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CHAPTER 28

The Suppression

Caden

“Thanks for the loaner.” I get out of Darius’s car and hand him the keys. “We have a narc in the trunk for you.”

Darius furrows his eyebrows. “A what?”

I roll my eyes. Like he’s never watched a cop drama. I reach into the car and hit the trunk release. When it pops open, I round to the back with Darius behind me.

“He’s a good one too. Gave up their evil lair without so much as a bruise.”

Alex glares up at me from where he’s tied in the trunk. I grab the edge of the duct tape covering his mouth and tear it off. He lets out a curse, and his eyes widen when he sees Coach Turner next to me.

“Help me. They kidnapped me,” Alex says, like that’s going to work.

I just shake my head. “Alex was nice enough to offer to tell you all about his business.”

Darius doesn’t say anything. Neither does Alex.

“Time to pay the piper.” I lift him from the trunk and sit him on the edge of it. “You need to tell Coach everything you know about the drug running in this town. He knows a guy, if you want to get by with a lighter sentence. All your buddies are already down at the station. First one to talk always gets the best deal, Alex.”

Alex swallows, and his eyes widen as he looks over at Darius.

“That’s enough, bad cop.” Darius runs a hand over his tight curls. He looks over Alex. “How about you ride in the backseat while I drop off Caden here at the hospital. Then you and I can find wherever my friend’s task office is and have a chat.”

“I’ll know if you don’t spill everything.” I lean in close to Alex and search his eyes. “Don’t think I won’t be able to get to you wherever they hide you.”

Alex twitches, and I smirk. Darius steps between us. I straighten and tug my shirt down.

I give him a grin. “You can’t intimidate a witness, but that doesn’t mean I can’t.”

Darius sighs. “Actually, you can’t either, but I think with the shitshow tonight has been, we’ll let it slide.”

He helps Alex up and into the back of the car. I climb into the passenger seat and turn to glare at Alex. Not saying a goddamn word but letting him feel how much I hate him.

He squirms under my glare.

“Look, I wasn’t going to do whatever with your girl.” Alex leans back in the seat and stretches his arms and legs. “I just need the money. I can get sex whenever I want. I don’t need to drug a girl to get off.”

Shaking my head, I turn to the front. Like I believe that. My knuckles are already raw and swollen from fighting tonight. I don’t need to kick anyone else’s ass, as much as I may want to make my point. Darius will take care of Alex. The rest of them will be tried, and we’ll make sure they’re convicted.

It’s time to make sure everyone I love is safe and see them with my own two eyes.

I’ve held Harper and ridden to the hospital with Jack, but I need to make sure everyone else came out of this unscathed. I saw the cuts and bruises forming on Jack. Each one made me want to find Zach Gray and make sure he feels the same pain Jack is in.

“Hospital?” Darius asks.

“Yeah.” I wait, knowing he’s going to ask. It might be odd if I just offer the information. I could keep it away from him. He doesn’t need to know about Jack, but the guy must care about him. Jack told me many times it’s over, and I need to trust that he’s telling me the truth.

Even if there was a connection, Jack’s all in on Harper. We all are.

“Jack?” He glances in the rearview as he pulls out onto the street.

“He’s at the hospital.” I take a breath. “I’ll let you know how he’s doing. He took a hit to the head, so they’re running tests just in case. But he doesn’t seem to have a concussion.”

That much probably sounds like a coach worried about one of his players. After all, a concussion would take him out of the game for about a month or longer, depending on severity. We’re already down Nico for the season.