Page 154 of Gunner

“Not you. Just the people you trust. I don’t know them that well, Gunner.”

“I would never have put them on you if I didn’t trust them fully.”

“I know that now. But anyway, they all showed up and saved the day. I gotta tell you, for a minute there, I thought that was it.”

I placed a hand on his knee. “What did you think about, then?”

“You. Thinking of all the times I’d argued and fought with you when you were the one for me all this time.”

“Maybe now’s the right time.”

“Yeah.”

Ben shot me a sideways glance. “It took a while to sort through the whole mess, but I realized I couldn’t leave you in lockup while I tried to find the answers. I went straight to the attorney general and explained why you couldn’t be the killer. They were not impressed with my conduct, but given I presented myself as an alibi, they couldn’t keep holding you.”

“What does that mean for your job?”

“I don’t think I can go back.”

Just as I’d feared.

“You didn’t have to do that, Ben. I could have found another way.”

“Maybe, but I couldn’t wait that long. A lot of things can happen in jail to shut someone up permanently. I didn’t want that happening to you.”

“But still—”

“Nothing.” He gripped the steering wheel tight. “My career was done the moment I slept with you, and I’m okay with that.”

40

BEN

I can't do this any longer, but telling Ben the truth will only hurt him. I must find a way to force him to break up with me.

Gunner was out like a light, and I didn’t blame him. The stress of being locked up must have been multiplied for a man like him who valued his freedom so much. I brushed a lock of hair from his forehead and placed a kiss on his tattooed shoulder closest to me. He tightened his arm around me instinctively but didn’t open his eyes.

I studied his face, relaxed in sleep, a light snore emitting from his slightly parted lips. When he was like this, I could almost see the child he once was—tough, wild, and carefree.

The door nudged open, and a low whine sounded. I raised my head and smiled as Zeus walked around to Gunner’s side and contemplated the sleeping man. When he didn’t get the usual neck scratch, he trotted back over to my side of the bed and placed his chin on the mattress, shamelessly begging permission to come up. I only hesitated a second, then patted the bed.

“Up.”

Gunner wouldn’t mind him being in bed with us. Besides, Chris had given him a bath earlier.

Zeus nudged himself between Gunner and me, settling on top of the covers. I scratched behind his ear. “Shh, don’t wake him up.”

His swishing tail slowed down, and Zeus shifted onto his back, his snores mingling with Gunner’s. Now I really wasn’t going to be able to sleep.

It took me about fifteen minutes to inch myself off the bed. Zeus’s ear flicked up once, and he cracked an eye open but promptly went back to sleep. I padded over to my suitcase in the corner of the room and took out some clothes. We’d fallen asleep after shutting ourselves inside his bedroom and fucking like we’d spent years apart with him in prison instead of a few hours.

Gunner had insisted that I should stay with him at the clubhouse until we figured out our next step. Usually, I would have argued with him, but every time I thought about someone sneaking into my house when we were sleeping, it left me feeling violated. Whoever it had been could have killed Gunner and me. Why hadn’t they?

All we had so far were unanswered questions, and they were driving me insane. My gut told me Thoms was involved in the whole mess, but I couldn’t trust it. My personal dislike of the man might be clouding my judgment. I couldn’t afford to accuse the wrong man and let the real killer off the hook like they’d tried to do with Gunner.

Dressed, I slipped out of the room and closed the door. Gunner had instructed everyone that for the next few days only members of the club were allowed at the clubhouse. Any guest needed his or Saint’s approval before they were given access. When we’d confirmed his old cut was indeed missing, we’d thought of every possible way someone could have gotten their hands on it. Either it had been a member of his club or someonewho had slipped through the cracks during one of their many parties.

The mess hall was the quietest I’d seen it since Gunner and I started fooling around. I swallowed a groan when I entered the mess hall. Tango was sitting with his other two friends who’d helped to beat me up the time I’d gone to Gunner’s bar. Damn, that seemed like ages ago.

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