Page 155 of Things We Hide from the Light
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t arrest you right now,” I growled.
“Saved your girl from getting her ass kicked for one,” Grim said smugly.
The first check-in she’d missed had Nolan and me heading for my vehicle. We hadn’t even made it out of the parking lot before Grave alerted me to the 911 call in Arlington. I was on the road by the time Lina called me…from Grim’s phone.
Knox and Lucian showed up at the biker’s headquarters about five minutes after we did.
“Gentlemen, I hate to break up this thrilling staring contest,” Lina said. “But Ireallyhave to pee and Grim has information he’s graciously willing to share.”
“Let’s do this inside,” Grim said. “Except for him.” All eyes turned to Nolan. “One cop is bad enough. I don’t need two of you stinking up the place.”
Nolan didn’t look like he liked that idea.
“It’s fine,” I assured him.
“Don’t do anything stupid in there,” he muttered.
I nodded.
“So, boys and girls, what do we do while we wait? Shoot some hoops? Play some Scrabble?” Nolan asked the remaining bikers as we followed Grim inside.
Knox grabbed my arm. “Try not to be a law-abiding dick in there, okay? You don’t want Grim as an enemy.”
I jerked free of his grasp. “Try not to be an asshole in there.”
“Both of you behave,” Lina hissed.
I took her hand and anchored her to me. No one was getting near her.
I had to admit, this wasn’t what I’d expected from a motorcycle club headquarters. Instead of smoke-stained drywall and beer-soaked floors, the interior of the one-story block building resembled more of a club and gallery. The floors were stained concrete. The walls alternated between stark white and dark gray with large, chaotic canvases adding brilliant pops of color.
Grim pointed Lina in the direction of the restroom and I stood guard outside while the others entered what appeared to be some sort of conference room.
When the bathroom door opened and Lina stepped out, I straightened away from the wall.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I swear. Grim and his biker minions are actually pretty nice. And before you even say it, none of this was my fault.”
Every time I looked at her, her beauty struck me like a hammer. Every time my eyes found her, something inside me lit up. I wanted to touch her, to back her into the wall, cage her in, and run my hands over every inch of her body. But if I did that, I didn’t know if I would have the strength to stop. So I kept my hands at my sides.
“Nash?” she prodded.
“I know,” I said.
She went still, then shook her head in disbelief. “Youknow? What do you know?”
I gritted my teeth. “That it wasn’t your fault.”
“Gonna be honest. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m fuckin’ happy about you being in that situation in the first place. Even though I get to say I told you so.Because I fucking told you so. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean I enjoyed having no fuckin’ clue what happened to you after you called 911. And you can bet every expensive pair of shoes you own that I was the opposite of thrilled to find you were pulled out of that situation by men in ski masks.”
“Actually, the driver was a woman,” she pointed out.
But I wasn’t finished. “And I’mdefinitelyhavin’ issues with seeing you ride up to a goddamn motorcycle club on the back of a goddamn known criminal’s bike.”
“Look at the bright side, hotshot. Remember how you hated the numbness? Look at the colorful range of emotions you’re experiencing right now.”
