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CHAPTER SIX
Adam
Yeah, that was the second dumbest idea to ever cross my damn mind, second only to breaking parole to chase Faith down. Maybe third after the stupid shit that had landed me in prison in the first place. I have no explanation for how it popped out of my mouth, considering I was heading back to prison, other than I needed to put an option out there to keep her safe that would keep her close to Mateo.
Her big blue eyes got even bigger. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
I dropped my arms from the car door. “Do I look like I’m fucking kidding?”
Mateo definitely did not look like he was fucking kidding. “Alright, kids. Let’s take this party to my office where we can discuss living arrangements further, alright?” He tilted his head at us both, indicating there were really no options.
I nodded and put one leg back inside the Bel Air, waiting to see Faith’s next move.
“Fine,” she said.
“Great.” Mateo nodded and moved toward his vehicle. He paused and looked at her over his shoulder when she didn’t move, glancing down at Lancelot. “Why don’t you two ride with me?”
Her face melted in gratitude, making my chest hurt. “Thank you.”
I watched her walk stiffly to his SUV, trying hard not to look like she was in pain as he helped her get inside, then I followed them slowly into town. My mind was racing with thoughts as the last of my freedom ebbed away. It was one thing to throw it away willingly when I’d left, knowing it was to save her. It was something else altogether to roll back now that she was safe, knowing she was pissed at me because I’d snapped at her for being reckless with her life. It wasn’t fair and I knew it. But damn it, she had no right to be so careless with the one thing in the world that was the most precious to me. I wouldn’t allow it.
And that had only been amplified now that I’d touched her again. Tasted her after she’d come—and that was a mouthwatering and unexpected pleasure I hadn’t expected. As perfect and hot as our moment under the bridge was all those years ago, it was rushed. Desperate. Two people finally crossing a line we’d teetered on for years. There hadn’t been time for the extras I would’ve loved, like putting my mouth on every part of her sweet little body. Not with Chief LaVeaux hot on my tail, ready to throw my ass in prison at any second. And now... now I knew I’d never forget how she tasted for the rest of my life, and no amount of jacking off in the shower could ever wash it away.
“One taste is all you’re getting, bucko,” I growled to myself.
It was time to face the real world.
At the police station, I felt like a dead man walking as we parked and made our way up the steps. Mateo murmured something to Faith, then left her and the dog with his secretary and a nearby officer as he nodded for me to follow him alone into his office.
He closed the door and offered me a seat. “Did you guys eat? Do you need anything?” he asked as he rounded to his own chair behind his desk.
My eyes slid over the framed photos of Grace and Olivia on his desk, then back to him. “I’m good. Thanks.”
He sat with a sigh, then ran a hand down his face as he looked up at the ceiling as if in silent prayer. He was quiet a moment before facing me. “Okay, then. Tell me why I shouldn’t just arrest your ass and throw away the key right now, Bishop. Make it good.”
Alrighty. My ankle monitor suddenly felt like an iron shackle. I shifted in my seat, suddenly curious why he’d chosen to leave Faith out of this conversation.
“Do you know something?” I asked my own question first.
He studied me with hawkish eyes. “What do you mean?”
“What I mean is, by all rights, you should’ve arrested me the moment you found us, but you didn’t. You told me you found my fingerprints all over Faith’s place.” I sat forward, my fingers steepled. “And you’ve chosen to speak to me alone, without her. No parole officer. No nothing. Am I under arrest?”
“Not yet.” His tone was low.
“So, what gives?”
“That’s not how this works, Bishop. You first.”
I sat back and we studied each other for a long moment, each sizing the other man up. I didn’t know him. He didn’t know me. All I had to go on was that he was a cop, but I’d learned not all cops were to be trusted. But I did trust my brother implicitly, and he swore that his brother-in-law was on the up and up, so I’d go with that. For now. Plus, this was Faith’s life we were talking about, and she was his family now. I doubted he’d do anything to fuck with that. “Fair enough.”
So I told him everything I knew. What I’d overheard at Rudy’s. About Bastien Guidry. His threat to gut me. My offer to “help” gain information. How I’d realized I was too late when I went to Faith’s place. My panic when I saw the fire and that I’d just reacted and raced to North Carolina as fast as I could to try to beat them there. The suspicious car at Matthew’s. Her hotel being ransacked. My suspicion—no, my instinct that they were the ones who had hurt her, and the ties to the church and money and...
“She said initials CP were on the fake books.”
He blew out a long breath. “Yeah. Grace told me that, too.”
I lifted a brow. “I think we both know who that is.”
