Page 37 of Renegade

“Room service,” the voice called out cheerily and I cursed.

I didn’t fucking order room service. I knew no one else had either, because the minute the sex was done, Sandra’s ass was back out in the hallway. Older women were all the same, expecting the man to cater to her desires. Well, fuck that.

I kicked the covers off and threw the door open. The woman’s eyes widened as she quickly looked me up and down. “Room service,” she squeaked out before thrusting the tray into my hands and bolting back down the hall.

“Yeah? Well, if you didn’t want to see it, you shouldn’t have shown up so goddamn early,” I called after her before kicking the door shut.

I climbed back into bed with the tray and lifted the lid. Someone had arranged the eggs and bacon into a smiley face—like something you’d see done for kids. Next to it was a note—

“Turn to channel 2…or 11…or 13…or 26. Enjoy your meal!”

I grabbed the remote and switched on the television set. It looked like aerial footage from the beach, nothing spectacular. Then I read the ticker along the bottom of the screen and my blood turned to ice.

“Remains were discovered early this morning near Stewart Beach in Galveston. It’s believed that they could possibly be those of Patrick Roy, a young man who went missing back in 2001.”

Holy fuck.

Oh, sweet Jesus.

That was what he’d meant by a warning.

The knocking began again at my door, followed by a terse, “Mike. Open the goddamn door.”

I jumped up and threw it open, still completely nude, and still not giving a fuck.

David shut the door behind him and ran his hands down his face. “What the fuck is this, Mike? You swore we were in the clear on this.”

I pointed helplessly at the television. “I—we were. I don’t know what happened. It’s going to be okay, David. Just calm down.”

He grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. “Calm down? Calm down? I’m supposed to leave for my fucking honeymoon in less than two hours. What part of this seems like it’s going to be okay to you? And Jesus fucking Christ, put on some damn pants!”

I slipped on a pair of boxers that were lying near the bed and grabbed my cell phone. I didn’t even know who to call on this—my father would side with Grey no matter what and I wasn’t sure the man in charge would even take my call after the way I acted last night.

Shit.

I thought I knew it all. I didn’t have a fucking clue. You didn’t walk away from Silent Phoenix MC. I thought I’d made it out—just like Beast temporarily did after his turn at Russian Roulette. Grey had simply handed me the revolver and let me put a bullet in my own head. I’d thought he was just seeing my side of things, but he knew all along I’d come around. Dangle a fucking body over the beach and suddenly Mike was compliant again.

Hadn’t I seen enough from the club to know how they worked?Nobody left and went on to be successful. No, they left in pieces, to be disposed of somewhere in the desert.

I could’ve waited around and called their bluff, but these guys didn’t seem like the type to give a deadline before dropping the hammer.

“Mike—earth to fucking Mike. What’s your big plan, Detective? How are you gonna fix this? And if you don’t have a plan, then let’s walk your happy ass down to my room so you can tell my bride that I’m going away to federal prison for the rest of my natural life!”

I wiped his spit from my cheek and nodded. “Yep, I got all that. If you’ll just give me a motherfucking minute here, I’ll have you all squared away to go off on your honeymoon. Okay, princess?”

David snarled and then went for the minibar. “It’s fucking empty!”

I shrugged and scrolled through my phone contacts. “I got a little thirsty last night.”

Okay, I was going to have to swallow my pride and call Grey directly. I found his contact and waited for the call to connect while David kicked over the wastebasket and cursed. I covered the speaker. “Sweetie? Daddy’s on an important call. So, I’m gonna need you to shut the fuck up. Mmkay?”

He frowned at me just as someone picked up. “Yes?”

I knew it wasn’t safe to talk openly, so I slipped into the code I’d used with them over the past year. “Yeah, I-uh was calling to order a pizza.”

Grey laughed softly. “Well, I’ll be damned. See, last I heard, you were all done with pizza. Said it gave you indigestion and that you’d much rather stick with salad. Is that not right?”

Well, he wasn’t going to make it easy.

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