Page 107 of Traitor

“I don’t know that they’d listen right away, with Dakota getting married and all, but I think if they knew—”

“Mike—” Grey got right up in my face. “Listen to me—I said I was going to do everything for my family. My entire family—including my first born.”

I looked down at the beige linoleum, but he squatted down until he was in my line of vision again. “Look at me, son.”

I hastily swiped a hand across my cheeks before making eye contact with him.

“I don’t give a flying fuck what your birth certificate says. You’re a Quinn, through and through. Known it since I first laid eyes on you. I have a plan, but what is it you always say?”

“A plan ain’t shit if everybody knows about it.”

He nodded. “I want you to run this club beside me—”

I shook my head. “I’m a fucking cop, Grey. In what realm does that pan out?”

His gaze never wavered. “Ain’t no alternate universe where you could do both. It’s one or the other—you’ve had to straddle that line for long enough.”

I scratched at an invisible itch on my jaw. “I—I can’t just make a decision like that on the spot. I’ve got Lauren to think about. In your line of work, you don’t exactly make a lot of friends.”

His mouth turned up at the corner. “Same could be said about your job as well. Just think about it and let me know. Why don’t you run on home and get some rest—I’ll wait here for updates.”

I nodded and stretched my arms overhead as Jeremy’s intel came back to me. “Grey?”

He turned back to me. “Yeah?”

“Tonight, with the wedding—wear a vest, okay?”

His brow creased. “You know something I don’t?”

I shrugged. “Got it in good faith from Jeremy, uh, Jarvis that the mole is going to show up tonight. In a room full of cops, he’ll blend in perfectly. Just watch your back.”

Grey squeezed my shoulder. “You’re still going, right?”

“Yeah. And I’ll be wearing a fucking vest too. I want to make sure we coordinate, dammit.” We both laughed, but I had a really bad feeling that shit was about to head south.

“I know I said I’d be there by now, but I just left the office. I still have to change.”

The entire day had been one kick in the nuts after the other. The sheer amount of paperwork for Carnage’s shooting alone had me chained to my desk for hours.

Grey sighed, “Shit. Just get here when you can—maybe you’ll see something that I’m missing.”

I agreed and hung up. I’d called David when I left the hospital and told him to get Elizabeth and Kaden out of town. I didn’t think they’d ever go after him, but I wasn’t taking any chances. My gut feeling was too strong to ignore. He said they would be on their way to Beaumont to see his mom by lunchtime. No questions asked.

The sun was gone by the time I pulled into the driveway and I wanted nothing more than to crack open a beer and fall asleep in front of the television with Lauren in my arms.

If I knew her though, she was going to be fully dressed, tapping her foot impatiently for us to leave. She’d been invited last-minute and had only been looking forward to wearing that dress for a week now.

God help the man who stood in her way.

I walked inside to all the lights on, but no wife. I frowned and checked the kitchen, on the off-chance that she’d decided to start baking again. The birthday cake she’d made me had been to die for. Come to think of it, the sex right as I walked in the front door had been pretty fucking amazing as well.

As if on cue, my cock stood at attention, ready to serve. Maybe she was still getting ready. I began switching off the downstairs lights as I moved toward the stairs.

If that was the case, then I could probably talk her into a quickie before we headed out. I took the stairs two at a time, but the landing was dark, as were the bedroom and bathroom.

Fear began to settle in my chest, until I saw the outline of her body in our bed. I waited for my eyes to adjust. “Red? Are you okay?”

She pulled a washcloth from her face and moaned. “I think I’ve got a migraine—either that or my skull is collapsing in on itself. I’ve never actually had a migraine before, so the jury’s still out.”

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