“How do you know about that?”Dev asked.“I hate all this goddamn monitoring.”
The dots drummed again.
“I can’t even fucking pee without someone watching.”The third message showed the biker’s growing ire.“If I have to be watched all the goddamned time, you need to be the one here doing it.”Dev added.“I guess I’m just a fucking disagreeable person but I don’t give one shit about it either.”
Dev’s fingers must be flying over the little keyboard as those dots beat out their tune. Cash waited.
“Is it too late to go back to it being just me and you?”Then the next message appeared on the screen.“Can it be added to my list of conditions so I get my way?”
Cash stared at the screen, doing his best to read between the lines. Dev’s use of profanity was back in full force. And so was the frantic tone. He gave a deep sigh before winding his way into Dev’s bedroom where he dropped to his ass on the mattress’s edge.
He had to center Dev back into the investigation. To remember their shared goals. If they could get this done, then they could move on to the next chapter of their lives.
His phone rang as Cash sat there, trying to find a way to craft a calming text message to Dev. Swiping the screen with his thumb, he accepted the video option. Dev’s harsh expression penetrated Cash’s heart. Poor guy was having a hard time.
“Hey.”
“This is fuckin’ bullshit. At least when you were here, I could go out into the waitin’ room and see your pretty face. Now all I got is a guy who has to go through all the doors last. I’m not doin’ this.”
Cash cut Dev’s rant off, suspecting it could go on for a while if he didn’t. “Remain focused on the prize,” he said in his best calm, gentle, and reassuring tone. “We’ll find the answers soon, I promise, but you’ve got to trust me and the process.”
“And then what? We find the answers and then what?” Dev asked, demanding an answer.
The biker always had a way of asking the million-dollar question. Of course Cash didn’t have those answers. He knew what he wanted, but he also knew Dev wasn’t there with him yet.
“Then we figure out the next stage together.” Cash tried for the same reasonable tone as before. It sounded off, even to him.
“I’m not gonna be happy if I have to move with my kids off alone somewhere,” Dev shot back with less venom this time. They’d been through this before, Dev was just venting his frustration now. “I don’t like bein’ sidelined. You’re doin’ shit without me. We’re supposed to be a team. You and me. That’s what you fuckin’ said.”
Cash laughed out loud. “I’mthe one doing this withoutyou? Are you serious? You drugged me. How many times have you snuck off without me?”
He heard more than saw Dev’s frustrated sigh. Felt the deflation his body gave to an argument Cash had soundly won.
“I thought we were past that. You tossed me out of the car onto the hard ground while I was in severe pain. We’re square,” Dev said, humor filling the last few words. “You calm my shit down. How do you do that?”
Stay focused… Yeah, that was damn hard to do when Dev turned on the charm. “You do the same for me, but I need you to do something more for me.”
Dev rolled his eyes dramatically. “I liked the direction I was takin’ the call better than the one you’re swervin’ off to.” While the words definitely didn’t, the tone held hints of his prince charming. Cash smiled as he stared at the man. Dev had somehow been able to bring out a smile. He could move mountains.
The unwanted and probably undeserved jealousy vanished. “You’re handsome.”
Dev grinned. In a playfully husky voice, he said, “Why’re you butterin’ me up?”
“I’m not. Just stating fact,” he countered, giving Dev a wink. “And in addition, I need to see the club’s original bylaws with my own eyes.” He used two fingers to point to his eyes.
In a sweeping range of emotion that was all his guy, Dev’s brows snapped together fiercely. “Why?”
“It’s one of the few missing pieces. We go by what we hear—” Cash was about to explain, even prepared to tell Dev about obtaining the tax records, but his guy cut him off.
“No one messes with the Book of Havoc. It’s sacred… Like the club’s bible,” Dev shot back as if gaining access to the document was an impossible feat.
Cash wasn’t sure what pushed him to see the original club charter, but he stuck to his guns. From there, he could build…what? He wasn’t sure.
“Get it if you can,” Cash finally said, his voice growing softer the longer he stared at Dev.
“You have that look in your eyes,” Dev said, watching him closely. His handsome face softened too.
“What look is that?” he asked the potentially loaded question. He couldn’t help it though. Everything right in his world was staring back at him.
