Page 61 of The Devil's Pair

“I what?” Elle’s hand shot to her loose ponytail, and she scowled when it came away with pink sparkly crap all over it. “Stupid,stupidglitter.”

“Right? It’s the most annoying shitever,” Rebel agreed, then he took Briley’s ID from her, stuck it in his jeans pocket. “Go on, Elle. Viking just got here.”

She glanced across the room and saw him standing there, giving her that searching look, the one that told her that he was reading her body language, her stance, her facial expressions. Elle had never known a man more observant to her unspoken words than Viking, and she loved it. She feltseenwith him, seen in a way that she had never been.

“OK, then,” she said to Rebel. “Thanks for taking it back to her. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem, sweetheart. You take care now.”

**

Sitting at the table closest to Elle and Rebel were two men avidly listening to their conversation, all the while pretending to be glued to their phones. They were first-time customers at Satan’s, and they’d spent a lazy two hours enjoying Rebel’s cooking and having a drink.Onlythe one, though. They were under strictorders to stay sober, stay quiet, stay alert. They’d walked into the bar with no real idea what they were looking for – they’d been told that they’d know it when they saw it.

And they’d just seen it.

“He’s taking the ID straight to the bitch,” the one with dark hair muttered to his friend. “Can you believe it?”

“No shit, Keene.” The other man shook his blond head, unable to believe their luck. “Here I thought we’d be stuck here for days, waiting for her to show her face. It would make grabbing her up challenging, especially the way these boys seem to always have their eyes peeled.”

“Right?” Keene gave a quick look around. “These boys are fucking hardcore.”

“Not as hardcore as Crusher,” his friend reminded him in a low voice. “Nobodycan get close to him.”

Both men fell into a contemplative silence, thinking about the rare and amazing opportunity that Crusher had extended them that morning: if they brought him Briley Cross alive, they’d be instantly promoted to full-on patched members of The Highway Hellions. Seeing as most of Crusher’s Prospects languished at that status foryears– he was a demanding President, and few men even camecloseto proving themselves to him – they knew that they’d been handed a golden lottery ticket.

Ifthey didn’t mess it up.

“So,” Keene said. “What do you think, Ford? We follow this MC prick to where the cop is hiding out?”

“Fuckin’ A,” Ford replied, shooting a quick look over at Rebel. “Hedidsay he’s out of here in fifteen minutes, so I figure we’d better leave before he does. Follow him wherever he goes.”

“Yeah.” Keene stood up, left a tip under his beer glass. “Let’s get moving. I can’t wait to lay eyes on this bitch in person.Anyone who getsthiskind of attention from Crusher has to be something pretty goddamn special.”

**

Rebel pulled up in front of Dux and Drake’s place, idly noting that the boys had finally planted large shrubs all around the path up to their front door. They’d been talking about doing it ever since they bought the cute little house – so for about five years now – because they’d found the long grey concrete slabs depressing to see, even from the street. Rebel had to admit that the lush foliage did make all the difference, and he was hardly a man who cared about things like greenery.

He strolled up the path, knocked gently on the front door. He’d called the twins and asked them to let Briley know that he’d be by that evening; he didn’t think that she’d appreciate him just showing up, what with that maniac Michael on the loose, and in cahoots with that even bigger fucking maniac Crusher.

Right away, he heard footsteps approaching, and he retrieved the laminated card from his pocket.

“Hello?” he heard a husky voice say.

“Hey, hon,” he said gently, held the lanyard up to the peephole in the door. “It’s Rebel. I brought your ID to you… Dux and Drake should have given you a heads-up, huh?”

Locks clicked and turned, then the door swung open.

“So,” he said, handing over the ID. “Here you go.”

“Hi, Rebel.” She smiled at him, and he marvelled at just how gorgeous she was; she had a radiance about her, a really beautiful natural glow, and he found himself basking in it. “Thanks so much for bringing this over… but you could have dropped it at The Garage, you know. The guys could have brought it to me tomorrow. They’ll be back home in about two or three hours, they said.”

“Ah, I didn’t know that. I assumed they’d be away for another day at least.”

“Yeah, me too.” Briley shrugged. “They found the part about three minutes after hanging up the phone with you, so they’ll be on the way back now.”

“That’s OK,” he said. “I wanted to check up on you, anyway… do you need anything? I know you’re kind of isolated here without a car, so maybe you need something from the grocery store?”

“Oh, God, no.” She rolled those amazing eyes. “The guys went shopping before they left, and I think they werewaytoo enthusiastic.”

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