Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 156796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 784(@200wpm)___ 627(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156796 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 784(@200wpm)___ 627(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
I stood. “I’m going to go home.”
All eyes went to me, and Mia, who was discussing the “best lighting for innocence,” stopped talking.
“I’ll come,” Amy said immediately.
I shook my head. “I think I just need to go alone, you know?”
She frowned, looking like she was going to push the issue.
Lily, of all people, chimed in. “Yes, honey, we know,” she said softly.
I smiled in thanks.
And I drove home.
But I didn’t find any solace.
Only more chaos.
Gage
“You sure you don’t have more to say?”
“Yeah, you need to invest in some new mattresses, and oh, you’re a fucking piece of shit,” Gage replied, cracking his knuckles as they uncuffed him.
They were in the interview room. The club lawyer would be walking in the door at any moment; hopefully Gage would be walking out with him a handful of minutes later. They had him on retainer and he was the best, though they hadn’t needed to use him in years.
Gage wasn’t surprised that it was him to make the man work for his money.
He at least thought he’d be guilty.
“You’re gonna regret this fuckup,” he promised.
Troy leaned forward. “This isn’t a fuckup. The DNA evidence proves otherwise.”
Gage sat back in his chair. “DNA evidence means shit. And despite you actin’ like it most of the time, you’re not an idiot. If, hypothetically, I were to murder someone, no way would I be leavin’ DNA evidence.”
“There’s no hypothetical here. You are a murderer,” Troy hissed.
“Prove it,” Gage challenged, voice calm.
He was far from calm.
He hadn’t slept a wink.
And it had nothing to do with the mattress.
It had everything to do with who wasn’t lying next to him. Who wasn’t staving off the itch that ramped up to almost unmanageable levels in an enclosed space.
The night had lasted for forty-eight thousand, one hundred and two seconds.
Some of the longest of his life.
He wasn’t worried about the charges. They were bullshit. Though it would be one of life’s great ironies for him to go to prison for a murder he didn’t commit.
He was worried because something wasn’t adding up about this shit. Jade entered his mind, and he held on to the thought, tasting it. Sure, it could’ve been her, since the fucking bitch had poisoned Lauren, but she’d been silent for months. He didn’t think this would be her next move.
But you couldn’t predict the next move of a crazy person. He knew that too well.
So he kept it in his mind. It was killing him that he couldn’t fucking do shit about it. Couldn’t hold his woman. But he had faith in his club. They would know it was bullshit. Would be going through every possible scenario.
The door burst open and shocked Gage from his mind.
He expected it to be a snake in a ten-thousand-dollar suit.
Instead it was a geek in a cut.
“You can’t go in there!” someone yelled behind them as the sounds of a struggle echoed into the room.
Gage would’ve smiled if not for the look on Wire’s face.
Troy was standing, hand on his gun. “You can’t burst in here while I’m interviewing a suspect.”
Wire’s face was grim as he held up a tablet. “I do if I have evidence stopping him from being a suspect and showing him to be the fucking victim.”
Gage hadn’t thought Troy was going to look at what was on the tablet. Fucker had an axe to grind, and cops didn’t usually give a shit about evidence when that was the case. Especially when it had to do with the Sons. Since Crawford had left, there was a new chief, one who was little more than a ghost and let his deputies work for him. He had the same agreement as they’d had with Bill not to fuck with the Sons, but he also wasn’t gonna destroy evidence to save them.
Gage thought for a moment that Troy might bury it just to damn them.
But despite how much he hated the fucker, he respected him for letting Wire sit down, lay it out.
In that moment at least.
When Wire laid it all out—the falling-apart cabin by the sea that they’d finally traced Jade to, with all sorts of fucked-up shit, including his fucking DNA and meticulous notes and plans on how to use it—Troy dropped the charges. Well, pending his own deputy’s inspection of the area. Which meant he wasn’t gonna let Gage go.
Yet.
And then it was time for the snake in the suit to arrive.
Who managed to get Gage released.
Troy didn’t fight that as much as Gage had expected him to. He could’ve, if he wanted. Theoretically could’ve held Gage. But he didn’t.
He almost respected him for that.
Then he thought of the night spent in that cell, without Lauren, thought of that beautiful moment ripped apart by the knock at the door.
He eyed Troy. “If anything happens to Lauren ’cause of this shit, ’cause of you lockin’ me up when I could’ve been protecting her, I’ll burn this fucking precinct to the ground.”