Page 102 of Renegade

He cut me off. “It’s perfect. You are asking the man who proposed to Beth after just a couple of months of dating her though. So, I may not be the best judge of timing.”

I nodded. “This is true. I just figure I’m gonna be thirty-three this year and I don’t know—I like the idea of settling down.”

David got a distant look in his eyes and responded with, “When you know, you know. So, how are you gonna ask her?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and looked down at my desk calendar. “Jesus, I have no idea. I thought about doing some big weekend getaway in February, but everyone fucking proposes in February. And I still haven’t met her dads—I wanna ask for their blessing.”

The smirk reappeared on David’s face. “I love this—it’s so fucking strange to see you like this. It’s like seeing a dog walk around in a three-piece suit. Absolutely bizarre.”

I chucked my pen at his head as my second phone buzzed with an incoming text. It was the prepaid I kept on me for club business. Jarvis had installed a burner app on it so it displayed a different number every time I placed a call or text.

Blocked:

“Hold until further instruction. Sons involved. Not safe to release. Possible overnight. Be ready. -G”

What?

I re-read the text, but it still didn’t make any sense. Usually Grey gave me a phone call if there were any members coming through the station. If I had enough of a warning, I could usually smuggle them right back out before they even made it to booking.

This was different.

He’d never asked me to hold a club member before. His big thing was getting them out and back on the street. I read through it one more time, trying to decide if it was worth a phone call or not.

Obviously, the Sons were plotting something big if Grey thought the police station was a safe house.

“Everything alright?” David asked.

I gave the text one last look before shoving my phone back into my pocket. “Yeah. Just had something come up.” I walked around to where he was sitting. “You should go home and get some sleep. You look like ass.”

David nodded sleepily. “Yeah, I just might do that. If Beth calls, tell her I’m with you and I have been the whole time. If she finds out I’m getting sleep, she might castrate me.”

I grinned. “Sounds like marital bliss, man. Keep me posted on Kaden. I’d like to meet him once he gets out.”

David handed me the ring box. “Yeah, he’s still being fed mainly by a feeding tube. So, he’s gonna have to get strong enough to nurse or take a bottle before they decide to release him. He’s a fighter though; and that’s all we can ask for. Let me know how it goes with Lauren.”

His eyes shone as he talked about his son and I wondered briefly if my father ever once looked like that when talking about me. Had he even held me as a baby? I couldn’t remember and as far as I knew, there was no photographic evidence to support it.

He stepped outside my office and smiled before shooting me a stern look, “Speak of the devil…”

“It’s just me,” Lauren replied, but her voice sounded different.

I stuffed the box back inside my suit jacket and tried to look relaxed as she walked into my office. David gave me a puzzled look and shut the door behind her on his way out.

“Hey, Red. I didn’t expect to see you until tonight.” My heart was still beating unsteadily as I sank down into my chair.

Her expression never changed and, as she made eye contact with me, I realized she’d been crying. “I’m sorry to bother you at work, but I’m in trouble.”

My mind immediately went to the Sons of Death. They’d figured out I was helping the club and gone after her. I was going to have to come clean about it all. I opened my mouth and hesitantly said, “Lauren—”

She interrupted. “My mother was pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence and possession,” she paused as her voice cracked, “She didn’t do anything though. She’s clean.”

This was one of the hard parts of my job—trying to comfort family members who believed their loved one wasn’t using again.

I launched into the same spiel I’d spouted off hundreds of times before. “I know it’s hard to believe that she could betray your trust like this, but sometimes, the addiction is stronger than reason. We can’t ever know what goes through a user’s head when they relapse—”

Lauren jumped up from her chair and leaned over the desk into my face. “Don’t you dare spout off the same shit you tell everyone else. I’m your girlfriend, goddammit and something about this is wrong!”

I nodded and barely got out, “I get it,” before she was pacing my office, talking over me.

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