Page 118 of Wicked Sin

When we arrive in the canyon, there’s a cop car blocking the street before we get to Luke’s place. Muhamet gives me a look of concern. “This is as close as I can get, miss.”

Miss.

I give him a weak smile. “I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Thanks. I’ll give you five stars for sure.”

He watches as I get out, then doesn’t drive away. He rolls down the window, listening, as I approach the officer blocking the street.

Nice guy.

Nobody needs to worry about me, though.

“Hi,” I say quietly. “I know something is happening at Luke Vasquez’s house. I called it in to 911. I’m his—” I don’t know what he is. Am I his girlfriend? I’m his dirty sex partner, but I don’t think this is the time or place to identify as such. “He was on the phone with me.”

The uniformed cop doesn’t give a fuck. “This street is closed, ma’am.”

“I get that. To, like, everyone else. But I need to get to his house. I need to see him.”

There’s a growl of an engine behind me, and I turn to look.

Two oversized black SUVs arrive. It could be the FBI. But it’s not—it’s my brother-in-law. I don’t miss the fact that Muhamet is now staring at the scene we’re making. I wave at him, my heart pounding. “We’re good here. Promise.”

“Your Uber ride?” Cole asks, like this is all no big deal.

“Can you bribe this guy or something?” I jerk my thumb at the cop behind me, who protests. I don’t care. I’m about to run up the street screaming Luke’s name.

“Don’t need to.” Cole looks past me at the cop. “Sarah McBride is up there. Get her on the radio. She’ll authorize us to come closer.” Then he looks at me again. “You should answer your phone. She tried to call you. Luke’s stuck in his house with someone, but the situation is under control. Get in.”

He’s alive. My heart leaps into my throat and I scramble for the back door. By the time I’ve got it closed behind me, we’re moving again, given the all-clear.

When we turn the corner onto Luke’s street, it’s a mess of cop cars, marked and unmarked. Lights all over the place, uniformed officers going door to door. And pretty close to his front door are two ambulances.

Waiting.

I start to cry.

“Hold it together, Taylor.”

Really not possible. I don’t respond to Cole.

“My understanding is that this is basically a hostage situation.”

My mind races. “Who is in there with him? Is it Newcomb?”

“They have no intel on that yet. But no, Newcomb is still in lockup.”

“How do you know it’s a hostage situation then?”

“He appeared at the door long enough to tell the cops to go away. He said it in a way that told McBride he was in danger. They have codes.”

Codes. Secret languages. God bless his kinky cop soul. He has to survive this so I can ask him which came first. I jump out of the car and run toward the front line, ignoring Cole shouting at me to stop. Screw that.

“Sarah!” I yell.

She appears from behind the ambulance and steps out into my path, her hands up. “Hey hey hey. Slow down. It’s going to be okay. Luke is smart. He’s going to be able to talk his way out of there, because there is no winning for whoever is inside. He’ll get them to see that in time. We just need to give him that space.”

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