Page 95 of Hard Knock Hero

Aiden’s eyes didn’t move from Jeremy. He waited. And I believed him. I could see it radiating from him,feelit. If I gave the okay, I had no doubt that Aiden would gut him right here. Damn the consequences.

I almost said yes. But Jeremy Rigsby wasn’t worth that.

I gave Aiden the slightest head shake. The fire dulled to embers in Aiden’s eyes.

“He said there’s a bomb somewhere in Hartley. It’s supposed to blow up Owen and any other law enforcement that goes near. We have to stop it.”

Jeremy’s terrified gaze shifted from Aiden to me. “It’s true. Let me go, and I’ll tell you where it is. I’ll do whatever you want!”

“We don’t need you for any of that.” Aiden leaned in. The tip of the knife bit even deeper, and Jeremy whimpered. “It’s either on Refuge Mountain or Sawyer’s shipping warehouse. And I doubt Sawyer would want to damage a perfectly good building. I’m not going to kill you, but I’ve got plenty of other ways to hurt you.”

Then Aiden’s mouth spread in his most vicious, sharklike smile.

With a violent movement, Aiden lifted the knife and stabbed it deep into Jeremy’s thigh. He brought his hand over Jeremy’s mouth to muffle the man’s screams. My ex writhed and bucked like an eel out of water.

“Looks painful,” I said. “I’d keep pressure on that wound if I were you.”

“We’d better wrap this up.” Aiden had three handguns, one taken from each of the men he’d subdued, and he chucked two of them out into the woods. He gave the last to me. “I’m keeping the knife,” he added. “This thing is handy.”

Next, Aiden had me walk ahead to make sure no bystanders were watching. Then he dragged Jeremy out of the woods and hefted the bleeding, crying man into the cargo hold of the Hart-Made truck. We’d yanked off Jeremy’s gloves and shoved them into his mouth to act as a gag. He was doing his best to keep pressure on his thigh, which had to be excruciating. He’d left a trail of blood in the dirty snow. Aiden kicked away the red as best he could, churning up the snow to hide the evidence.

Meanwhile, I took Aiden’s phone and tried to call Owen. No answer. I left a harried voicemail, telling him there was probably a bomb on Refuge Mountain. “We have to get back to Hartley,” I said. “If Owen or anybody else goes on the mountain before we can warn them, they’ll be killed.”

We were an hour away. Jeremy had destroyed my phone, and half the time, Aiden’s phone didn’t get reception at all in the mountains. What if the Rigsbys had figured out some way to lure Owen to Refuge Mountain? What if he was already there? Jeremy had sounded so sure of his plan.

What if we were already too late?

“We have to go,” I said.

“Just a minute.” Aiden stuck Jeremy behind a pallet of Hart-Made Candy Co. boxes. Aiden took off Jeremy’s coat and then his belt to secure his hands. Then Aiden used Jeremy’s jacket to tie up his injured leg. “Had to make sure he’d stay put.”

“What about the other guy?” I asked. “Walls?”

“He’s in a dumpster behind the convenience store. Not dead, just knocked out. So we’d better get out of here before he or the one we left inside can wake up. Though I doubt they’ll be eager to call the police, since they’ve got contraband on this truck somewhere.”

I didn’t like the idea of leaving Jeremy and the truck here, since they could find a way to escape, but we didn’t have much choice. And Istillhadn’t figured out what these boxes were really carrying. The cargo area had an odd smell, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Did you get a chance to find out what they’re transporting?” I asked quickly.

“No. Right after I unlocked the cargo door, I changed my mind and decided to go back for you. That’s when I saw Jeremy bring you outside. I hid.” Aiden strode over to me and pulled me in close, tucking my head against his chest for a quick but thorough hug. “I’m so sorry, Jessi. I had to wait for the right moment. It makes me sick that he was hurting you. If you’d given me the go ahead…”

“I know. But you’re worth a thousand of him. His blood doesn’t belong on your hands.” I basked for one more second in Aiden’s warm, comforting embrace. Then I stepped back. “We have to hurry.”

Aiden used the tactical knife to slice away the plastic from the pallet of cardboard boxes. It looked like each large box could fit a couple dozen decorative candy boxes within. “We’ll take one of these bulk boxes with us,” he said. “Maybe it’ll have the evidence we need to uncover the Rigsbys’ drug operation.”

We jumped out of the delivery truck. Aiden replaced the padlock on the cargo door, locking Jeremy inside, and pocketed the truck keys. Even if Walls and his partner Luther woke up, they couldn’t drive it away.

Then Aiden tucked the cardboard box under his arm, and we both ran for his pickup.

CHAPTERTHIRTY

Aiden

I gunnedthe engine as we hurried back toward Hartley. My knuckles were pale as I squeezed the steering wheel. But I pretended it was Jeremy Rigsby’s neck.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how he’d put his hands on Jessi.

Truly, I had been one flick of my wrist away from ending that guy, despite Jessi’s decision to give him mercy. But letting him live had been the right call. Hiding the dead body would’ve been annoying, and I might’ve had a bunch of police nonsense to deal with… Too much effort.

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