Page 36 of Rise By Sin

“Maybe we should all just think about this,” Deacon suggested, but Ava wasn’t even listening. She slammed Colt’s laptop shut and tucked it under her arm as she struggled to her feet again. Then she was charging right past us all and into her bedroom across the hall. We all just stood watching her wordlessly as she opened the top draw of her night stand and pulled out a .38.

“Where the fuck did you get that?” I demanded.

“Colt bought it for me. He taught me to shoot it too. He wanted me to be able to protect myself if I ever needed to. It was too big to carry around, so I always kept it in my nightstand, with…” she dipped down a little and ferreted about in the drawer again, then pulled out three cartridges for the weapon. “…ammo.”

I stood frozen and unable to speak as she slammed a cartridge into the gun and checked the safety, then slid it into the top of her jeans, at the small of her back.

The other ammo she put into a messenger back she pulled form under the bed, along with Colt’s laptop.

“I’ll need Colt’s file. Can you grab it for me please, Jack, but leave out anything to do with Helen’s murder,” she asked, and she was so calm it unnerved me. Did she really want to die, because what she had planned was definitely a suicide mission?

“You are not fucking doing this Ava!” I barked as reality finally hit me.

“Try and stop me, asshole!” Oh this woman was going to be the death of me! Even if she did stir my cock with how fucking sexy she looked when she was pissed with me.

CHAPTER 11

AVA

My hand was trembling so badly I almost dropped my cell phone before I got it to my ear. I was reaching out to someone I once considered a part of my cop family, who I had pushed away as soon as I was injured and hadn’t spoken to in almost two years. Was he even going to take my call or just slam the phone down the second he knew it was me?

“Homicide,” he answered . I’d needed to call his desk phone, since I had long since lost his cell number in my frenzy to push every single part of my old life far away.

“Oz? It…it’s Scott…uh, Ava Scott,” I said feeling pretty vulnerable and likely sounding nothing like the cocky bitch he was used to me being.

“Scott? Shit! Where have you been? I tried to call you like a million times but your cell was disconnected?”

“Yeah, I know. I kinda went off the rails for a while there,” I admitted as I turned my back on the three guys who stood watching me with confusion and annoyance. “Sorry. I guess I was kinda fucked up after the shooting and everything.”

“Forget it. How are you? You good?” he asked. Oz, or Richie Osbourne, as he was called fully, was about a decade older than me, and he was part of the homicide division I worked as a detective in for over five years. He was a person I considered a close friend, along with several other members of our team, including my partner who had been killed the night I was shot. We’d all been tight until I’d been handed my medical retirement and shoved away from all of them and my career – the one and only focus in my already messed up life.

“Been better,” I hedged. “Listen, I’m in New York looking for my brother. He got himself into some shit and he’s missing.”

“You want me to come out there. I have some days I can take, help you work the case,” he offered instantly.

“Appreciate the offer, but I’m working with a guy I know from NYPD. I just need some information if you’re good with helping?”

“You know I am, but how come you can’t get it from NYPD?”

“Oh, you know me. I may have stepped on some toes over here,” I lied, sort of. I had pissed Mason off, which was the reason I needed Oz’s help, so it wasn’t a total lie.

“Winning hearts and minds as always over there, huh Scott?” he laughed.

“Always,” I found myself laughing too. “Can you get me a list of regular haunts for a crime family out here, Name’s Owen. Irish mob is my best guess. They should be in the system since they’re on the FBI’s radar,” I explained.

“What the fuck are you getting into, Ava? You sure you don’t need back up? You know we’ve always got your back.”

“I know and I appreciate it, Oz, but I’m good. I can handle this. Can you just get me the info and email it to me?”

“Yeah, okay, but I want you to call me when you get back to the city. It’s been too long since we met up, and we’ve all been worried about you,” he told me, sounding so honest and concerned I actually teared up. I never should have pushed them away and I was starting to realize that.

“Fine,” I agreed as I pulled back my tears. “I’ll call, but you can put your fucking worry away. I don’t need it. I’m good. I’m always good,” I lied.

“Just be fucking careful. This Owen family looks like bad news.”

“Always am. Thanks, Oz.” I hung up and swiped at my damp eyes. Maybe I would actually call him when I got back to Chicago. Once I knew Colt was safe of course. Maybe I’d even move back to my place again. If Colt was alive, maybe I could find a way to piece some parts of myself back together again. If he was alive.

“Who was that?” Jack asked as I turned back to face the three of them. They looked pretty comical stood in a line side by side, just staring at me looking bewildered. Apart from Mace. He was most definitely pissed with me. I knew the look well, and as always it sent a shudder of excitement straight to my core. He looked even sexier when he was mad.

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