  “So what happens now?” she said softly.

  “We were never here. You go out. Tell the police the Red Dragons took your wire, phone, and the money but told you Jason had been released. There will be footprints down by the river to keep them entertained for a while. Meanwhile, the police will get a tip that someone dropped Jason off at the hospital. They’ll put him in witness protection. He’s willing to play ball, and he can take down a lot of people.”

  “And I’m involved in a cover-up.”

  Ace pressed a kiss to her forehead. “And a shooting.”

  She stared at him aghast. “What? Who am I going to shoot?”

  He took a step back and spread his arms wide. “Me.”

  * * *

  Shoot Ace?

  “I’m angry that you did all this without telling me,” Sophie said. “And that you didn’t get in touch. And that you’ve put me in a position where I have to go back and lie to the police. But I’m not going to shoot you over it.”

  Ryder gave her a sympathetic look. “You have to shoot him. It’s his only way out of the MC. I’m already struggling to maintain control. If I let a senior patch like Ace leave the club for no legitimate reason, it would undermine my authority and lead to anarchy. People will be hurt, killed. And not just bikers. Old ladies are at risk. Sweet butts. Kids. Innocent bystanders. We make a lifelong commitment when we join a one-percenter club, and there are not many ways to break it.”

  Her gaze flicked to Ace. “You’d rather die than stay with the club?”

  “If I can’t ride, I can’t be in the club. Ryder came up with the idea of you shooting me in the leg. Then he can let me go on good terms, his authority isn’t compromised, and—”

  “Do you hear yourself?” Sophie raised her voice to a shout. She didn’t give a damn if Dan or any of the SWAT team heard her. In fact, she hoped they did. “You want me to shoot you in the leg? Do you have any idea of the risk? Your upper thigh is rich with vascularity. If I hit it, you could bleed out in seconds if one of the major arteries is severed.”

  “Aim lower.” Ace spread his legs and pointed at his calf. “Maybe below the knee.”

  Sophie groaned. “Ace, what you’re asking is precision shooting. It’s hard even for experts.”

  “Which you are.” His voice dropped, rich and warm, calm and confident. “I trust you, Sophie.”

  She scrubbed her hands over her face. “Couldn’t we just pretend? Fake a wound? Or use a knife? Or you could pretend you were killed and move to another province or up north. You could go to Mexico…”

  “Babe.” He closed the distance between them and took her hands in his. “This is the only way. It has to be real. Everyone will want to see the injury. They will all try to convince me to ride. I’m prepared to give up my bike, maybe even a piece of my leg, for a chance at a real life with you.”

  Emotion welled up in her chest. “Ace…”

  “I know we haven’t known each other long,” he said. “But you woke me up to the possibility of living a dream I never thought I could have. I want that dream with you. I love you, Sophie, but I don’t want you to feel like you gotta stay ’cause you did this. If it doesn’t work out between us, if you don’t feel the same way about me, then I’ll accept it and move on. But I want that chance, the choice, a life with someone I love and kids and a family where I don’t have to worry that someone’s gonna die or someone’s gonna get shot or I’m not going to make it home that night.”

  “That’s my job,” she whispered.

  “And I love that about you.” He wrapped his arms around her, squeezed her in a hug. “I love that you believe in what you do. Your determination. Your commitment. Your dedication. You inspire me, humble me, make me want to be a better man. It won’t be easy for me, babe, but I can deal if it means I get to hold you at night and kiss you in the morning.”

  Ace stepped back and Ryder handed her the .22. “We don’t have much time. Ice can’t hold them off forever.” He walked over to Ace and shook his hand. “You ever need anything, I’ll always have your back.”

  “And I owe you a debt,” Ace said. “Thank you, brother.” He shrugged off his cut, folded it carefully, and handed it to Ryder.

  Ryder stared at it for a long moment, and his corded throat tightened when he swallowed. “I’m going to keep this, brother. Maybe one day I’ll have the club I dreamed about. And when I do, I’ll come knocking on your door.”

  Sophie wrapped her hand around the cold, hard steel and drew in a shuddering breath. “I couldn’t do this before.” Her voice wavered. “When Ryan was standing in front of me with a knife in his hand, I couldn’t pull the trigger. I loved…”

  No. She trailed off, the gun hanging by her side. What she’d felt for Ryan wasn’t love. But this… Ace… the way he made her laugh, the things he had done to protect her, to show her he cared, his patience and understanding, his faith in her… this was the foundation of love. Maybe the reason she’d spared Ryan’s life was simple compassion.

  What she was going to do now was love.

  “I love you, Ace.” She aimed her gun and fired.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I don’t want to go to a cop party,” Ace grumbled as they walked up the sidewalk toward Gary’s well-kept character home on Napier Street. “It’ll be full of cops.”

  Sophie clasped his hand and gave it a squeeze. “Think of it as a business opportunity. Everyone is doing home renos. Now that you’ve got your journeyman certificate, they’ll be beating down your door.”

  “Our door.” He winced as they mounted the steps, and a sliver of guilt speared through Sophie’s chest. Although it had been six months since his injury, Ace felt everything in his leg—from car doors slamming to intense emotions—and he still walked with a limp. But hard work, dedication, and intense rehab meant he was healing fast. He rode his bik
e a few hundred miles a week, worked out at the gym every day, and loved her hard at night.

  Our door.

  After leaving the clubhouse, Ace had rented a small apartment a few blocks away from Sophie. But after three months of carrying her clothes around in a plastic shopping bag, she’d decided they might as well move in together. What was the point of paying rent for two places when they slept together every night? Besides, Ace still needed help and he couldn’t drive. Although she’d shot him at his request, she still felt responsible. And then there were the nightmares.

  Her shot had been clean and deadly accurate, piercing his upper thigh without hitting any major arteries or bones. But she still woke up at night, heart pounding, caught in a nightmare where her bullet had been a few centimeters off target and Ace was dead.

  Ace’s strong arms and soft words beat back her fears, but she still found it hard to believe he felt only gratitude for what she had done and not even a sliver of resentment. As good as his word, Ryder had promptly kicked Ace out of the club because he couldn’t ride. The MC had held a good-bye party for him that involved inspecting his injury and making offers on his bike. After he’d sold it to Kickstand for only a fraction of the cost, the party had devolved into a drunken orgy, and Sophie had beat a fast retreat, only to discover Ace was right behind. There was only one woman he wanted, he’d said. And only one place he wanted to be.

  Taking a deep breath, she walked into the house and Ace followed her in. The X Ambassadors’ “Renegades” played through the speakers, and the soft hum of conversation filled the living room, decorated in muted taupe and beige. She hesitated in the doorway, remembering her first night in Vancouver and the party that had started her new life. She’d been so unsure about the move, desperate to find her way again, uncertain whether she’d made the right decision to return to law enforcement after losing her faith in herself. She wished she could go back to that moment and tell the old Sophie she’d done the right thing. And she wished she could have told Jason good-bye. Sometimes she missed him so much she ached inside, but she took comfort in the knowledge he was safe and living a new life—just like her.

  She walked through the house looking for Sam. If memory served, he would be with Gary in the kitchen, pouring drinks and swapping war stories with his police buddies.

  A smile tugged at her lips when she caught sight of him. There was no doubt he and Ace were brothers. Although an inch or two shorter than Ace, Sam had the same broad build, chiselled jaw, dark hair, and rich brown eyes. But the differences stopped there. Sam had been adopted by a warm, loving family, and raised in a stable home. He had trained as a police officer straight out of high school, and now worked as a staff sergeant in the VPD Canine Unit.

  “Ace!” Sam greeted him with a hug and a clap on the back. Skinner had kept his word and managed to track Sam down through old adoption records. He’d laughed when he handed her Sam’s details. Three months of searching and Sam was working only a few blocks away.

  After a very emotional reunion, Ace and Sam had been inseparable, although Ace often grumbled about the irony of an outlaw biker now being surrounded by cops.

  “Hey, partner. Glad you guys could make it.” Gary handed her a beer. “Did you see my new bike parked outside? I got a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 at a sweet price from a dealer out in Surrey.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Ace muttered. “You bought a fucking crotch rocket. That’s not a real bike. It’s a toy.”

  “Be nice, bro,” Sam warned. “I’ve got the same bike.”

  Gary, now used to Ace’s disparaging comments about foreign bikes, just laughed. “The chicks dig it, and in a race between a Harley and my Ninja, guess who’s gonna win?”

  “Not the poser on the piece of tin. As soon as I get healed up, I’m gonna buy a V-Rod Muscle. Then I’ll show you how to race in style.”

  Warmth flooded through Sophie at the thought of Ace riding again. He had been despondent after giving up his bike, more so than after leaving the club. Neither of them knew at the time Ice had been working behind the scenes to take the last few members of Hades down. Only three months after Ace had left the club, the police had arrested the former Hades members on more than a dozen charges for drug trafficking and weapons offences. Ryder had shut down the club and showed up at their door with Ice, Kickstand, Spook, and Mop in tow. Four hours and two cases of beer later, they had plans in place for a new club with a new set of bylaws. Six men and a dream.

  Ace put his arm around Sophie and she looked up and grinned. “I’ll be waiting for you at the finish line. My Harley Street 750 can do zero to sixty in four point six seconds. I tested it out after work.”

  His arm tightened around her and his smile faded. “Don’t want you racing your little hoglet, babe. Too dangerous.”

  “Seriously?” She pulled away. “You’re the one who told me Harley made bikes for women. You’re the one who dragged me to the bike show and made me sit on it. You took me to the dealer and had me test-drive it. What was I supposed to do when I felt all that power between my thighs?”

  Ace bent down and whispered in her ear. “I’ll give you power between your thighs. You just say the word.” He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. His cock felt like a steel pipe in his jeans, and Sophie moaned ever so softly.

  “You are insatiable.”

  “That’s ’cause I found a sweet and sexy cop who needed some biker lovin’.” He lifted her onto the counter and eased himself between her hips. “Except she only wanted one night.”

  “Turns out I was wrong about that.” She nuzzled his neck. “One night wasn’t enough.”

  “I knew it wouldn’t be enough the first time I laid eyes on you.” Ace wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

  “What else did you know?” She tipped her head back and stared into his eyes, searching into his soul.

  He leaned down and kissed her, soft and sweet. “I knew you were going to be mine.”

  * * *

  Thank you so much for reading Burnout. I hope you enjoyed it! Stay up to date on my new releases by signing up for my newsletter at sarahcastille.com/subscribe. And don’t forget to check out Ice and Lana’s story in the excerpt from Barely Undercover below:

  Barely Undercover

  Legal Heat Series, Book 2

  By: Sarah Castille

  Warning: The book contains violence, explicit sex, light bondage, heavy swearing, motorcycle sexy times, badass biker naughty times, and an exceptionally hot hero who will get down and dirty anywhere but under the covers.

  EXCERPT from Chapter One

  A shiver coursed up Lana’s spine, and she shook her head to loosen her tongue. “I’m meeting someone.”

  Rex’s rough, gravelly voice deepened. “Right now, you’re meeting me.” His gaze crawled over her, unleashing a wave of cockroaches under her skin. By the time his eyes returned to her face, a cold, sticky sweat covered her body.

  With all the faux bravado she could muster, she gave him a tight smile and took a step back. “And…the meeting is over. Nice to meet you. Goodbye.”

  His arm shot out, grabbing her shoulder, holding her in place. “Usually when I see a cop, I get an itch in my trigger finger. I look at you and I get an itch somewhere else. Ditch the boyfriend. One night with me and you’ll forget he exists.”

  An itch? She suspected it might have to do more with his extramarital affairs and visits to the Seymour Street brothels than a desire to hump and pump with a curvy redhead in a dirty cop costume. Talk about putting a girl off.

  Rex smiled, all nicotine-stained teeth and ashtray breath. “Yeah. I can see it in your eyes. You know what I’m talking about.”

  What did he see exactly? Fear? Disgust? Or her desperate need to find the number for the local STD clinic?

  Lana gave him a vacant smile as she considered her options. Option #1: Find a boyfriend. Heart thumping, she looked around the bar for a pseudo boyfriend—someone big, strong and sufficiently threatening. No one measured up except�
��maybe…Master Tony? She raked her eyes over the tall, broad frame of the club’s owner, but when he turned to greet someone at the door, she gave a little sigh. He had been less than pleased the last time she’d sneaked into the club. She doubted he would help her once he discovered she’d sneaked in again.

  Option #2: Run. Excellent option. Lana wrenched herself from Rex’s grasp and took a step toward the door.

  Damn.

  Three bikers, two wearing the Hades patch, and one so young he had to be a prospect, were making their way through the crowd toward Rex. Blocking her path.

  Lana’s pulse pounded in her ears. Rex was bad enough. But four bikers? It was almost like being back in the Wolverines’ clubhouse with Levi all over again.

  The tallest of the three had swept back his long, dark hair and tied it at nape of his neck in a ponytail. Dark eyes, olive skin and a broad, hard body to match the strong planes of his striking face. Yum…even though he was a biker.

  “Ryder.” Rex shook the hand of Mr. Deep, Dark and Delicious.

  Ryder’s gaze flicked to Lana. He tilted his head to the side, giving her first a considered look, and then a sympathetic smile. He turned back to Rex. “I thought we were here for a meeting, not to pick up fender fluff.”

  Lana grimaced at the backhanded compliment. She knew the slang. He thought she was pretty. Anything less and she would have been a “fender bunny” or even worse, a “mattress cover.”

  Lucky her. Well, at least he hadn’t made fun of her hair. Usually men made some reference to the inferno on her head—Carrots, Ginger Snap, Big Red, Fire Bush, Rusty, Copper Top, Flame Brain, Matchstick Head or her current favorite, Red Zilla.

  “You know what they say, ‘red in the head, fire in the bed.’” The second biker, a barrel-chested thick-necked bruiser with crazy dreadlocks, gave her a lascivious wink and an oh-so-enticing crotch grab.