Page 4 of Hidden Desires
“Yup, that sounds about right.”
Caden and Luc had been dating for a few months now, and, while Caden might joke about sleeping with other men, they both knew that he didn’t have the heart to even look at another man. Lucas was Caden’s whole world, and based on the growly way Caden got around other guys who showed his boyfriend a bit of attention, Ace was pretty sure that there would be a body count if anyone ever so much as touched his man.
“How much further?” Caden asked, tapping on the brakes and chuckling as he watched his buddy swerve once again.
The guys were going to kill each other one day.
Ace pulled out his phone and looked at the GPS.
“About another fifteen minutes. Take the next exit and then head west until you reach the industrial area.”
They had been hired to deliver some merchandise—guns, ammo—nothing too crazy, to a man who went by the nameRed Angel.
Even today, the name still sounded stupid to Ace. But who was he to complain? The man had reached out to theShadow Vipersand requested that the biker gang deliver his goods in person. A simple transport of goods across state lines. Nothing dangerous. Nothing too difficult.
Ten minutes later, Cade pulled the truck into the empty lot and backed it into the delivery bay.
The bay door opened, and two men wearing gun holsters stood waiting for them to approach.
One of them nodded over his shoulder.
“Thanks,” Ace responded, walking past the man as he and his partner began unloading the truck.
“Welcome!” a tall, slender man greeted, extending his arms wide as he flagged Caden and him over. “How was the drive over?”
Ace was the first to reach the guy and extended his hand as a courtesy.
“It was good. Quiet this time of night. Only took us a few hours.”
“Excellent. And you didn’t have any trouble getting the items I requested?” the man asked, glancing over Ace’s shoulder as his men continued to remove the crates.
“Nope. We got twenty-five 9mms, ten shotguns, and one hundred cases of ammunition as requested,” Ace listed off.
He handed the man an envelope containing his invoice and waited for him to hand over his payment.
The man known as Red Angel pulled the invoice from the envelope and skimmed over the items listed. His lips pulled back in a wicked grin as he folded up the piece of paper and stashed it into his back pocket.
“Everything looks good on our end. You boys finished back there?” Red Angel asked, glancing over at his crew.
“Yeah, boss,” one of the men replied, stepping away from the truck Ace and Caden had used to deliver the merchandise.
Seeming satisfied, the tattooed gang leader picked up a gray duffel bag beside him and threw it to Ace.
“Pleasure doin’ business, gents,” the man said, before turning to walk back toward his office.
“Wait. Not so fast,” Caden grumbled, stepping up next to Ace and pulling something from his back pocket. “Open the bag.”
Ace pulled open the duffel, revealing a bag full of hundred-dollar bundles. Hundreds of Benjamins, all staring up at him. So proud. So glorious.
Caden reached in and pulled out a bundle.
Steps away, Red Angel stood watching as Caden flashed his tiny UV pen over the stack of hundred-dollar bills and grimaced. He tossed that back into the bag and pulled out another bundle. Once again, he ran the light over the stack he held in his hand.
“Fake. All Fakes!” Caden growled, turning toward Red Angel and pulling his gun out of the back of his jeans. “What the fuck is this? You trying to cheat us out of our money?”
Ace startled, taking a step back and still clutching the duffel bag in his hands. It hadn’t registered that the cash he was still protecting was nothing more than usable toilet paper.
Behind them, the rest of Red Angel’s crew pulled out their guns and pointed them all at Ace and Cade. It was a symphony of scales, listening to the crew all cock their guns at the same time.
