Page 35 of Beautiful Dangerous

“At home.”

“You’re not with her?”

“Not at the moment. I’m giving her some space.”

“Is that what she needs? Space?”

“I don’t know, she doesn’t talk to me, not in that way.”

“Well, you’re not a shoulder to cry on, are you? That’s not what you’re there for, that isn’t your job.”

“I know what my job is.”

“Good. Are the bikers on board yet?”

“They had a meeting this morning. Eddie’s on his way to see Olivia now, but, yes. They’re on board.”

“So, we’re all ready to go.”

That isn’t a question. It’s a statement.

“Yeah. We’re ready to go.”

A slight pause.

“Is there something you’re not telling me, Lucca?”

Plenty. More than they could ever fucking know… “Jimmy Golden, he’s starting to become a pain in the ass. I’m beginning to think we should have chosen a lot more carefully when we were looking for a man on the inside.”

“He’s got a lot to lose, if he fucks us over.”

“And he knows that. But I’m worried he isn’t strong enough to see this through. Maybe we should look to ending that uncertainty before it gets out of hand.”

“Have you spoken to Olivia about this?”

“Not yet. I got a call from him this morning, he’s all kinds of edgy, and I’m not comfortable with that. Not with what’s about to go down, and Jimmy, he’s nervous as hell. Which means I am, too.”

“Set up a meeting between him and Olivia. Let her talk to him, and if that doesn’t work, we might have to take the only other route open to us. We can’t afford these unnecessary risks. But, if we find our hands are tied, we’ll need another contact. Make sure someone’s put in place fast, it shouldn’t be too hard. The corrupt far outnumber the good guys as far as law men go in that town. Talk to Eddie… Lucca, are you okay?”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

So many fucking reasons…

“I have no idea. But, if there’s something I need to know…?”

“There isn’t,” I sigh. I seem to be doing that a lot today. “It’s just…” I stop talking, drop my head, and close my eyes.

“Just, what?”

“It’s getting harder, keeping secrets from Olivia. Do you have any idea what she’s going to do when she finds out the truth? The reason why she was put in danger when she didn’t need to be? She isn’t that young, naïve girl anymore, she’s something completely different. Someonecompletely different, and what we’re doing…”

“Olivia will be fine. She’ll deal with the truth when it’s time for her to hear it, but right now, there’s a job to be done. You concentrate on that. How is she today?”

“How do you think she is?”

“I don’t know, Lucca. That’s why I’m asking you.”

“She’s fine. She’s good, she never really lets the mask slip. If she’s feeling anything else she’s hiding it well.”

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