Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32280 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 161(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
“Club?” Aaliyah asked.
I nodded and leaned over her to press our lips together. I didn’t deepen it—didn’t have time to get lost inside of her like that. I quickly pulled back, already heading to the door. “Fucking cops.”
“Shit,” Aaliyah whispered as I opened the door. She’d been around long enough to know cops were bad fucking news. “Johnston?” I stopped, looking at her over my shoulder. “Be careful.”
My lips tilted up at one corner. “Always, Red.”
Sheriff Rhodes strode up to me as I slid off my bike, yanking my helmet off my head. I narrowed my eyes at him as I set my helmet on the seat. I wasn’t in the mood for his shit. We might have had a working relationship, but that didn’t mean I wanted his fucking cops crawling my goddamn lot.
“You better have a good goddamn reason for this, Sheriff,” I snapped at him as soon as he was close enough to hear me without me having to raise my voice.
“Feds stepped in on the shit that happened with your wife and Aaliyah.” Fuck. Just what I needed—fucking feds. They were like roaches—couldn’t get rid of them for good. “And your wife is running her mouth.” Fury slid through my veins. Fucking Wendy. He shrugged at me. “I’ve got to do my job when the feds are breathing down my neck, Johnston.”
Couldn’t damn fault him for that one, even if it set my blood boiling. Cops always put me in a bad mood. I hated dealing with any of them—even the crooked ones like Rhodes. “Go ahead and do your search,” I told him. “We’re clean here. You know that.”
He nodded. “I know. Feds want to snoop anyway. Just keep your cool and let them search.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and waited with Rhodes as the feds crawled my lot. Blayke walked up to me, his jaw clenched. “Fucking bullshit.”
I nodded in agreement. “They won’t find shit,” I reminded him. He nodded in agreement. But just because we kept our hands clean here didn’t mean we liked having them around anyway. “They’ll snoop, realize we don’t have shit here, and they’ll move the fuck on. They do this shit all the time, but we’re careful.”
“How’s Aaliyah?” he asked me. I tracked Rhodes as he walked up to a balding man in a suit. The balding man seemed angry—agitated. His men were coming back out of my clubhouse empty-handed. I almost smirked, but I kept my face in check. Smirking would make me look too cocky and would just start unnecessary shit.
“She’s dealing,” I told him. He grimaced. “In pain. Dr. Wilson is slowly weaning her off the morphine so he doesn’t shock her system with all the pain. Alternating between doses of morphine and oxy.”
“She’s a tough one, Prez. She’ll make a good old lady.” I arched a brow at him. He just grinned at me. “None of us are blind, Prez. We all knew you wanted her. Just a matter of time before you made your move.”
The balding federal agent made his way over to me, an ugly scowl twisting his aging features. I sighed. Here we damn went. “I don’t know how you sons of bitches always get so goddamn lucky,” he snarled.
I grinned at him. “Not lucky. We’re just clean, and you hate to think men like us could clean up our acts.” All of us had records, but none of us had been locked up in years. We’d gotten smart. But the problem was, men like him expected men like us to always end up behind bars, never staying out long. And it bugged the shit out of them when we learned how to defeat the system.
He clenched his fist. For a moment, it looked like he contemplated hitting me. I dared him to. I’d be the last son of a bitch he ever put his hands on—that was for sure.
“Your wife sure thinks you’re dirty.”
I barked out a laugh. “Did she also tell you that she and I have been separated for years? I can’t even remember the last time we slept in the same bed together.” I arched a brow at him. “She’s a crazy woman, agent. I’d steer clear.”
With that, I strode away, heading inside the clubhouse to see what needed to be replaced this time. The agents never searched neatly. They destroyed everything they could—mattresses, stools, couches, glasses.
If they thought I’d be pissed, the joke was on them. Our furniture needed to be replaced soon, anyway. This just gave me an excuse to finally get it done.
CHAPTER NINE
Aaliyah
I unlocked my phone for the umpteenth time, checking to see if I had a message from Johnston. I felt like one of those women that couldn’t survive without her man, but I didn’t like not having him by my side. Cops showing up at the clubhouse was never a good thing. Usually, it only ended in trouble, especially if Johnston wasn’t in control of it somehow.