Page 20 of Red, White, and BearCat Blue

He shrugged again. “Yeah, I guess. All I know is, Josiah pays well and it’s a really bad idea to cross him.”

I frowned. “Why?”

He glowered at me. “Because he’s a bastard, okay? I’ve seen guys get hurt so I stay out of it and do my job.” He checked his watch. “Which reminds me…I gotta go.”

“Why the bloody rush? Did ya promise to deliver something special to ‘im?”

He looked really uncomfortable, squirming in his seat again. “Yeah, and I gotta get it there by midnight or it’s gonna be a real bitch for me. I told you, Josiah pays really good and if I don’t turn up with the car, I won’t be able to go back to him again.”

I had a feeling he was underplaying how dangerous this guy was. Cam had said he hurt people which would track if he was also a drug trafficker. Just the thought of Cam being in real danger sent a chill down my spine. And I’d bet you anything, Josiah was the kind of guy who wouldn’t think twice about hurting someone like Cam.

“Would this Josiah guy go after you if you failed to bring him the car he wants?” Mickey asked.

Cam shrugged again. “I don’t think so, but I couldn’t work Vegas again. If I ran into him or any of his guys, things could get…out of hand.” The conversation wasn’t making him comfortable.

Mickey and I exchanged a glance. “What if ya introduced me to this guy…ya know…as a buyer?”

Cam shook his head. “No way. That’s a really bad idea.”

“Why?”

“Because guys like me don’t introduce buyers. Josiah’s not some idiot. He’s the big time. He’s gonna smell a cop the second I tried something like that. No thanks. I don’t want any bullet holes in the back of my head.”

I had to bite down on my tongue to not react. The thought of that bastard, pulling a gun, made my stomach contract. “’As he done something like that before?” The more I probed him, the sooner I’d know if he was the man Lincoln and his guys were looking for.

Cam shook his head, reaching for the door handle. “You know what? I gotta go. I’m serious. Thanks for everything today, okay?”

My hand shot out as I reached for his forearm, catching him just before he opened the door. “’Ang on a second, Cam.”

His eyes met mine and the fear swirling in them was easy to recognize. “Mars, please…”

I tightened my grip as he tried to pull away. “I don’t want to see ya get ‘urt, Cam.”

He shook his head again as his eyes suddenly got shiny. “Please, Mars, let me go. I shouldn’t have told you all that shit.”

I frowned at him, dropping his arm. “Get out.”

He blinked at me. “What?”

“Get outta the fucking car!” I sprung out and opened his door. He slid out, clutching his coat. In the heat, away from the A/C, he must have hotter than hell. I gestured at the coat. “Take that off. Ya must be boiling.”

He stripped down to his T-shirt and I grabbed his arm, dragging him several steps away to a covered awning to get us out of the blazing sun. When he turned to face me, he was wearing a completely enraged look, but it wasn’t the expression that made my breath catch. I realized I hadn’t seen him without his oversized jacket until just now. Seeing him without it was eye-opening, to say the very least.

I dragged my gaze down his body. I already knew he was leaner than me. Most average guys did nowhere near the amount of weight training Candy made the team do and I had a pretty ripped frame, if I did say so myself.

Cam was quite different, though. He was toned under his shirt, so toned that I could make out his perfectly defined pecs under the tight tee as well as…shiiit… Nipple piercings. With tiny, little rings that poked out. Saliva filled my mouth, and I had the overwhelming urge to grab the scruff of the shirt and rip it in two. Right down the front—just to save time peeling it off—so I could confirm I was right.

I’d always thought men who pierced their nipples were brave. Personally, I was very sensitive there and just the thought that someone would intentionally undergo the agony of getting their nipples pierced in the first place, made me cringe. I’d been with a guy who’d done it and he’d confirmed that yeah, it’d hurt like a bitch. He said the first piercing wasn’t the worst one to get done. It was the second one, because you knew what was coming. But after the wounds had healed, whenever someone tugged on them with their tongue, it made him insanely horny.

“What the hell is going on? I’m not telling you about Josiah!” he yelled, completely breaking my concentration on his nipples “I shouldn’t have said anything. He’s gonna kill me if I say something. You’ve gotta believe me, Mars.”

I frowned at him, still holding onto his arm. “Don’t be a bloody ning-nong. I’d never do anything to put ya in danger. I thought you’d know that by now.”

He looked skeptical and suspicious. “What then?”

“Ya say this Josiah guy is bad news, Cam, and the money’s good. I get that, but if ya introduced me—”

He yanked his arm out of my hold. “I told you I can’t do that!”