Page 14 of Wicked Love
Logan’s head jerked around with a flash of betrayal on his face. “Youthink we should trust this prick?”
Dexter raised his hands, holding Logan’s eyes for a second before his gaze darted away. “I don’t think it would hurt to hear him out. I doubt Madelyn would have believed him if he didn’t have a good explanation. If we can poke holes in his story, we will.”
“Yeah,” Slade said, glancing between us uneasily. “Maybe this has gotten a little out of hand. You are okay, aren’t you, Maddie?”
“I’m perfectly fine,” I said sharply. “Thank you for finally checking instead of assuming I’m a damsel in distress.” Then I let out my breath in a huff and gave Logan’s arm another tug. “You don’t have to trust him. Just hear him out.”
“He broke into your dorm. He forced this confrontation. He doesn’t deserve to take another fucking breath.”
For fuck’s sake. I let go of Logan to fold my own arms over my chest, glaring at him. “I don’t remember inviting the three of you over either, but you seemed to think it was fine to come barging in. I’ve had enough of this alpha bullshit. If you don’t lower the gun rightnow, I’m going to call Campo and tell them you’re threatening someone with a weapon. How do you think that report is going to look on your academic record?”
An incident like this would probably get him kicked right out of the school. Logan stared back at me, but I refused to budge. When he didn’t answer in the first few seconds, I pulled out my phone.
“Fucking hell,” Logan barked. He pushed away from Beckett and lowered his gun hand, keeping the pistol out but at his side. I could tell his muscles were tensed to whip the weapon up again if Beckett made one wrong move, but the other man stayed where he was by the wall, tensed but utterly composed at the same time.
“Thank you,” Beckett said quietly. “I understand why you felt that approach was necessary. I’d want to do the same thing if I thought someone was going to hurt Maddie. But I promise you, I only came here to clear the air and set things right.”
Logan snorted in disbelief, but he seemed to have run through the worst of his rage. I jumped into the moment of silence before he could start shooting off his mouth again.
“We need to work with Beckett to keep this investigation going—and to see it through before anyoneelsegets hurt,” I said. “We clearly don’t have enough connections to put together the pieces on our own, and it must be someone on Beckett’s radar, or they wouldn’t have targeted him as a scapegoat. Although we’re lucky he still wants to help out after the way you just attacked him.”
Beckett tipped his head to me, his mouth twisting for just a second. “It’s all right. Ihavescrewed up; I’m not blaming anyone for being angry or having trouble trusting me.”
Logan glowered at him. “All that smooth talk with nothing to show for it yet.”
“Shut up,” I told him without much real rancor. “You haven’t given him a chance to show anything.”
Dexter rubbed his chin. “No matter who we’re getting information from, we have to continue the investigation with a lot of care. When these people have found out that we were getting too close, they’ve lashed out: first Madelyn’s mom, then the Vigil office. I don’t think we’d want them to realize that we’re working with Beckett—or that we’re continuing to investigate at all.”
“My people know how to keep a low profile,” Beckett assured him. “Now that we know what kind of a situation we’re in, we won’t let anyone see anything we don’t want them to.”
“Your people?” Slade repeated with a skeptical air. “What are you, the leader of the CIA now?”
Of course the Vigil guys didn’t understand just how well Beckett and his people could handle themselves in the criminal underworld. For all they knew, Beckett’s family was simply involved in a few dirty local businesses and that was the end of it.
I swallowed thickly and squared my shoulders, bracing for the less-than-positive reactions I anticipated to come. “Beckett, I think you’d better tell them the whole story like you did with me. About who you are and what you’re involved with. They’re not going to understand until they’ve got the full picture.”
For the first time since the guys had burst in, I caught a flicker of uncertainty in Beckett’s gray eyes. He didn’t like the idea of exposing his darker dealings with the guys. But he only hesitated for a few seconds before exhaling in a rush.
“You’ve uncovered a small portion of my family’s business dealings. We have a long history in this area and throughout other parts of the country—and quite a lot of our activities are not entirely legal. And along the way, we’ve naturally made some enemies.”
CHAPTERSEVEN
Madelyn
“Idon’t think my family has ever done business in this town,” Beckett mused as he drove toward the hospital in Logan’s and my hometown. “I’ve never even been here before.”
“Then bringing you was a useful decision,” Logan said with a sarcastic edge.
I kicked the back of his seat. “Whoever has it in for Beckettandmy family targeted my mom here. Beckett knows who his people have clashed with. He’ll be able to recognize signs that could point to the culprit that we wouldn’t notice.” Then I glanced at Beckett. “We’ll be at the hospital in a minute. If you want to drive around while we’re inside, you can go and see if anything in this area gives you some ideas.”
“You’re just going to let him leave us high and dry without a ride?” Logan muttered.
I kicked his seat again. “Can you stop being an asshole for two seconds so we can make some progress here? He’s trying to help us. It’s his car.”
Beckett held up one hand in a pacifying gesture. “I’ll wait nearby just in case you two need to make a quick exit. I’d like to get the data sent off to my friend as quickly as possible anyway.”
Logan scowled. “Your criminal friend who knows so much more than a doctor would.”
