“It’ll be fine,” Raid said, lifting his chin to Screech in affirmation, but talking to me.
“You’ve got her?” Screech looked between Raid and Liam, questioning them both.
My heart thumped hard. He’d be okay. Ax would keep him safe. Screech wasn’t a fighter. We’d have to fix that.
“Of course,” they both said at the same time, making me swallow hard.
“Be safe,” I told him as he pulled his shoes on by the front door. Then to Ax, “Both of you be safe.”
“Don’t you worry about us. We’ll be just fine. You deal with whatever mess you have goin’ on here, so we can get you settled,” Ax responded as he and Screech walked out the door.
As it locked, I turned to the two men whose sole focus was on me and wanted to know what we needed to get settled. We hadn’t been completely alone together since my house which ended up being a clusterfuck.
Now, though, the tension in the room felt so intense it was practically vibrating. Both of the men’s hungry gaze had my libido blaring to life.
Shaking my head and needing to break the tension, I broke eye contact, went to the fridge, and got out a Diet Coke. “Anyone want anything?”
“Water,” Liam said.
“Beer,” Raid answered.
They were night and day. Oil and water. Two that didn’t mix well, but fuck, they both did things to me. I grabbed the drinks and turned around to them and stopped breathing. Beautiful. That’s what they were. Beautiful creatures that did so many crazy things to my hormones. Shit. Just looking at them made me wet, which meant I was screwed.
Moving to them, I handed out the drinks then sat on the couch, popping open the can and taking a drink. The coldness did nothing to cool my overactive arousal.
When the two men said thank you but didn’t move, I asked, “Shouldn’t we sit and get this show on the road? What happened when you were gone? You obviously didn’t kill one another, and neither of you look black and blue, so what gives?”
The two men prowled. Yes, there was no other term for it. It was like they were predators, and I was the prey they wanted to devour. Each took a spot on the couch. One on my left, the other on my right. Close but far enough where no one was touching.
That wasn’t like Raid at all.
He was more demanding, in my face, and not giving me an inch of room between us. Giving me space was not in his wheelhouse. It put me on edge even more. I really wanted them to talk, so I didn’t start making up scenarios in my head. Because that would only lead down a dark path.
“First, I’m sorry I left. After sitting and really thinking about it, you weren’t guilty. You were confused. I get that now. But I jumped to the other conclusion and needed space.” Liam started, and my heart threatened to beat out of my chest. “Good thing is I took care of Clara while I was out, and she’s out of my hair.”
“Fuckin’ bitch,” Raid growled low before I could respond to the beautiful words Liam just told me. “ButIwant an explanation on how and what you know on Thompson.”
“Who?” I asked, never hearing that name before and curious about the subject change.
“The new Chief of Sumner’s police force. Those two”—Raid pointed to Liam— “were talking outside the lawyer’s office when I rolled up, and I want to know what was said. And if they’re working together.”
Wondering what this had to do with our situation, I kept quiet and listened, but I didn’t like the thought of Liam working with someone else. Someone who had Raid on edge.
Liam began. “Thompson used to run my station in Atlanta. He abruptly left to work for Governor Runnerband a few years ago. But, babe…” His gaze came to me, and my heart tightened at the concern on his face. “He was the lead in searching for you by the Hamiltons.” My body stilled. “Thompson always had the information on you first and spread it to the department because we were all to be looking for you. He’s been keeping you on the top of everyone’s minds for years, never letting up even when there were zero leads. Even after leaving, he’d call into the station regularly to give or get updates when it came to you. Always knew he was a snake in the grass. He gave me a bad feeling from the day I'd met him, but he was my superior and got away with whatever he wanted. Even with the higher ups. So no one challenged him. Ever. Because we knew we’d be the ones punished for it. What he said was law, even if it wasn’t ‘the law’.”
“Okay…” I started but was interrupted.
“You’re fuckin’ shittin’ me, right?” Raid demanded, leaning forward, elbows to his knees. “You mean to tell me Thompson, the guy who’s been fuckin’ with the Ravage MC, has connections to Nyx?”
Liam closed his eyes then opened them. “He told me he was sent here by the governor to take Ravage down. And yeah. He has deep ties to the Hamiltons.”
“Fucking hell,” Raid responded.
Liam looked to Raid then back to me. “Your code name is Hawk.”
I gasped. “I have a code name?” It didn’t really hit me until that moment how big this was. Almost like a movie. One where good and bad guys fight it out. It was surreal. How had this become my life that I had a code name like the damn president? It meant the Hamiltons reach was even farther than I thought.
“Yeah. They’ll be here in three days,” Liam said, and everything stopped.