Page 57 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

“If I don’t label my containers when I take them into the office, I never see them again.”

“Then, I don’t want to be accused of being a container thief like your coworkers.”

She finally took it from him, and he jerked when her fingers brushed over his.

That touch was no accident.

She lifted the empty container. “Apparently you must have liked the cookies since they’re all gone. Or did you toss them out?”

“They were eaten.” That wasn’t a lie.

“I have more if you want.”

He shook his head. “No.” What he wanted from her wasn’t food.

His head twitched at that realization. It happened again with what she said next.

“Hey, just a warning… My father’s supposed to show up here at any moment. When I heard your sled, I thought it was him.” She rolled her eyes. “Of course it wasn’t. I swear the man will be late to his own damn funeral.”

He preferred not to deal with the outlaw biker whose daughter he was stalking. “I’ll leave.”

“I didn’t tell you that so you could—” She whispered, “Fuck.”

He heard the reason for the curse and her frown... The roar of straight exhaust pipes.

“Your old man?”

“Yes,” she answered. “Tell me quickly… You never arrested him, did you? He’s the kind of man who doesn’t forgive and forget.”

“Are you telling me that I’m taking my own life in my hands by simply standing in your driveway?”

“I didn’t have to tell you that, you figured it out on your own. Don’t tell him you’re a cop.”

Nox wasn’t planning on it. He knew better than that. “I’ll just go.”

“Too late.”

Malcolm Moore, Sr., aka Magnum, motored his Harley next to Nox’s. What surprised him was the Dark Knights’ sergeant at arms had a sidecar attached to it.

The rest of what he saw did not surprise him. While he never met the man face to face before, he’d heard plenty about him at his police department. The biker was well-known in Shadow Valley. Not in a good way.

Magnum was a big fucking dude. Nox could see where Aaliyah got her height. The Black biker had a solid inch over him and probably a good thirty pounds, if not more.

Even in his late fifties, her father was intimidating. His massive fists could be used as lethal weapons. Though, Nox figured he was packing some other kind of weapon besides the ones attached at the end of his arms. Despite being a felon and forbidden to own or carry any weapons.

After shutting down his bike, Magnum’s bald head turned to take in Aaliyah and Nox, standing closer together than they should be.

But if Nox stepped back now, he would seem guilty of something.

Like being interested in the man’s daughter.

Instead, he stood his ground. Aaliyah actually shifted a bit closer, as if she was going to protect Nox from her father.

Nox swore the Knights’ enforcer moved in slo-mo when he dismounted, fussed with something on his bike, then adjusted his cut. When he was finally done, he lumbered over to where they stood, keeping his eyes glued to Nox.

“Who this?” he asked in his deep, rumbly voice.

Nox lifted his chin and met his gaze head-on. “Are you asking her or me?”

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