Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Rochelle’s DNA being on my body would prove definitively that Sawyer was involved. As much as I want to help, I also take pause. A rape kit is an invasion on its own, and although I would never deny the collection of evidence, I also know what I’m facing in agreeing to go to the hospital.
“You seem reluctant,” Colton asks, his face a mask of apology before he continues. “Did you… douche?”
I have to look away from him, hating that he’s been put in this position more than anything. I don’t know how any respect he might have had for me will survive this.
I shake my head, my eyes locked across the room.
“I don’t want to find anything, Lennox. I don’t want this to be true anymore than it looks like you want it to. I’m connected to this club, but I can’t just ignore the possibility that—”
I hold my hand up, silencing him. “I know. Let’s go.”
I make it within five feet of the door, but the twisting of my stomach forces me back down the hall and into the bathroom.
Despite the strength I wish I’d felt, there are tears rolling down my cheeks when I walk out of my house with Colton Matthews.
Chapter 24
Ugly
Rage boils inside of me, but she’s inside Colton’s department-issued cruiser before I can make it to them. I swear on everything in my life if they’re trying to fucking charge her with something, I’ll lose my shit on him, unconcerned of his connection to the fucking club. If Cerberus is so fucking invested in doing what’s right, they’d end up on my side anyway.
“What the fuck is going on?” I growl when Colton notices me, and blocks my path to the passenger side door, blocking my path to her. “Don’t fucking get in my way,” I growl when he stands to his full height, making it known without speaking a word that he’s not going to give me access to her.
“Why are you here?”
“Why the fuck are you here?” I growl.
He doesn’t answer.
“Is she under arrest?”
“Don’t put me in this fucking position, Maddox.”
I take a step back. Him calling me by my last name rather than my road name makes me feel like a perp. It’s a fist to the fucking gut, and I know exactly what it means. Kincaid and the others were right. The Farmington Police Department isn’t done with me. The chief’s demand for me to be uncuffed was him covering his ass for the time being, not his position on my innocence.
“I didn’t hurt Rochelle,” I tell him.
His face doesn’t transform. He doesn’t voice his opinion either way. He also doesn’t step away from the side of his vehicle.
But he’s right. Putting him in any position where he’d have to use force against me wouldn’t impress his father-in-law. I won’t win a damn thing causing more of a scene. My battle, the one I’m not even sure of the details of, won’t be won by fighting Colton Matthews in the street.
I hold my hands up, backing away.
“I’d never fucking hurt her or anyone else for that matter,” I say, my voice sounding as if I’ve spent years swallowing gravel.
He doesn’t move from the side of his vehicle until I’m back on my bike. I never planned on making contact with her. I wasn’t sitting outside of her house, waiting to knock on her door.
With every contact my fist made with the heavy bag back at the clubhouse, I couldn’t shove down the thoughts of Lennox being next on the killer’s list. The connection to two women is too coincidental. It feels as if the murderer is framing me, and that left me concerned that Lennox would be next.
I wait for Colton to drive away and pull in right behind him. I’m not following them as a means of intimidation but to try and gain clues as to what the fuck is actually going on. I’m confused when he pulls his cruiser into the hospital parking lot. She doesn’t seem hurt, despite the redness in her cheeks when she steps out after he opens her car door.
It isn’t until they disappear inside that it hits me.
DNA.
They want my DNA, but even that doesn’t make sense. I submitted to collection through the military and again when joining Cerberus. Did she not tell them that we always used condoms?
Despite being completely innocent, I still feel like a perp. I know from jobs we’ve done that sometimes things aren’t as they seem. Evidence can be misconstrued. Perception always plays a role. We’ve had to use gentle hands more than once when dealing with people, when we didn’t know if they were victims or assailants, not wanting to victimize them further but also not allowing them to go free just in case they were involved with the organization we infiltrated.