Page 63 of Wild Side
The only thing that comes is the tears. They flow down my cheeks as I attempt to gather myself and stand on my own two feet without the help of Goose’s support. He releases me once he realizes that I’m stable, but neither of us speaks.
The four of us are now staring at one another, three of us in shock and Chase in confusion. The officer is the first to speak. “What the fuck happened?” he demands.
Chase swings his gaze from me to the officer, his brows knitting together. “What do you mean, what the hell happened?” he asks.
“The surveillance supply building is burning to the fucking ground,” the officer announces.
Chase’s lips curve up into a grin. “You don’t say.”
My eyes widen as I look at the policeman. No way did he just announce that he knows the building is burning to a police officer. What is going on here? The policeman grunts before Chase continues.
“Got a box truck pulling up to the back of the warehouse. We got a whole fucking problem with two prospects. But we need to gather the rest and everyone else who is here. We’re going to have a teaching moment.”
The police officer and Goose walk away without another word. I don’t watch them go, though, too focused on Chase, who is still standing in front of me. Instead of waiting for him to speak, I blurt out the question that’s been bothering me for the past ten minutes.
“How is a police officer just walking around here, and why did you tell him about knowing about the fire? Aren’t you scared?”
Chase’s brows lift, and his eyes widen before he laughs. Thankfully, it’s not an attention-causing belly laugh, but it’s enough that my cheeks heat from him finding this so damn funny.
“Piggy is a brother,” he says eventually.
My lips part in surprise. I stare at him for a silent beat, then shake my head once and snap my lips closed before I speak. “What do you mean, he’s a brother?” I ask. “Surely, he’s not…”
Chase gives me a wide smile. “Yeah, honey. That’s exactly what he is. He’s one of us.”
“But he’s one of them.” I wrinkle my nose.
He leans down slightly, his eyes not looking away from mine. “He’s also the brother of Lainey from the bakery. He is many things, Zadie. But at the end of the day, he’s a Reaper.”
Wow.
I didn’t know that was even possible. I thought the attorney thing was a pretty big stretch, but a police officer, too? Just mind-blowing. I’m unable to move as Chase slides his lips across mine, then straightens.
“I have a couple things to tie up here. Wait for me in our room?”
Our room.
Wow again.
He takes a step backward, gives me a wink, then jerks his chin toward the hallway. “I’ll see you soon, honey.”
His words come out in a whisper and send a chill of desire up and down my spine. I fight every urge in my body to take off running. Instead, I walk… swiftly.
MAVERICK
When I walk into the warehouse, I’m not surprised to find the crowd has already gathered. The two prospects we unloaded from the box truck are hanging from hooks in the middle of the room. Typically, we wouldn’t use these. We don’t ever really need them. We can usually get what we need from someone much more easily than the effort this takes.
But this isn’t about obtaining information. This is about making a statement and showing the other prospects what the fuck happens when you betray the Vicious Reapers.
Once everyone who was in the clubhouse is in the room, Lightning closes the door. Viking walks the three prospects who were in the clubhouse front and center, to view what’s about to happen.
“I checked your phones,” Bullet announces. The two men hanging lift their heads slightly, their gazes reaching Bullet’s. “I wanted to make sure that you hadn’t involved any of the other prospects or,God for-fucking-bid,a brother.”
“What was the consensus?” I ask.
I don’t know the answer, but I have high hopes it’s only these fucks, but at the same time, how could they do all of this without help? They would have had to figure out who the buyer was. They aren’t privy to that type of information as prospects.
“It was just us,” they say in unison.
