“You haven’t been kidnapped,” he said flatly.
“I had a gun held to my head.”
“I really gotta tell the boys to stop doin’ that shit to you girls,” he mumbled.
“Brett!” I snapped. “Seriously?”
“They get overzealous. I think they’ve seen too many movies.”
“Am I free to leave?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Sure, though I’d prefer you didn’t since we got more conversating to do.”
“But if I left, no one would shoot me.”
He pushed out an exasperated breath on his “Hell no.”
“Then yeah, it’s time for a training sesh with the boys because guns may seem like accessories to you, but to those of us not in the life, they’re scary as shit.”
He inclined his head. “Point taken.”
“And I’m kinda tired and I realized when I got here that I shouldn’t come because I’m into this guy and we haven’t even kissed and he’s still ruined me for all other guys so I just want to go home and freak out I had a gun held to my head, then go to sleep. In other words, my sharing time is over. It’s your turn.”
“I did not kill Tony Crowley.”
Well, hell.
I sat still and said quietly, “That’s not a lot of words, but that’s a lot of sharing, Brett.”
“It’s important that’s understood.”
“Who’s Tony Crowley?”
“The cop who was investigating the filth in the Denver PD who got capped because he was getting close to somebody and whoever capped him stole my gun to do it. A gun that naturally, as it was mine, had my prints on it. I’ve been framed.”
Well…
Hell.
“You didn’t kill that police officer that everyone thinks you killed?”
“I did not.”
“You were framed.”
“I was.”
“And you’re saying it was another cop, a dirty one, who killed this Crowley guy.”
“I am.”
“Holy shit, Brett,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“You know, they’re totally not gonna believe you,” I shared.
“I do know this. That’s why you have to relay this information to Hawk Delgado so he can look into this shit and get me outta hiding. It’s not like I have an office I can’t sit my ass in because I’ve been forced underground, but bein’ smoke is hindering my ability to earn, and I’m not down with that.”
“I don’t know if you know this, but it’s my understanding Delgado’s two best buds are cops. And I’m not tight with the guy at all, but you kidnapped one of his boys’ girlfriends. I haven’t been around him a lot, but he seems to like his boys. So he hasn’t shared, but I’d hazard a guess Hawk isn’t your biggest fan.”
“His business has interfered with mine on a more frequent basis than I’d like so I’m not his biggest fan either,” Brett returned. “But there’s a snake in the grass at the DPD. And when that’s the way, everyone gets bit in the ass.”
At this point, he leaned toward me, putting his elbows to his knees and tipping his head back to keep contact with my eyes.
“And, Ryn, darlin’, I would be sure to remind him, his two best buds who are cops got a seat right smack in the middle of that garden party.”
Well…
Fuck.Chapter ThreeCatch You LaterRynI sat on my bed in the early morning dawn, Taser in my hand, and after getting the fifth “I’m sorry” text from Corinne that I did not reply to, I blocked her ass.
Then I checked my bedside clock, my phone clock, and I did this for the fifty-millionth time.
When it hit six (bedside clock first), and it was finally only semi-rude to do what I was going to do next, I went to contacts, scrolled down to Danny Magnusson and hit GO.
His deep voice was sleepy, and I felt a tinge of envy at the fact it was also all kinds of sexy, when Mag answered, “Ryn, hey. Everything cool?”
“Cisco semi-kidnapped me again last night,” I blurted.
There was zero sleepy, but a whole load more sexy, when he demanded low, “Talk to me.”
“Well, see…”
I trailed off because, shit.
I couldn’t tell him I was headed out to a sex party.
Dammit.
I tried again.
“Okay, well, I was going to see friends after work last night and apparently one of my friends is legal counsel for Brett so when he said he wanted to chat, she set me up to chat.”
“Jesus Christ, are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Where was this?”
“A house in Englewood. But listen, Mag, he’s long gone by now. I got home a couple hours ago.”
Total silence, though after a length of it, I heard in the background Evie asking, “Is Ryn all right?”
“Yeah, baby, give us a minute,” I heard Mag answering. It took a few more seconds I imagined him climbing out of bed and moving away from Evie before he came back to me. “Let me get this straight, you waited two hours to call me after Cisco kidnapped you again?”
“I thought it’d be rude to call earlier.”