Page 26 of Phoenix

“Yeah,” he breathed. “A few of their guys jumped me, but I think that they were after information rather than just beating the shit out of me,” he admitted.

“Well, they did a damn good job of beating the shit out of you, even if that wasn’t their focus,” Aggie said. “What information did they want from you?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted, “Savage seems to think that I might know something from my days on the force, and I just don’t know it.”

“You were a homicide detective?” she asked.

“Yes, and I really didn’t handle drug running cases,” he said.

“Sure, but could any of your victims have been working for the Ghosts or connected to them in any way?” she asked.

“Of course. Hell, I’ve even had to take down a few of the Ghosts in my time. You know, while we were working on a homicide case, they were involved. It wasn’t easy to avoid them back then.” Aggie had heard that the Ghosts practically disappeared after a few of the CIA and FBI agents in the Royal Bastards had gone undercover to break up their drug ring.

“I had heard that the Ghosts were gone,” she breathed.

“Me too, but they are back, and from the beating I took last night, they are stronger than ever. I just need to figure out whatinformation I have that they want. Plus, I need to keep you safe,” he said, squeezing her hand into his own. She had forgotten that he was even holding her hand during their conversation. Being with Vin felt as natural as breathing.

“I can take care of myself, Vin,” she insisted. “I haven’t needed to lean on a man for quite a while now, and I don’t plan on having to lean on you to keep me safe,” she lied. Aggie wanted to lean on Vin for everything. She had fallen in love with him over the years of their friendship but never worked up the nerve to tell him. Even when he asked her point blank if they were just friends, she lied and told him that they were, even though she wanted to be so much more with him.

“I don’t give a fuck if you need me or not, Aggie,” he growled. “Hell, you made it quite clear last night that you don’t, but I put you in this mess, and I plan on getting both of us out of it, too. You can’t go up against the Ghosts by yourself. Do you trust me?” he asked. She looked into his eyes, searching for the truth that was always there, and found it. Vin never lied to her, and she could tell just by looking at him. He was right—she couldn’t go up against the Ghosts by herself. The question was, why was she fighting him so much if she knew that he had a valid point? Aggie was sure that it had everything to do with the fact that whenever she looked at him, she wanted to kiss him, just like now.

Aggie took a chance, not realizing what she was doing. It was as though she was floating on a cloud in a dream as she leaned forward to brush her lips over his. By the time she came to her senses, Vin had taken over the kiss and had practically pulled her onto his lap.

“Oh my God,” she breathed when he broke their kiss. “I’m so sorry, Vin. I didn’t mean to do that.” He sat there, looking at her, smiling like a loon and she worried that she had taken things too far this time. “Say something,” she begged.

“It’s about damn time,” he whispered, pulling her in for another kiss.

Vindicator

Vin knew that making Aggie his in the parking lot of Savage Heat wasn’t his finest idea, but it was all he could think about as he laid his seat back so that she could straddle him.

His phone dinged with a text message, and he knew that it had to be from Savage with the location of the safe house. “Not here,” he whispered against her lips. “We need to get someplace safe, and then, I plan on finding the nearest bed, couch, or wall to make you mine, Aggie.”

“Oh,” she gasped. “I’m not sure that I could still do the whole wall thing, Vin,” she teased.

“We can figure that all out later. Right now, we need to run by both of our places and grab a few things before we head out. The safe house that Savage found us is about a two-hour drive,” he said, looking over the message from his club’s Prez.

He started her car and pulled out of the parking lot, noticing the two cars parked on the side of the road. “Shit,” he whispered, “they already found us. Listen, I’ll get you some new things when we get to the safe house but right now, neither of us can go hometo get our things. It’s not safe. I’m going to have to lose the two cars behind us, so this might take a while, honey,” he said.

“I’m not going anywhere, Vin,” she agreed, “take all the time you need.” It was nice hearing that Aggie trusted him with her life. He knew that trusting a man wasn’t easy for Aggie after how her second husband had treated her.

He had been friends with Aggie for years now, and to him, that marked her as off-limits. It’s why he filled his night with younger barflies, trying to forget how much he wanted Aggie, as though that was an option. He had loved her since he first met her, but she was a tough nut to break—until tonight. If he had known that putting her in danger was the way to her heart, he would have found a way to do it sooner.

They drove for hours, and when he was sure that he had finally lost both tails, he decided to head to the safe house. Aggie was asleep in the passenger seat and seeing her there, so peaceful, he hated waking her when they got to the house, but he couldn’t just leave her in the car. Plus, he had a promise to fulfill, if she still wanted him.

“Aggie, honey,” he whispered into her ear.

“Vin,” she moaned his name, and damn, if just the sound of her voice calling to him didn’t make him hard.

“Aggie,” he breathed, “wake up, honey.” She opened her eyes and gifted him with her shy, sleepy smile. She was sexy as fuck when she woke up—her hair tousled and her voice raspy from sleep.

“Let’s get you in the house,” he ordered.

“And then what?” she asked, smiling at him. He knew what he wanted to do next, but he wondered if Aggie was still up for it.

“And then, we can do whatever you want to do, honey,” he promised.

He helped her out of her car and shut the door. “I have a little confession to make to you, Vin,” she said.

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