Page 29 of Traitor

I turned around and threw my hands up. “Fuck, Rick. Give me a minute here.”

Lauren moved faster than I would’ve thought possible. One minute she had her hands on her hips and the next she’d pulled a gun from underneath her shirt.

“No one is leaving until I get some answers! I want to know why Chon Ramos here followed me home and why Little Ricky was inside my apartment. But most of all, I want to know why he called you, of all people. You two hate each other!” Her hand shook and I found myself watching her trigger finger carefully.

I had to calm her down before she put bullet holes in all of us.

“Jesus, Red. You had a gun the entire time? Why didn’t you pull that on fucking Chon Ramos? Could’ve saved me a trip down here.”

She aimed the gun at my head with a glare. “Go to hell, Mike.”

I held my hands up. “Please, just hear me out. I want to keep you safe, but you’re messing with some dangerous people.”

I couldn’t fathom what she’d done to provoke their club, and there wasn’t a chance in hell that I’d be able to keep her safe if she continued down this path.

She kept the gun on me. “I don’t know if you’re even capable of telling the truth anymore, but I deserve to know why he was inside my apartment and why you’re the first person he called.”

There was no way I was telling her that he was a biker because that would only lead to me having to admit that he was watching her for the club.

I was in enough hot water as it was.

“Little Ricky works with me,” I began. I wasn’t sure where to go from there.

Her eyes widened. “You’re a cop?”

Little Ricky nodded, while giving me a death stare. “Yep. Serving and protecting—all that shit.”

Her nose wrinkled up. “But, you look like you’re in a gang—”

“Undercover,mi sirenita.”

She mouthed the word undercover to herself before pointing the gun back at me. Her lip trembled and I leaned in until the barrel of the gun was pressed up against my forehead.

“Do it. Pull the fucking trigger if it’ll make you feel better. I didn’t have anything to do with what happened to your mom though. I swear.”

Little Ricky hauled Chon downstairs, giving us a minute to ourselves. She kept her index finger extended alongside the frame of the gun and away from the trigger, giving me hope that she didn’t really want to end my life tonight.

I continued talking, keeping my voice low and calm. “It’s okay, Red. I get it, but I need you to know that I’m doing everything in my power to find out who did this.”

The gun dug into my skin, but I kept my eyes on hers. Eventually, she lowered it and slid it back into the holster on her waist. “I need you to go,” she whispered.

I caught her arm as she turned away and pulled her back toward me. “Why can’t you just trust me and leave it alone?”

Her lips parted slightly and her eyes dilated before she shook it off and answered, “Because she was my mom...because I loved her and she died alone.” Her voice cracked, but she finished. “All because I trusted you and left it alone.”

What could I say? She was absolutely right.

I stroked her shoulder with my thumb. “I failed you. And that is something that I have to live with the rest of my life. Darlin’, I made the wrong call, and that’s a mistake I won’t make again when it comes to you.”

“Was Little Ricky hanging around because it was his job to watch me?”

I nodded. “At first, yeah. Cops—uh, they look out for each other. Him taking you out was never part of the deal though.”

Lauren’s lips turned up in an ever so slight smile. “That explains why you lost your mind when you saw us. Look, I know that you want me to stay out of it, but I won’t. And I know that you’re going to be just as stubborn as I am, so I’ve got a proposition.”

“I like being propositioned, Darlin’.”

This was it.

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