Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 69155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“Zariah, it’s not what you think. We’re not workin’ with him.”
“Then tell my why that note was in the car!” I yell, my hand flinching toward a gun that isn’t there because I’m not in uniform.
“I put it there,” Kendric says, his voice hard. “I put it there because you didn’t believe us. You refused to look into Blanche and we were runnin’ out of time. We knew if you saw that note, it would put doubt into your mind and all it would take was for your cop brain to kick in and you’d start snooping. We were right.”
I feel like my whole world is spinning, like I’ve been slapped in the face over and over again. They used me. They set me up. They didn’t trust that I could get them out of this, so they used me to get what they wanted. Kendric, who has been fucking me, was going behind my back the entire time.
“You set me up?” I whisper, my heart aching, my whole world spinning.
“Not tryin’ to hurt you, Zariah,” Alarick tells me. “We were runnin’ out of time, as Kendric said.”
“You don’t trust me?” I say, my voice coming out angry.
“We do fuckin’ trust you,” Samson pipes in now. “But you’re a fuckin’ cop and you weren’t willin’ to look into one of your own, even though they’ve been behind all of this. We had no choice.”
“You could have let me do it my way!” I cry. “I was getting closer!”
“Too slowly,” Kendric says, his voice tight.
I look to him, so hurt. “You were using me.”
His eyes hold mine. His face is hard. “Never claimed I wasn’t.”
His words are crushing, they feel like a knife to my soul. Of course he was using me. He wanted me to trust him enough to let him in on my plans. Without them, they wouldn’t have been able to plant that note and get me to do their dirty work for them. They were never on my side, that much is crystal clear.
My whole world is crashing down around me, and it’s because of them.
People I thought I could trust.
“I’m done with all of you,” I say, a tear bursting forth and rolling down my cheek.
“Zariah,” Alarick says, his voice careful. “Gotta understand it’s not personal. We have been let down in the past, made some big fuckin’ mistakes that have affected our entire club. We can’t make those mistakes again. We can’t trust anyone. It’s got nothin’ to do with you and everything to do with makin’ sure my club is safe.”
“You tell yourself whatever you have to, Alarick,” I snap, my voice shaky. “In the end, the problem with your club is that you’ve got a rat. Have you even though more about that? Have you looked into it further? No, you’re sitting here, worrying about me when someone has probably been feeding information back this entire time. Don’t you dare thrust your excuses at me. You don’t trust me because I’m a cop. Plain and simple.”
Alarick’s face tightens.
“I’m done with you all. Good luck keeping him—” I jerk a finger at Kendric “—out of prison without my help. You’re already running out of time. Do you think you’re going to be able to get close enough to Blanche before the trial? I doubt it. I, however, can. I’ll figure this out on my own.”
I spin on my heel, fighting the tears, and rush toward the door.
“Zariah,” Alarick barks, and I pause, but don’t look back. “We fucked up. Get that. But we need you.”
I look back at him now. “You should have thought of that before you decided you didn’t trust me.”
My eyes meet Kendric’s, and my heart aches. It lurches in my chest in a way that makes me want to vomit. “You should be ashamed of yourself. All that talk about good men and who I raise my son around. One thing is for certain, I’m glad I’m not bringing him around you. I may have let you down when I didn’t stop those officers the night you were arrested, but I didn’t deserve this. I didn’t.”
For the first time since I’ve known him, his face cracks with something that could only be described as pain. Like I’ve punched him in the stomach. Good. Now he knows how I feel. Now he knows that what he just did to me feels like my insides are being ripped out. He used me. That’s one of the lowest acts. It takes a lot of balls to stand in front of someone and pretend like everything is okay, when deep down you’re plotting against them.
I walk out of the room, my heart heavy. I find Briella playing with Jayden out the back, and I walk over, trying to hold my tears in as I scoop down and pick up my son.