Page 11 of Fatal Temptation

“You don’t have a washing machine?”

Lucas’ voice was light and teasing as he said, “I do, but you might also have to stay longer than a week.”

Akio nodded, a smile tugging at his lips.

He pulled back, feeling the loss of contact quite heavily when Lucas’ arm dropped from around him. He kept his expression as neutral as possible and went to his small closet.

Being gone for a week or more wasn’t exactly ideal. Diesel and Chris were likely to find out and they wouldn’t be happy. He didn’t even want to think about the classes he’d be missing.

He grabbed some shirts, pants, and socks and shoved them into the bag, then went to grab some underwear and hesitated. He glanced over his shoulder at Lucas but found him looking at the books on his desk. He hurriedly grabbed a handful of boxers, unsure why he was being so weird about it. It was just underwear. It wasn’t like he was wearing them.

He grabbed his toiletry bag from its usual place on the shelf by the door along with his shaving kit though he rarely had to use it and dropped both into the duffel bag. He closed his eyes for a second, trying to figure out what he was missing because he knew he’d definitely forgotten something.

There was a knock on his door and before Lucas could tell him to ignore it, he was pushing down the handle because he knew that particular knock very well. He barely had the door open before his best friend was walking inside. His mouth dropped open when someone followed her inside. Ryder. What the hell were those two doing together?

“I can’t believe you were arrested,” Maggie said, curls bouncing as she whirled around to face him. “What even?”

Before she could finish her sentence, Ryder had drawn his gun and aimed it at Lucas. Akio’s heart skipped a beat, and he stepped between them, hands up as he exclaimed, “Whoa. He’s a friend.”

“Friend?” Ryder sneered. “I know a fed when I see one.”

“So, this is the asshole that got you into trouble?” Lucas asked, making Akio groan. Neither of them was helping the situation and while Ryder had lowered his gun to point at the floor, the tension coming off the man had Akio’s pulse spiking.

“No wonder you got out so fast.” Ryder’s expression was thunderous as he stared at Akio. “Does your brother know?”

“Know what? What the hell is going on?” Maggie asked, taking the words straight out of Akio’s mouth.

“He’s a fucking snitch.”

Akio felt like rolling his eyes might set Ryder off, so he settled for crossing his arms and glaring at him.

“Looks like yourfriendhere is the world champion at jumping to conclusions,” Lucas drawled, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Lucas leaned back against Akio’s desk, hands grabbing the edge on either side of him. His jacket was hanging open, revealing the gun holstered on his left hip. He looked completely unfazed by Ryder but also quite intimidating. His gaze was on Ryder, one brow raised slightly, but Akio felt like Lucas might as well have been staring straight at him. The intensity coming off Lucas was making his legs weak and from the look Maggie shot him, she noticed.

“You must be Lucas,” Maggie said and stepped forward, Akio snapping wide eyes onto her.

Lucas’ lips twitched just slightly when Ryder’s hand shot out to prevent Maggie from moving any closer to Lucas. He recognized that move for what it was. He’d been around his brother’s club enough to know how a member was with their old lady.

“And you must be Maggie,” Lucas said, giving her a nod.

“You know this asshole?” Ryder asked Maggie, his tone flat.

“He’s a family friend,” Akio said, his voice finally deciding to work.

Ryder glared at Lucas for a beat longer, then holstered his gun.

“Want to tell me why your whole club was just arrested?”

He found Lucas’ stare chilling, and the man wasn’t even looking at him.

Ryder seemed reluctant to talk, but Maggie put a hand on his arm and after a moment of those two staring into each other’s eyes, Ryder relented.

“I’m not entirely sure. Obviously, the cops thought they were going to find something.” Ryder turned his gaze on Akio. “I don’t know why the hell they arrested you, though. You’re quite clearly not a member.”

“The cop that interrogated me thought I was,” he said with a confused shrug.

Ryder pulled a face, looking just as surprised as Akio had been.

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