Page 87 of Filthy Liar

“You and I need a talk when we’re out, Lavaro. What dirt do you have on people?”

“Other than you guys? Oh, loads. Information is currency, you know that.”

“Any that might be useful to me?”

“It will cost you,” I yawned, his eyes narrowing.

“You’re living in a house I pay for, breathing because we let you, and you’ll be out of this cell because of me. You beat up two cops, remember?”

“Allegedly,” I threw back, and I swore the vein in his temple was going to explode.

“Please don’t get us both killed in this small room,” Zavier sighed, lifting his chin at Slash. “So? What do I have to do to wear the jacket? Initiation? Some kind of weird test?”

“You took a bullet for Noah, among many other things you’ve done for us. You’ve proven your loyalty,” Slash promised, glaring at a cop that walked past the cell. “When these fuckers let us out, I’ll go and get it for you and we’ll throw a welcome party.”

“Am I invited?” I taunted, earning a tight smile in return.

“Of course. Every party needs a piñata.”

“You know what, Zav? I think you should join the Reapers or something instead,” I huffed, and Zavier gave me a dirty look.

“That’s a great idea. Then I can help run Wet Dreams and be around naked women all the time. Raven would love that.”

“Hendricks wouldn’t let him anyway. If it came down to war, he knows Zavier would side with Beckett,” Slash stated, moving to sit on the bench opposite us. “You two boys might as well get some rest. They’re not going to release you before sun up.”

“Sounds good to me,” Zavier said with a yawn, having no problem moving to the floor and sprawling out.

I laid back down on the bench, deciding to take a nap too, then Slash spoke again. “If you hadn’t pissed so many people off, you’d probably fit right in, Lavaro. There’s no way Beckett could ever wear the same jacket as you though.”

“I’d rather join the Devils. Their boss is nicer,” I grinned, hearing him mutter under his breath about me being a punk.

I didn’t think I’d get a lot of sleep, but I woke up to someone unlocking the cell, motioning for us to leave with a pissed off look on their face.

“Privileged little pricks,” the guy mumbled as we walked past, his face paling when Slash stopped to glare down at him. Zavier and I kept walking to the front desk, and I wasn’t at all surprised to find Raven waiting for us with Beckett.

“I’m not apologizing,” I said instantly to Raven, taking the pen to sign the paperwork that the woman behind the desk shoved at me.

“Good. The pigs deserved it for tackling Zav like that. Isn’t that unnecessary force?” she asked Beckett, who scoffed.

“The dude made a fire bomb. No, it wasn’t seen as unnecessary.”

The woman behind the desk muttered her agreement, shoving paperwork at Zavier too.

“Allegedly,” Slash said from behind us, snatching some papers from her and scribbling his signature without even really looking at the paper. “Where’s Rory?”

“Outside talking to BG. Congratulations, Dad. Our family are the latest donors for the upgrades here at our very own Ashburn Valley Police Department, and you have pledged to donate to the rebuild of the Hawthorne Heights Police Department if the government will approve it,” Beckett said dryly, making him raise an eyebrow.

“That’s nice of us.”

“They would’ve settled for one department, but apparently a fire bomb and assault and battery cost more when combined.”

“Noted,” he said flatly, grabbing his things from the tray as the woman handed it to him, giving him more paperwork to sign to say he’d gotten everything back.

We did the same with our things, and Slash clapped a hand on Zavier’s shoulder as we walked out the door. “Stop by the Shed on the way home. I’ll have that jacket waiting for you.”

Raven barely reacted, but Beckett grinned. “You’re finally saying yes to him?”

“Only if Raven’s okay with it,” Zavier said firmly, dropping an arm around her shoulders. “I need your pure honesty right now. Once I’m in, that’s it.”

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