Page 46 of Red Queen (Red Thorns Crew 3)

“Why don’tcha come over here and give me a nice look at those eyes?”

“How much you bench anyway, huh?”

“I like that leather jacket. You mind if I feel it?”

A cop slammed his fist against the bars. “Patricia! Diamond! Leave the man alone.”

The two girls snickered as they went to sit down, but I didn’t pay them any mind. They weren’t bothering me because I sure as hell wasn’t a stranger to things like that. I simply didn’t indulge them anymore. I had the woman I wanted, and it was so damn frustrating that I wasn’t out there taking care of her. Protecting her. Making sure she was staying out of trouble.

Fucking hell, I need out of this cage.

I got up and started pacing. It was all I could think to do. My holding cell quickly became the drunk tank on a random Monday morning. What these guys had been doing or where they had been found, only God knew. But I hoped my lawyer pulled a miracle out of her ass.

Or at least that these twenty-four hours go by quickly.

“Maxwell Ry

ddle?”

I slowly turned around as I watched a cop unlock the cell door.

“With me,” he said.

All eyes were on me as he pulled my arms behind my back and cuffed me. He led me down the hallway before I heard one of the girls whistle at me again.

“Look at that ass!”

The cop snickered. “Shut it, Patricia!”

“Yeah, yeah, you and the rest of ‘em, Bailey!”

I kept my mouth shut as the cop led me into the room I had been in previously with my own lawyer. I looked around for her, but she was nowhere to be found. The cop shoved me down into my seat before uncuffing my hands, only to cuff them to the table with that fucking metal ring attached to it. It forced me to hunch into a submissive position I would have rather died than actually do myself. But I didn’t have a choice.

Just play nice until tonight.

Instead of the officer leaving, though, he clasped his hands behind his back and leaned over me, as if to cover me in his shadow. I furrowed my brow. I didn’t know what the hell this man was doing, but I was over it. And as he started pacing the room, I sighed heavily.

I knew when to keep my mouth shut. But he wasn’t making it easy on me.

“Maxwell Ryddle,” he finally said.

I licked my lips. “I prefer Max.”

He snickered. “I’m sure you do, Maxwell.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “Should I be expecting my lawyer soon?”

He snickered. “You know, we’ve been waiting a long time to get something big enough to bury you for.”

I watched a vicious smirk play against his lips. “I’m sure.”

“You and your father. You're like two peas in a pod.”

“I’m nothing like my father.”

“You sure about that? Because the resemblance from where I’m standing is uncanny.”

I sucked air through my teeth. “Why am I really here?”

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