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She waves a hand. “This place… it’s so huge, so modern, so—”
I chuckle. “So unlike something a humble police officer should be able to afford?”
She nods, her cheeks blossoming a gorgeous shade of crimson. “Yes, exactly. I’m sorry. I know it’s rude to ask about your money.”
“No, it’s fine,” I say. “I want us to be honest with each other, Ruby. Always.”
Her eyes widen a fraction at the sudden intensity in my voice. I can’t blame her. I’m supposed to be a detached cop and yet I find myself crossing the line over and over and over, as though there’s a force inside of me compelling me to more intimacy as each moment passes.
“I was a boxer before I became a cop. I was quite well-known, and I was on the verge of becoming the heavyweight champion. But then the Cartel killed my parents and I had to make a choice. Live a life of glitz and glamor, or serve this city and keep the Cartel in check. I made a lot of money through my boxing career and I invested it wisely.”
She gasps. “That’s insane, Rider. I mean… it’s noble, very noble—”
“I’m starting to think that’s your favorite word,” I tease lightly.
She laughs. “But it is. Most people would never give up a life of riches to serve their community.”
“Don’t make me out to be a saint,” I tell her. “I’d already made several million before I quit, and like I said, my investments have been good to me.”
“Still,” she says forcefully, an intoxicating note of sassiness coming into her face. “You could have made way, way, way more if you’d become champion, right?”
I shrug. “Yes, I think so. But then the bastards who murdered my parents might still be out there.”
“Like Uncle Aaron is still out there,” Ruby whispers, her eyes glazing over with tears.
I can’t help it.
I reach across the table and take her hand again.
It feels so small and fragile in mine, and yet like it was made to fit in my palm like she was made to perfectly fit me.
And I was made for her.
I squeeze and stare solidly at her. “He’s going to get what he deserves. I promise you that.”
She nods with a fierceness in her eyes.
Then my cellphone pings loudly.
I withdraw my hand. “The program’s done,” I tell her. “I set up an alert on my phone.”
She stares at me for a long moment, a hazy look in her eyes, as though she wants me to grab her again, to touch her, but not just to comfort her. It’s like she wants me to do all the things to her that have taken hold of my mind, roaring at me, urging me to deeper closeness.
Or maybe I’m just imagining, hoping, wishing she feels the same way I do.
Chapter Seven
Ruby
“Motherfuckers,” Rider snarls, shaking his head as he stares at the computer screen. “You were right. Not your laptop. Your phone.”
“Which means they know I’m here,” I whimper, my thoughts twisting at the thought of Uncle Aaron and his men tracking me down and making me pay for fleeing the estate.
“Not necessarily,” he says, glancing at me with that same protective fierceness in his eyes.
I have to keep fighting down my instincts any time thoughts like that rise up, telling myself I’m probably imagining, hoping, wishing he feels the same way I do.
But surely when he grabbed my hand, the way he squeezed – the freaking emotion in the gesture – means he cares about me as more than a stranger.
Surely it means there’s something happening here, something real.
“Maybe they didn’t get to their program fast enough. But—”
His cellphone blares from its place on the table, next to the keyboard.
He glances at me, his face brimming with intensity, the same intensity I feel moving through me in ice-cold waves.
“Is it him?” I whisper.
Rider grabs his phone, glancing at it. “I don’t know. I don’t recognize the number.”
He swipes answer and puts the phone on speaker, placing it back on the table.
“Hello, old friend.”
My spine shivers at the sound of my uncle’s voice pitched low and cold, swelling with self-satisfaction like it always is.
“Old friend?” Rider snarls. “Don’t flatter yourself, scumbag. How did you get this number?”
“How does anybody get anything, eh? I paid for it.”
Rider clenches his fists, glaring down at the phone, his bare arms tensing as his muscles throb and threaten to explode. He looks like he’s ready to leap at the table and tear it to pieces for the sheer release.
“You’ve been hounding my business for years, getting nowhere, and now it seems you’ve got your hands on something very important to me. I called so we can discuss what it will cost to get her back.”
My body prickles with terror at the thought of Rider trading me back to Uncle Aaron.
