Undeniable (Undeniable, #1)(26)

“Nope.” That was Deuce.

“How about the twenty thousand grams of cocaine, a thousand grams of crack, and a pound of methamphetamine? All intercepted yesterday. Got your handiwork written all over it, West.”

Holy crap. That was going to come straight out of Deuce’s pocket. I didn’t know the Horsemen’s finances, but that would hurt anyone.

“You got any proof of that?”

Several heartbeats passed. “We will,” came the biting reply.

“Good f*ckin’ luck with that, *.” Definitely ZZ. This was followed by a large whoosh of air and familiar gagging and coughing. ZZ had just gotten slammed in the gut.

“Where’s Davis’s team?” an unknown voice bellowed.

“Still searching,” was the answer.

“Tell me someone found something!”

“Aside from a few females hiding in bedrooms, the place is clean. The *s have permits for all the weapons found. There’s nothing here. Not a goddamn thing. Not even a dime bag of weed.”

If I wasn’t in so much pain, I would have laughed. Who called weed “weed”? Too funny.

“You run IDs on the girls?”

“All of ’em except the one on the floor over there. But check this shit, one of them is the daughter of a senator and the heir to the Carlson Food fortune.”

I swallowed. They were talking about Kami. If her parents found out about this…things would not be good for her.

A pair of dress shoes stopped in front of my face, and the toe of one poked me in the leg. “Name?” a man’s voice demanded.

“Eva…Fox,” I croaked.

The man’s legs bent. His pudgy, blotchy red face came into my field of vision. “Eva Fox?” he repeated slowly. “Who’s your father?”

This was either going to go very bad for me or very good. I didn’t know which, so when I answered, it was very timid and terrified sounding. “Damon Fox.”

“Shit,” he muttered. His arm slipped around my back and under my armpit, and then I was being lifted and settled onto a barstool. Still clutching my stomach, feeling like at any moment I was going to puke, I slumped forward and put my forehead on the counter.

“Who the f*ck beat the shit out of Damon Fox’s kid?” Pudgy Face demanded.

The entire place had gone silent.

“I did.” I recognized the good-looking agent’s voice. “She was playing us, stalling.”

“You f*cking moron!” someone else yelled.

OK, so it was going good. Either they were on my father’s payroll, or they were scared shitless of him.

A gentle hand came down on my shoulder. “Ms. Fox?”

I turned my head slightly. Pudgy Face bent his head to mine.

“I’ve written down the name of the * who hit you on the back of my card. You give it to Preacher; you tell him what he did. And I’d appreciate it if you’d tell him that no one else touched you.”

Definitely on his payroll. Probably getting a hefty percentage of the sales from the weapons they were supposed to be confiscating. Probably sending half the weapons they did confiscate straight to my father for redistribution.

“OK,” I whispered, knowing I wasn’t going to tell my father anything. Me disappearing only to show back up beaten by the ATF…

That would not go over well. For me or the ATF.

The hand patted my back. “OK,” he whispered. He slid his card across the bar and walked away.

? ? ?

Deuce carried Eva down the hall to his bedroom. Kicking the door shut behind them, he laid her out on his bed and stared at the growing bruise on the side of her face. Since she told him her old man didn’t have a clue where she was, he knew she wasn’t going to tell him what happened. That meant it was up to him to take out the agent, which was fine with him. This f*cking girl had just taken a beating for him and his club.

“I’m OK,” she whispered. “He punched like a girl.”

Fuck him. She was perfect. Perfect old-lady material. Perfect heart-shaped face, big gray eyes, smooth skin, and f*ck-me lips. Perfect tits, long legs, and a flat stomach. Perfect curves to run his hands over and long hair to grab hold of.

And he’d gotten angry, let his temper get the better of him, and completely f*cked everything up.

Sighing, he sat down on the bed beside her. “’Bout earlier,” he started. “I—”

“Don’t,” she whispered. “I get it. I was stupid for expecting anything from you. I’m leaving tomorrow anyway.”

His chest went tight. He’d been too hard on her. He had a horrible temper and couldn’t think straight when he was angry. Add Eva Fox to the mix and his brain was just a big lump of idiot.

“No, babe. You’re not leavin’.”

There. Now she wasn’t leaving.

Fire flashed in her eyes. “Yeah, Deuce, I am. You made it clear that I couldn’t hang at the club, that you didn’t want me around your boys, and I refuse to be locked in some cabin for an entire summer. Besides, Kami and I had planned on going to Hawaii after this.”

She was lying. He could see it in her eyes.

“Babe, calm down. You can come to the club with me when I don’t have to work.”

She snorted, and then winced in pain. “Sorry, babe. I’ve already made up my mind. You pretty much sealed the deal when you decided I had to share you. My daddy’s going to be angry enough when I return; I’m pretty sure bringing back an STD as a souvenir would result in me being locked up in a nunnery.”