Page 87 of Renegade

It was the last thing I’d wanted to hear. Tonight was supposed to be about Lauren.

I’d tried living by the‘just sex’rule. Hell, I’d done it for years before she came along. It should’ve been easy enough. All the benefits of a relationship, without actually having a relationship.

Something strange happened though. I’d wanted her even more once she blew me off. She’d consumed my thoughts—was she seeing other guys? Was this her way of bowing out of the whole fucking thing?

I damn near drove myself mad.

It was official. I’d turned into a fucking chick.

Lauren had gotten under my skin and turned me into some sort of possessive asshole. I didn’t want her with anyone else but me. I liked the idea that no one else had ever had her. No one else knew how she bit down on the left corner of her lip when she was close.

Fuck. I wasn’t a chick. I was David.

I was probably going to get all surly and start picking fights with strangers just for looking at her.

Making her mine had come with its own list of problems. Like realizing the friend of hers I fucked in Galveston was actually her boss. I’d thought it was all going to come crashing down when she’d walked in. Up until then, I’d thought that taking a break to bring her breakfast would be a daily thing; a way for me to see her during the daytime hours.

Instead, I was back to just seeing her at night. The few times I’d managed to escape early with the intention of going to her, Grey had called with club shit. On top of my other cases, I was also still actively trying to find out what happened to Katya Egorichev.

Trying to balance it all was taking a toll on me.

I parked outside of the city and walked up to Grey’s truck. “What do we have?”

He gestured up the road and clenched his jaw, the veins in his neck fighting to break through his skin. “He was just a fucking kid.”

I mentally prepared myself and headed toward the downed bike. The prospect patch was the first thing I noticed. The second was the fact that this kid had been gutted like a goddamn fish. The stab wounds overlapped so much that his back was just one giant open wound.

I used my boot to roll him over and met the whites of his eyes.Jesus. He couldn’t have been much older than eighteen. I’d seen him around once or twice back when he was a hang-around.

Grey spoke up. “I’m taking care of this tonight and I need your help.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, but nodded. “We thinking SOD?”

He shook his head. “I don’t fucking know who else it would be, but seeing as to how they have a thing for knives, I’m bringing the Comedian along. I need you to make sure that this stays off the radar, unless you’re looking to earn your skull and crossbones.”

Members who killed for the club earned a skull and crossbones patch. “Slight problem with that—I ain’t a member of your club, old man. And I’ve got no plans to patch in.”

He slapped my shoulder after we placed the prospect in the back of his truck. “Yet. Someday you’ll come around to it. It’d be a helluva lot more fun than sitting behind a fucking desk all day.”

He was right about that. If I’d known all that being a detective entailed, I would’ve stayed on patrol. At least with patrol, you got to see a lot of different shit before passing it off to the detectives. There was none of the working a case start to finish—you just got in and out, making sure to gather as much evidence and information as possible. The grass was always greener. When I was on patrol, I wanted to be a detective. Now that I was a detective, I longed for patrol.

On the flip side, I was able to mask a lot more of the club’s activities than I would’ve had I remained on patrol. That seemed more like a con than a pro though.

“Monica says your girl is over the fucking moon for you.”

The thoughts in my head froze and I turned to him. “Who?”

“Monica, Lauren’s mother?” Seeing that I was still thrown, he elaborated, “Torch’s ol’ lady? Dark blue Toyota that was stolen? C’mon, Mikey.”

My palms went sweaty. Lauren’s mother had been an addict.Why in the fuck was Lauren talking to her?“So, Lauren’s mother stole her car, but they’re close now?”

He shrugged. “I gave up trying to figure out women years ago. We did get Monica clean and sober though. It’s like night and day. I’m surprised she hasn’t told you.”

I wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t exactly bedroom conversation and that seemed to be the conversations we’d had lately. “Haven’t really seen her much,” I mumbled, still trying to piece together when she and her mother reconnected.

It was worrisome. I wanted her completely removed from the club and if her fucking mother was in with a patch, that was going to be damn near impossible.

As if reading my thoughts, Grey added, “I’m keeping an eye on her. With the Sons around, nobody’s safe,” he waved a hand over the prospect’s body. “If they find out you’re helping us, she’s going to be the target they go after, Mikey.”

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