Page 19 of Diamonds in the Mud

“Okay, so…” She shifted again, leaning her back against the wall as she ran her eyes over me once more. “What in the hell is a boy from Chicago, turned marine, turned biker slash drug gang, doing in my town trying to convince everyone he’s nothing but a good ol’ boy?” She smiled slowly. “You thought I was dumb, like the rest of them?” She nudged her chin towards the back door.

I couldn’t help it, my appreciation for the woman tripled instantly.

Then she leaned closer to me and whispered, “Like I said, you can’t fool me.”

I nodded slowly and once again opened my mouth. But before I could say anything, my entire body was yanked out of the booth.

One minute I was sitting there looking into the most beautiful brown eyes I’d ever seen, ready to reveal all my secrets, the next I hit the opposite wall with a thud and saw stars.

Shit.

“Quincy!” I heard Rayne yell through the haze.

Biting the insides of my mouth, I steadied myself and prepared for a fight. Only, the blow didn’t come.

Instead, I saw Rayne jump on the back of a man roughly my size and build. His long jet-black hair hung low over his eyes. The man was wearing a leather vest, showcasing far more tattoos than I had.

My hearing had yet to come back so most of what I understood next was from reading lips in the dark, smoky bar. I watched them struggle for a few moments before the man stilled and Rayne pushed her way in front of him.

“Quincy! Leave him alone,” Rayne was shouting as she held the man away from me.

“Why in the hell are you hanging around a Reaper?” Quincy asked Rayne, who was now standing nose to nose with the man.

“That’s none of your…”—this is when my hearing came back—“damned business,” Rayne said as she shoved the man in the chest. The guy didn’t even budge.

“He’s a Reaper.” Quincy pointed at me.

“And you’re a cop,” Rayne threw back at the man.

Shit. Another cop? Okay, one cop I could explain away with my heightened libido. Two? Nope. No way.

From the way the two were talking to one another, it was obvious they were currently or had recently been an item. Which, I suppose, accounted for the man attacking me from behind. “Starting a bar fight is illegal. I could haul your butt down to the station now…” Rayne was saying.

“Don’t bother. We both know it won’t do either of us any good.” Quincy turned to me. “Go on, get out of here,” the man said as if he was shooing away a fly.

I couldn’t help it. I arched my eyebrows at the guy.

“Only if the lady wants me to,” I replied, knowing full well that whatever happened now, the rest of the Reapers would get wind of what went down. If I didn’t stand up now, then I’d look like a wimp. Even if I was standing up to a cop.

Sure, Felix had dragged Declan out of the bar earlier when Rayne had pinned him against the wall. But that was Felix.

I squared my shoulders and waited.

“Quincy, just go.” Rayne shoved the man again. I noticed her efforts didn’t even make the man budge this second time.

Thankfully, at that moment, Tobias and Aria returned. Aria instantly got in Quincy’s face and started yelling at him while Tobias walked over and helped me.

“Sorry about this,” Tobias said quietly.

“Sure.” I rolled my shoulders. “Ex?”

Tobias nodded. “She broke things off after she found out he had hooked up with one of the waitresses here.”

Stupid, I thought as I watched the two women face off with the other man.

“I’ll go,” I told Tobias.

“Naw.” Tobias took my arm. “That’ll just piss her off more. Trust me, you don’t want to be on Rayne’s bad side,” he said with a chuckle.