Page 10 of His Captive Pet

“He knows you.” Blake didn’t need to ask, he already knew from the way Jorge had stared her down as the uniformed cop escorted him to the car; his eyes burned hot with anger.

“Why is he looking at me like that?” Aubree twisted again. “Blake, you’re hurting me.”

Blake kept his eye on Jorge. “He’s going to assume she’s involved with this.”

“No doubt. She’s an outsider,” John agreed. Jorge wasn’t a small-time gangbanger. He had his hand in a lot more shit than dog fighting, and if he was going to be taken down by a slip of a girl with wide-eyed intentions of saving the world, he’d fight back.

“What are you two talking about?” She tried to pull free of his grasp, but he wouldn’t let go. He noticed her wince from his grip, but it didn’t deter him. She’d caused herself enough trouble.

“If we take her into the station, they’ll be sure to peg her as the snitch. I’ll call in witness protection—”

Blake cut him off. “No. I’ll take care of her. She’s not going to the station; she’s not going into witness protection.”

“What the fuck are you guys talking about?” she demanded, swinging her foot into Blake’s shin.

He leaned down, bringing his nose just to the tip of hers. “Stand still and keep that mouth shut. You’ve done enough for one day, I think. You don’t really want to add to it.”

“Am I being arrested?” Her eyes didn’t lose a bit of fierceness with her question.

“No, ma’am. Blake made me aware of your involvement here,” John answered, but Blake didn’t move from her line of sight.

“If I’m not being arrested, please uncuff me and let me go.” Her glare up at him didn’t falter.

“You’re not being uncuffed, and you aren’t going anywhere. Now keep your mouth shut.” He waited for a retort, but other than a slight flare of her nostrils, she remained quiet.

“You got this, then?” John asked, looking over his shoulder.

“Yeah. Can you call me with an update once you have one?”

“Of course. They may want her for questioning. I’ll see what I can do, man.”

“Thanks.”

John pointed a finger at Aubree as she continued to battle him. “And you would do very well to listen to this man. I don’t think he can hold on to his temper for much longer where you’re concerned.” John glanced at Blake before laughing. “Good luck. To both of you.” And with that, he tipped his hat and walked off to join the other officers.

“Let’s go.” Blake didn’t look at her; he couldn’t. The heat of his blood hadn’t cooled yet, and seeing any form of defiance in her expression would be the tipping point.

“I don’t want to go anywhere with you!” She twisted and pulled, but he ignored her. When they reached his truck, he turned to her, only to have her teeth sink into his arm.

“Oh! Sweetheart, that was the wrong thing to do.” He tugged open the back door to his truck and hauled her off the ground, seating her in the cabin. Samuel pounced on her the second she sat up, licking her face. She squirmed and wiggled beneath his active tongue.

“What’s Samuel doing here?” she asked once Samuel backed off. “Uncuff me!” she yelled as the door shut. Her foot slammed into the window and Blake gritted his teeth. He knew she was fierce; it had been what attracted him to her in the first place, but she was getting out of hand. And he didn’t have time to get it resolved. He needed to get her out of Chicago before news of the raid got out onto the streets, and the ones who hadn’t been picked up realized she wasn’t at the station with everyone else.

He jogged around the truck and got into the driver’s side. Once the doors were locked, he turned around to face her. She’d twisted back to sitting normally, though her hands were still pinned behind her.

“Who’s your contact with the fights? Who tells you where they are and how to get in the door?”

She shook her head. “I’m not telling you shit.” Her eyes narrowed, and she thrust her chin upward.

“Aubree, nothing’s changed. I’m still me and you’re still you—”

“Fuck that! You’re a cop! You never told me that, you never said anything about that.”

He sighed. “I’m not a cop. I’ll explain everything later. Right now, I need to know who your contact is so we can have him tagged, tracked down, and checked to see if he’s giving you up.”

“Giving me up? I didn’t do anything. If you’d just let them take me in a squad car, no one would think I had anything to do with this.”

“You’re not going to the station. Anything can happen in holding. And if these guys get one little suspicion it was you—and they already do, I promise—you won’t last till your bail hearing.”

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