Dirty Ride (Wind Dragons MC #3.5)(24)

“I think he was testing his cop buddy,” Ardan says, obviously analyzing what happened as well. “That cop’s not dirty, though. He wouldn’t have allowed Darren to do anything. Although Darren could have arrested me by saying I attacked him or some other bullshit.”

He starts to pace. “What f*ckin’ game is he playing at?”

He stops and looks at me, comes to me, and kisses me softly. “I’m going to call Faye. Do you think you can try to get some rest?”

I nod, even though I know it’s a lie. There’s no way I’ll sleep now, especially with him not in the bed with me. Another kiss, and then I leave him to his phone call. I lie in bed, staring up at the ceiling.

I stay like that for an hour until Ardan returns to bed. Once he wraps me in his embrace, only then does sleep come.



“You know Irish wants to kill Darren, right? Not like a metaphor—he actually wants to kill him,” Faye says boldly, sipping on her cocktail.

I look into my martini and nod. “Yeah, I think I got that last night when he threatened him.”

“And how do you feel about that? There’s another way we can go about it, you know. We could find him guilty of all the shit he’s been doing, but we’ll have to find evidence to put him in prison. I was thinking about this last night, and I actually came up with an idea,” she says, an evil glint in her eye. “I need to talk to Irish, of course, but I could totally get his ass behind bars.”

“I think I’d prefer Darren behind bars to Ardan having to kill someone,” I say, grimacing. “I don’t know how I’d handle that, to be completely honest. It feels like him doing my dirty work for me, and I don’t like that.” I pause. “Not that I’d ever kill anyone, but you know what I mean. I want to help if we’re going to do the prison thing. Maybe I can play bait in some way? Get him to admit shit while we have a camera recording everything? There’s a big spotlight on dirty cops right now, and I think he’ll get what he deserves. It actually makes me sad, because there are some amazing cops out there, working their asses off and doing the right thing, and then there’s someone like Darren who makes them look bad.”

“I’m still stuck on bait,” Faye says, grinning. “I think you’re onto something, Tina. Irish is going to hate it, though. In fact, what’s the bet he thinks I came up with the idea in the first place? Although I have to admit, the thought did cross my mind.

“You’re the only one who can get him to talk; you know him; you can manipulate him, I think. Dex also spoke to his brother, Eric, who was seen with Darren, and Eric said he met him through a friend but thinks he’s a douche and is willing to help us take his ass down.”

“Who is Dex?” I ask, confused.

“Sin.” Faye laughs, then says, “I feel the same way when you call Irish Ardan. I didn’t even know that was his name until recently.”

We share a laugh at that, and when Clover joins us outside and starts singing the Justin Bieber song Ardan was humming, I laugh even harder, because now I know how he knows the song.

Clover is the cutest little girl I’ve ever seen.

And she calls me Merida.





FOURTEEN




“THIS has Faye written all over it,” he growls, crossing his arms over his chest. “Do you actually for one f*ckin’ second think I’m going to let my woman act as bait? Jesus Christ, Valentina, what kind of man do you take me for?”

“It’s the quickest way to get him out of our lives, and it doesn’t involve murder. So sorry if I decided to choose that option,” I say, pursing my lips together. Ardan is in full-alpha-protection mode and is clearly not seeing that it’s the best option right now. “If we work it out properly, there’s no way I can get hurt. Surround the place with your badass men, put a microphone on me—whatever you want to do, we need to do it before he makes his next move.” I puff out a breath. “Please, babe. I can’t sit back idly, twiddling my thumbs and looking pretty while everyone else fights my war for me. I want this to be over with so we can move on and just focus on us.”

“How is that the quickest option?” he asks, shaking his head. “I can go out tonight and—”

“I get the point,” I say, cutting him off before he talks about killing Darren once more. “I want him in prison. I don’t want you to kill him, or anyone else. I can’t believe we have to keep having this discussion. This isn’t normal—you know that, right? I’m pretty sure we’re f*cking crazy, as a matter of fact. At least I am. I should be running, but instead I’m sitting here talking you down from murder and trying to offer myself up as bait.”

I exhale deeply.

“Love makes you crazy,” Ardan says, his eyes and voice gentling. “Come here, beautiful. Sit on my lap, let me hold you for a bit, and once you’ve changed your mind about the whole bait fiasco, I’m going to make love to you, slow and deep, until you come, clawing my back and screaming my name.”

I sit on his lap and wrap my arms around his neck. “You make me crazy.”

“Right back at you.”

“I want a kiss.”

His lip twitches at my demand before his lips touch mine.

“I love you,” I say against his lips. “I want to do this. I know I can do this. I’ll come out unscathed, I promise.”