Page 74 of Sweet Temptation

“Ronan,” he said.

“Sorry to bother you so late.”

“I’m up. What’s goin’ on?”

“Got some intel for you on Blair Sanchuk. Turns out he’s a hangaround with the Sinners MC.”

Silence.

“You’re fuckin’ kidding me,” he said.

“Really wish I was.” I filled him in on everything Naveen had just told me, finishing up with, “Our contact in VPD says he’s known to them, but they’ve got nothing on him.”

“So what’s your reading on it?” he asked me.

“Hard to say. He has no record, but that doesn’t mean much. Could be he keeps a low profile. Low-level dealer, and maybe a user, given the meth pipe I found in Summer’s yard.”

“You found a pipe in Summer’s yard?”

“Yup. Smashed on the ground under her balcony, the one he climbed.”

“He ditched it. So the cops wouldn’t find it on him.”

“I’d put money on it. And low-level scumbag or not, the fact that he tried to break into Summer’s house makes him a threat any way you look at it.”

“You need to get that restraining order sorted and keep him the fuck away from her,” Jude said. “Keep him the fuck out of our universe. The second you see him around, you let me know. I don’t like bein’ across the goddamn globe when shit like this goes down, but I won’t be back in town ’til Christmas. Until then, whatever you need, you call Brody. Call in more guys. Whatever. You’ve got carte fuckin’ blanche to do whatever you need. Just keep her safe.”

“You got it. I’ll call you with anything more.”

“Good.” He hung up.

I didn’t bother asking him if he’d be calling this into the Kings, or if he’d be updating me.

I’d known Jude Grayson for years, professionally, and one thing I’d learned: if he wanted me to know the answers to such questions, he’d tell me.

“Fuuuck,” I groaned, to no one.

I got up, went over to the window again and looked out over the city as I dialed Maddox.

“Yup,” he said when he picked up. I could hear faint drilling sounds in the background.

“It’s Ronan. Please tell me you knew that.”

“Got you on speed dial, boss,” he said, with more sarcasm than I needed.

“Good. How’s it going over there?”

“It’s goin’ fine. Got the locks changed. Be a couple more hours gettin’ the alarm in.”

“Okay.”

How’s Summer?

I wanted to ask, but that would just be… weird. I’d been gone for half an hour. Clearly, everything was fine. She was probably still in the shower or something.

“See you in bit,” I said, and hung up.

Then I paced some more.

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