He grinned. “You need some protection, sweet thing. Anybody who’d hurt you like that should have a nice hole in his head.”
My stomach dropped. “In exchange for what?” Yeah, sometimes curiosity was a killer.
“Sex. A lot of it.” He dropped his hand. “You need a new man. Devlin ain’t interested for some reason.”
“Not true.” Aiden stepped out of the passenger side of the farthest truck, winding around to prowl toward us in the darkness. He wore faded and ripped jeans and a leather jacket over a light T-shirt. His boots were black and big, and they made an ominous sound over the still wet asphalt.
I hadn’t seen he was there. Everything inside me halted and then a rush of feelings hit me so hard I almost doubled over. Relief and gratitude were first. Maybe a slight tingle where he’d bitten my left buttock the night before. Then I doubled down on the fury. He was there to get Pauley? Definitely not.
“Hi, Aiden,” Pauley said almost cheerfully as he levered up into the truck, which was driven by another huge guy wearing leather. This one was bald with an interesting skull-shaped ring taking up half of his substantial left nostril.
“Hi, Pauley,” Aiden returned, his gaze remaining on me as he reached us.
Spider sighed. “You said she was fair game.”
Hurt hit me through the fury. Why, I don’t know. But still.
Aiden shook his head. “Not fair game. Just said I didn’t want her.”
Ouch. Even though I wanted to kill him, that kinda hurt.
“That makes her fair game,” Spider said reasonably.
Lava boiled through me. “I’m not a pet, you assholes.”
“She’s spunky and cute. I like her,” Spider said, completely ignoring me.
My fingers curled into a fist, and Aiden quickly wrapped his entire hand around it. “Claimed.”
One word. Just one word.
A shiver took me, and it wasn’t fear.
Spider sighed and his shoulders went down. “Fine. Geez.” He shifted slightly to the right, and sliver glinted near his hip. A gun. He had a gun tucked in there. “Stop changing your mind, would you?” He nodded at my aching face. “You’re not taking very good care of her.”
“I plan to,” Aiden said grimly.
I tried rather uselessly to tug my hand free. “Pauley? Get out of that truck,” I yelled.
Spider went from playful to deadly in a second. “He’s coming with us, but you have my word he’ll be safe. We’ll get him home before dark.”
I grit my teeth. “You drive one inch out of this parking lot with him, and I’m calling the police.” I vibrated I was so angry.
Spider looked at Aiden. “You claimed her. Control her.”
Aiden’s hold was too firm to break, so I shifted my weight to take out his knee.
“I wouldn’t, Angel.” His voice was calm but his gaze a heated blue. He turned his head toward the truck. “Pauley, get out of the truck, please.”
I blinked.
Spider grunted. “We need him.”
“No, we don’t.” Aiden faced the club president, looking almost bored. “He’s a minor, and we don’t need that kind of trouble right now. We have the numbers and can work it out from there. This isn’t worth the risk.”
Spider scowled. “You’re whipped, Devlin.”
Aiden partially turned and put me behind him while keeping my hand. “Have I let you down? Even once?”
Spider faltered. “No.”
“Well then, trust me.” Aiden waited until Pauley had walked back to my car. “Get in, Pauley.” Once he had, Aiden switched his hold on my hand and then began moving toward the school. “Pauley? You and Spider stay here. Anna and I will be right back.”
“No.” I protested and dug in my heels.
Aiden barely pivoted while ducking to the side, and less than a heartbeat later, I found myself over his shoulder, looking down at the ground as his strides ate up the distance toward the door.
“That’s better,” Spider yelled.
“Hey!” Rage ripped through me so fast my skin burned. I punched Aiden as hard as I could in the lower back. “Put me down.”
He ignored me, and pretty much the few patrons in the library, as he stomped through toward the office in the back. Then he unlocked it and dodged inside, flipping me over to sit on the desk. He had his own key. I opened my mouth to scream, and he planted his palm directly over it.
I sucked in air.
He leaned in; his eyes so blue they were hard to stare at. “Pauley is outside with Spider. We have about five minutes before Spider decides to fuck it and takes your cousin away from here to work on some math we’re struggling with. Yeah, you can call the cops. Yeah, it’d probably be kidnapping. If you find Pauley again.”
As a threat, it was good. Tears threatened to prick my eyes, and I shoved them away as he removed his hand. “You’d hurt Pauley?” I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t.
“No. I’m trying to help him and you right now.” Lines etched into the sides of Aiden’s mouth. “Work with me.” Turning, he ripped the map off the wall and gathered the stacks of paper in one arm. “Then get your cousin out of the way and you stay there, too. I don’t like your face bruised.”
My face bruised? Seriously? “Fuck you, Aiden.”
He quickly went through the desk drawers, which were empty. “Let’s go.”
I jumped in front of him. “You’re not taking that evidence out of here.” Stumbling, I started dialing my phone to call the police.
A motorcycle roared to life outside.
I gasped and turned to run through the stacks of books and out into the day. Spider was on his bike, and Pauley was still in my car. Okay. My legs trembled. I walked toward the car as fast as my black funeral pumps would allow.
Aiden followed and shoved the papers at the guy with the nose ring, who took them to the vacated passenger side seat. The truck roared away followed by Spider, who gave a short wave as he left. The remaining truck idled quietly with an older man at the wheel who stared straight ahead.
I furiously turned on Aiden as he walked back around my car toward me. “You just stole evidence in a homicide, dumbass. Might as well follow me to the police station.”
He opened my door. “All I took was my own documents. No stealing. There’s no proof of a homicide in those papers, which probably won’t exist much longer.”
“No, but you have no right to a key to an office at this college.” I shoved him as hard as I could in the gut, and he took a step away from me. “In fact, I think that alone is probable cause to arrest you.” Oh, I was bluffing a mile a minute now, but I was too pissed to stop. “Got it?”
He grasped my arm and flipped me around, pushing with just enough strength to land my ass in my seat. “Scot gave me the key because we were working on a project together.”
“Handlebars,” Pauley said helpfully, staring straight out of the windshield.
Aiden’s jaw firmed. “Yeah. Handlebars.”
I slapped his hand away and reached to slam my door shut, flipping on my headlights. “I can’t believe you got my cousin involved.” Betrayal scalded through me, and suddenly, every bruise I had ached. Bad.
Aiden curled his big hands over the side of my door since I’d left off the top. “Would you just stay away from me and this situation? Don’t go anywhere without the police guard they have on you.”
I sucked in air. How did he know that? “You just tied yourself to Scot in a way that corroborates those pictures we have of the two of you.” Every time I tried to convince myself that Aiden wasn’t involved with the drugs, something new popped up and slapped me in the head. Now I’d slept with him. So much for my career. “You’re running Beast, aren’t you? Nick is right.”
He sighed. “I told you not to trust Basanelli. Jesus. You want to solve an old crime? Find out what happened to his dad. The guy didn’t just disappear.”
I blinked. “Sure, he did.”
“Yeah. The wife-beater with three kids, three
tough boys, just took off and left.” Aiden shook his head as he dropped the bombshell.
That was ridiculous. He was just trying to throw me off. “As far as I can see, you’re the only one breaking the law. The only one with a record. You and Scot are tied together, and I’ve found your drug plan.”
His gaze hardened even more. “You have no idea what Scot and I were working on, Anna. I would like to start a motorcycle business, and specialized handlebars is a good and economical place to start. Pauley is a witness to our intent, and I’m sure he’d be fine testifying to that fact.”
Was that a threat? I swung my head toward him. He was such a liar. My chest hurt. “You’re in too deep for me to help you,” I whispered.
He leaned in and brushed a soft kiss across the newest bruise on my cheekbone. The touch feathered through me, somehow bringing a sadness I hadn’t expected. Then he stood, studying me with that blue gaze that still haunted my dreams. “I always was, Angel.”
Chapter 31
Night had completely fallen as I dropped Pauley off at his mom’s office. Then I called Nick and filled him in on the events of the afternoon.
“You have pictures of the map?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m heading to the office to get them printed out right now. I think we can show that Aiden and Spider took evidence in Scot’s homicide since it was all from his college office. Is that enough to get us another warrant?” I asked, my stomach growling, having missed dinner. In fact, when was the last time I’d eaten?
“Yes. To search the Lordes’ apartment complex in Idaho, at least. We don’t have jurisdiction in Washington. We need to get our hands on those other papers Devlin took.” It sounded like Nick was swirling ice in a glass. “I’ll put a uniform on Pauley to keep him safe.”
I breathed out finally. “Thank you.”
“Of course. We’re not going to get anything tonight—it’s too flimsy. Let’s meet first thing in the morning and find a wide-awake judge for a warrant who doesn’t mind working on a Saturday. Get some sleep, Albertini.” He disengaged the call.
It was good advice, and I did just that, once again staying the night with Tessa. She had to work extra late, so I had the bed to myself until she dropped into it, immediately falling sound asleep.
The next morning, I borrowed a flowered skirt and matching sweater from her before heading to the office, once again not minding that I was working on a Saturday.
I tried to center myself in my car on the way to work, grateful the night had been void of nightmares. Or of dreams in general, especially of Aiden. There was a chance we could arrest him for taking the documents from the college, but the evidence was flimsy unless we could prove the drug connection. Not that I wanted to arrest him. What was in those papers that had been on the desk? I should’ve fought him over those, but everything had happened so quickly. He was definitely in the thick of this mess.
Yet, I felt in my heart that Aiden would never hurt me. Even my brain told me that. But did that matter? Those drugs did hurt other people, so he had to be stopped.
I reached the office and printed out a copy of the map from my phone just as Nick ran in with a signed warrant.
“Detective Pierce is executing right now on the Idaho apartment complex, and hopefully we’ll find enough there to get a Washington warrant for the garage,” Nick said. He shook out of his black jacket, leaving just dark jeans and a perfectly pressed blue shirt. “I’ll drive.”
Sounded good. I grabbed the printout and followed him outside. Fluffy clouds had moved in and were starting to cover the sun as I jumped into the front seat of the jeep, studying the printed-out map as he drove away. “It doesn’t make sense,” I murmured.
Nick glanced over; his hands sure on the steering wheel. “Those are clear interstates with certain cities mapped. Las Vegas, Reno, San Jose…”
I leaned back to study. “Clear distribution channels.” I pointed to the math off to the side. “These smaller towns don’t make sense.”
Nick frowned. “Agreed. Rexburg, Idaho? Newcomb, Utah? What’s the deal?”
“Maybe it’s in the how of the distribution,” I murmured as rain began to splatter down and hit the windshield. “Those towns are in farmland. Maybe rodeo?” What could it be?
“There’s a connection. We just haven’t figured it out.” He pressed the gas once on I-90. “I didn’t ask. Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “Mad as hell that they involved Pauley.”
“Don’t blame you.”
I cleared my throat. “So, um, Aiden had a few things to say about you.” The paper crumpled on my lap, and I gingerly smoothed it out.
Nick snorted. “I’ll just bet. What? I was a rich kid from the other side of town who is so ambitious I’d risk your life?”
Well, that actually did sound familiar. The hair stood up on my neck. It felt odd to be talking to Nick about Aiden without admitting what had happened between them. “No. That you and your brothers took care of your dad. In a bad way.”
Nick stiffened, and tension poured from him. “Really? I’d thought that rumor had finally died.”
So, it had been a rumor.
“What else did the career criminal say?” Nick growled.
I tried to breathe normally. “Just that your dad hit your mom and then disappeared one day when you three brothers were teenagers. He made it sound bad.” How odd was it that both Aiden and Nick had rough childhoods? “Was it true?”
A muscle worked in Nick’s jaw. In profile, his features were so straight and Italian, he could be part of a sculpture. “Yeah. It’s true. Our dad was a total dick who liked to hit. When he skipped town with his latest side piece of ass, we were all better off.”
“You were how old?” I asked.
“Fifteen. My brothers were both fourteen.” That’s right. The other two were twins. I’d forgotten. “And no, we didn’t kill the bastard.” Nick rolled his neck, and his knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. “Although, I’m not sure I wouldn’t have at some point. I’d finally hit a growth spurt and was almost as tall as him. Not as broad or strong, though. It would’ve been a good fight.”
My arms chilled, and I rubbed hands together. “I’m sorry, Nick.”
He shrugged. “Small towns thrive on gossip, and that was a juicy piece. It just so happened he got in a few good hits before leaving town, and we all were bruised that week. Rumors and gossip, you know.”
Yeah. I did know. “Is that why you went into law?”
“Maybe. It’s supposed to help people who can’t help themselves.” Now he sounded thoughtful. “I believe in justice. Maybe in vengeance.” He turned and pinned me with his amber gaze. “What would you do to Jareth Davey if you could?”
That was a question I truly didn’t know how to answer. “Depends which day you catch me on.”
He nodded, turning back to the road. “I get that. I really do.”
After about fifteen minutes, he exited the Interstate for a residential area near the Idaho-Washington border. Single-story brick homes with manicured lawns led to nice apartment buildings, a few businesses, and then some run-down homes with burned lawns and a lot of weeds. Finally, we reached a series of apartment complexes, each more depressing than the last.
The clouds finally disappeared, letting the moon shine down. At the end of a winding dirt road, a Lorde’s shield hung in the middle of a three-story apartment complex with peeling paint, dented doors, and cracked windows. In contrast, a series of garages lay to the east against forest land, all open and sporting impressive looking motorcycles. Their bikes were obviously more important than anything else.
Uniformed police officers, all wearing body armor, tossed the multitude of apartments as well as the garage. Several Lorde’s members, inducing Spider, lounged near the garages, watching impassively.
He gave me a head nod as I stepped out of the Jeep, careful of a half-smashed milk carton on the ground. Nick soon joined me, putting his body between me and the club members.<
br />
I swallowed and turned toward the building, my gaze searching. No Aiden, and I didn’t see the truck he’d been in earlier.
Detective Pierce strode out of a lower level apartment and straight at us. My stomach wobbled just a little. Pierce in a bullet-proof vest over pressed black slacks was something to look at. Big and broad and suddenly looking more appealing than I’d noticed. The rain darkened his already dark blond hair, and he yanked off his refractive glasses as he reached us. “No Devlin and no printout of a map or anything else,” he confirmed.
Nick sighed. “Drugs or guns or anything?”
“Nope,” Pierce confirmed. “They’ve cleaned the place up real nice since our last raid. The dogs haven’t even gotten a hit.” He glanced down at me. “Want to go through Devlin’s apartment with me? See if there’s anything that gives you a clue to where he’s gone?”
“Sure.” I shivered in the rain; glad I’d worn Tessa’s sweater. “What about the Lordes’ place of business at the garage in Washington?”
“Already called the DEA, and they were able to obtain a federal search warrant based on the information in your Idaho warrant,” Pierce confirmed, turning and ducking his head as the rain increased in force. “I’ve also requested the other DEA case files of Devlin’s earlier arrests before he joined the Diablo Riders.”
I followed, letting the rain cool my face, which heated way too fast at the mention of Aiden’s name. Oh, I’d screwed up, that was for sure. Yet something in me didn’t quite regret the morning with him. Maybe I was the one screwed up. We walked up worn concrete stairs to the second floor and entered the first door on the left.
The place smelled like Aiden. Wild, free, and leather. “What do you hope the additional DEA files will tell you?” I asked, looking around.
Pierce shrugged. “For one thing, how did Devlin escape arrest when most of the Diablo’s were hauled in?”
Good question. Of course, it seemed that Aiden was smarter than the average drug dealer. For sure. I breathed in his scent, wishing I didn’t know it so well. His living area was sparse with an old green sofa and gold chair. One lone framed picture sat on the sofa table of him and his Grams, probably taken when he was around sixteen. I picked it up, noting his genuine smile and too serious eyes.
Disorderly Conduct (The Anna Albertini Files Book 1) Page 21