Page 12 of Fast & Dirty
I nod my head once and reply in a clipped tone, “Yup.” The room’s silent for what feels like forever. Both of us just glaring at each other with clenched fists, waiting for the other to make their move. “You want to ask me anything else, Maddox?” I may as well give it to him. I’m tired of waiting for it all to come crashing down. I can hear my blood rushing into my ears and my heart’s pounding in my chest. Just ask me. Minutes tick by and he finally gives it to me.
“You a cop, Blake?”
I don’t even hesitate while I look him right in the eyes and reply, “Yeah, I am.” As the words leave my mouth, the printer goes off next to me, making both of us jump.
“Here you go.” Pinch turns in the chair and hands me a piece of paper before glancing down to my hands and saying, “You ripped that one to shreds, so I figured you’d want a new one.” He gives me a huge grin and shrugs as he casually adds, “We already knew.”
What the fuck? I feel like he punched me in the gut. I turn to Maddox, seeing nothing but red and ask, “You knew?”
“Yeah.” He doesn’t change his emotionless expression in the least. “Since day one.” Motherfucker! I clench my fists, ready to punch this fucker right in his smug face.
“All those times I tried to fucking tell you, and you cut me off.” To say I’m pissed off would be a massive understatement. I’ve shared everything with him, everything I went through overseas, and then the shit I came home to. I wanted to tell him every fucking day since we put his old man in the ground, but he kept shutting me down. That motherfucker.
“You have some fucking nerve to be pissed at me!” He puts his face less than an inch away from mine, invading my space and egging me on. “You’re the fucking cop!”
Pinch gets between us and shoves Maddox hard in his chest. He may be gangly, but he’s fucking lethal. Maddox’s hard body slams into the back wall. “Shut your fucking mouth, Maddox. They’ll hear you.” I’m suddenly acutely aware of the fact that we’re in the clubhouse and I’ve just admitted to being a cop.
My thoughts fly to Marie. My stomach drops and I start cracking each knuckle on my fists. “Marie’s got nothing to do with any of this shit.” I have to clear her. “Fuck, I just met her tonight. I fucking swear it.”
“We know,” Pinch pipes up. Relief floods through me.
“Who else knows?”
Pinch answers with his typical ease and his grin returns as he sits back down. “Just the two of us and Pres. And Jace.”
I snort. “Of course Jace knows. He’s always following me around like a lost puppy and spouting off shit about the shipments.”
“You tell your boss about the shipments?” Maddox’s eyeing me like an asshole.
“The Pres is my boss.” The words come out hard, daring him to contradict me. I haven’t had a real conversation with Roger in months. Not only that, but there’s nothing to say about the shipments. They control the port, but I’ve never seen anything shady come through. Shit ton of pot, but that’s not worth mentioning.
“Stop fucking with him.” Pinch looks at me after telling Maddox off. “We know you don’t say shit about the shipments. Roger’s the one who sent you to us.” This just keeps getting better and better. He smiles like a lunatic then says, “And he’s the PD contact.”
My whole body feels like it’s shaking with rage. “You know how hard it was for me to go through with everything last week?” I glare at Maddox. “Why’d you fucking cut me off? You had to know this is what I was getting at.” I felt like a fraud. And like a pussy for not telling them. The guys are my family. I’d done everything I could to prove it to them, but with that shit weighing on me, it just didn’t feel right getting patched. Maddox stares at me for the longest fucking time. So long, I don’t think he’s going to answer me.
“I don’t like the fact that you’re a cop.” He shrugs, and for the first time since I admitted the truth, he relaxes a bit. “It was easier to just pretend you weren’t.”
“Now what?” I have to ask. “You guys going to kill me?”
“What the fuck, Blake?” Pinch looks at me like I kicked his puppy. Even Maddox takes a step back and side-eyes me like I’m the crazy one.
“Well, what the hell am I supposed to think?” My anger has taken over. I’m running on pure adrenaline and anxiety.
“Think of it like a job interview, only we didn’t want you to realize you were applying.”
“It took you two fucking years to figure out that you wanted me for the job?” The question rips up my throat with outrage.
“Well technically we wanted to patch you last year, but Pres liked fucking with you or something and you didn’t seem like you were in a rush.”
“Why didn’t he tell me before last week?” It fucking hurts. I can’t help it. I wanted to be patched, but not as a fucking undercover cop. My rage fades as I realize what a blow it was for them to know and not tell me.
Pinch shrugs. “Maybe he wanted to see if you’d tell him.”
“Shit.” If that’s the case, then I failed him. I’m not as close to Linc as I am with Maddox. In fact, I’ve kept a lot of shit that the two of us have gotten into from Linc. Now it’s just guilt eating at me. I’ve got to talk to Linc, ASAP.
“What about the chick?” Pinch’s question makes my fists clench and my blood run cold.
“What about her?” I can’t help the growl that escapes.
