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“Ain’t nothin’ but a truth, officer.”
His upper lip twitches. Connor licks his lips to the cop’s right, twitching for a fight.
I’m aching to give it to him.
“Hey, Deputy Barker.”
The three of us spin at the sound of her voice, Rae a safe distance behind, my girl heading for the safety of the clubhouse.
“Found ‘em,” Kane says drily.
I roll my lips together, head twitching a small shake.Fuck’s sake.“Barker, here, wants to have a few words with you.” Isearch her gaze and seek out clues of what the fuck she discussed with my daughter. Why the fuck they’d be in the garage.She pitchin’ to run?“You okay with that, baby girl?”
“Baby girl?” Connor near vomits as Rae says, “Sure.”
“The fuck, Rae?” Connor moves closer to the gate; face pressed between the bars. “He calling you sweet names now? Having fun?” He taunts. “Rebounding off these two fucks.”
“It’s not a rebound,” she utters, a low warning. “Maybe we officially stopped dating three weeks ago, Connor. But it was over long before that, and you know it.”
The pained look on the kid’s face as he spins away tells me it wasn’t for him. “I did the best I could,” he pleads. “You don’t get how it is for me, Rae.”
“You fucking abandoned me. Time and again,” she grits. “There’s only so many times I could stomach you up and leaving in the middle of a fucking night out before it wore thin, Connor. Do you have any idea how many times I felt scared, worried I wouldn’t make it home from the random places you’d ditch me?”
His lips twitch into a sad smile as he turns to face her. “I wanted to stay with you, Rae. So fucking bad. But my old man says jump, I ask which cliff.”
“It’s how high,” she notes with a slight shake of her head. “He says jump, you say how high.”
“Not with him.” Connor smirks. “With my old man, it’s which cliff.”
Digger ducks his head, hiding a sly smirk. Kid has a point.
“How you been, anyway, Rae?” Barker steps forward, thumbs in his work belt.
She gives him the kind of side-eye one would a fucking dog that had bitten your hand before coming back for a pat, tail wagging. “Fine, thanks.”
“Been some concerns raised that you’re being held here under duress.” He draws a deep breath, jaw jutting forward ashe sighs out his nose. “You wanna set the record straight for me, sugar?”
I clear my throat; eyebrow raised when the cop flicks his gaze my way.Call my girl sugar again and see where it gets you, fucker.
“No reason to be concerned.” Her eyes flicker to Connor before settling back on the older man. “I asked Maddie if I could stay a while.”
“Old Peggy has been mighty concerned since you failed to show up for your shifts. Not like you to do that.”
“Concerned enough that she hasn’t bothered to check in herself?” I sass.
“Talkin’ with Rae, here, Tyke.” Barker doesn’t bother looking my way as he issues the soft threat.
“It’s true,” Rae states, head held high. “I haven’t been myself the past week.” Her gaze strays to my brother. “Had a lot on my mind, what with the investigation and all.”
“Yeah?” Uniformed fucker gets a whiff of honey and swoops in for a closer look. “What’s got you bothered about that?”
“Oh, you know.” She smiles sweetly. “The fact I’d rather forget what happened, and yetpeople”—she glares at Connor as she stresses the word—“seem hell-bent on silencing me anyway.”
“You wanna talk, Rae, all you gotta do is say the word.” The underpaid asshole damn near salivates at the thought of her statement.
“Now, why would I do that?” Our girl closes the gap between her and the hungry cop, only the thick steel rods of the gate between them. “You think I got a death wish, officer?”
“I get you’re scared,” he blusters, hands raised and palms out. “But I can help.”
