Unlawfully Yours (Lawless MC #1)

9

The next day after dropping Kit off at the school gates, I decide to pay a visit to our young new officer, just for the hell of it. It seems pissing her off could soon become my new favourite hobby and the thought of seeing that rage burning in her eyes again has my skin tingling with excitement. Petty, I know, but is it fun? Fuck yes.

I almost feel bad for her, being humiliated the way she was by Walker yesterday. Almost . She had it coming, and I was all too happy to play along. I could have told her straight off the bat about my little agreement with the town’s sheriff, but that smart mouth rubbed me up the wrong way, so why not let her learn the hard way? And I have to admit, I quite enjoyed having her cuff me. I’m not usually the one being bound—back when I used to have sex, that is—it was usually the other way around, but I won’t deny it turned me the fuck on.

I swing open the entrance door and head for the front desk where I spot Damien typing away on the computer. “I’m looking for Officer Adams.”

“Just through there.” He directs me through the door at the end of the hall where a dozen or so desks are laid out, Walker’s office at the opposite end. I can see the fat bastard stuffing his face with a donut through the open blinds hanging in the window. How original.

I scan the desks and when my eyes land on a head of short, shiny black hair, my feet are on the move. I come up behind her, and she doesn’t notice me until I drop into the chair on the opposite side of her desk, reclining back, resting my ankle on my opposite knee.

Her eyes widen briefly but then narrow in something akin to disgust. “What are you doing here?” she asks accusingly, dropping her pen onto the desk.

“I was just passing by, thought I’d drop in and say hi.” I give her my best shit-eating grin.

“How very nice of you. I’m flattered.” I don’t miss the edge of sarcasm in her voice.

Up close, she’s hotter than I remember from yesterday and I have to force my mind not to return to the image of those plump pink lips of hers wrapped around my cock as I jerked off last night. Jade green eyes sparkle behind long dark lashes, her nose delicate and slender, her short black hair brushing her shoulders, framing her heart-shaped face perfectly.

She’s fucking stunning and my breath catches in my throat for a second.

There’s a half-empty packet of potato chips on the desk in front of me. “ Ooo , salt and vinegar, my favourite.” I reach for one but she slaps my hand away at the last minute.

She leans forward, resting her forearms on her desk. “Are you always such an asshole?”

“Do you always have that stick up your ass? I’d offer to help remove it for you, but I think we’d both enjoy it a little more than we should, am I right?”

She rolls her eyes. “What do you want Mr. Lawson? I’m busy.”

I like how she says my last name. “An apology.”

“An apology?” She scoffs. “For what?”

“For wrongfully arresting me yesterday. I’d say it’s the right thing to do.”

She barks out a laugh. “You and I both know I had more than enough grounds on which to arrest you. President of your little MC gang or not, you were fighting in the street in public.”

“Yes, I was, but in the interest of this town,” I point out.

She crosses her arms over her chest. “How do you figure?”

“Because those Cobra pieces of shit are dealing drugs on Stillwater’s streets. I don’t know about you but I don’t like that shit on my doorstep. While Sheriff Walker is eating himself into a diabetes diagnosis, getting fat behind his desk, me and my club are actually doing something about it. You might not like my means, but I think you’ll find it’s an outcome that is in all of our best interests.”

“There are other ways to get justice than taking the law into your own hands. It makes you as bad as them,” she says.

“And that is where we have to disagree. Do you think Walker just happened to stumble on the drug deal going down involving The Cobras on his own? No, we tipped him off.”

She doesn’t seem surprised, so my guess is Walker has made her aware of our deal.

“How we got that information wasn’t legal, but without it we’d have thousands of dollars worth drugs getting into the wrong hands on our streets.”

She goes to speak but she clamps her mouth shut. Deep down she knows I’m right, I can see it all over her pretty face, how her lips twist in annoyance.

“So, now we’ve established that I’m not in fact the bad guy here, how about that apology?”

“Yeah, that’s not happening.”

“Oh come on, one tiny apology. Two little words…”

“Oh, I’ve got two little words for you. The first one starts with an F and the second ends with a U.”

The corners of my mouth quirk up into a smile. This woman has bigger balls than most of the guys I know. I’m impressed.

“You know, I can’t decide if you’re ridiculously brave or just incredibly stupid talking to the leader of an MC like that.”

“What can I say? I’m not easy to intimidate.”

“Then I guess you’re lucky you got me, not many men would be so tolerant.”

“Lucky me.”

I have never, nor would I ever raise a hand to a woman. I’m an asshole in some respects, but not that much of an asshole. But God, what I’d give to wrap my hands around that pretty little neck of hers and squeeze. She’s driving me insane to the point that a stretch in prison for first-degree murder may actually be worth the hard time.

“I don’t scare you at all do I?” I ask.

“Should I be scared?”

“Yes,” I reply coolly.

“The whole big bad biker act doesn’t work on me. I’ve met men scarier than you and believe me, they didn’t exactly have me quaking in my boots either.”

All I can do is smile. I have to admire her courage, it’s rare to say the least and it takes a lot of it to stand up to someone like me.

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I reach for it, my smile only growing when I see the message staring up at me.

I type back quickly.

I shove my phone back into my pocket. “You know what, darlin’, don’t you worry about that apology just now.”

“No problem because you won’t be getting one.”

I chuckle. “We’ll see about that. Catch you later, pixie,” I wink before rising from the chair.

“Pixie?”

I’m not sure where that nickname came from, but given how small and vivacious she is, it seems appropriate. “Had to come up with a name for you, didn’t I? I’ll see you around, pix.”

Apology or not, I don’t give a fuck. My goal this morning was to get under her skin, to rile her up and judging by the look on her face, I can safely say I succeeded.

Feeling smug, I walk out of the station with my head held high and the biggest grin on my face.

It’s only fifteen minutes before I’m pulling up outside the auto shop. Alex and Venom and some of the other guys are working on a couple of cars as I head through the shop.

“Venom, with me,” I say.

“Actually, Prez, I have to get this job done,” Venom replies and I stop. “Promised the owner I’d have it done.”

“They can wait. Now, with me. That is if I’m not putting you out too much. I promise it won’t take long.”

Reluctantly, he drops the tool in his hand and stalks in my direction. The two of us enter the back of the garage where I’m greeted with Levins who is currently tied to a chair, duct tape binding his wrists and ankles, and sealing his mouth shut with Cru and my brother, Jett stood over him.

“Where d’you find him?” I ask.

“Hiding out at his buddy’s apartment. He ventured outside and one of the Prospects spotted him out on the street,” Jett replies.

Brad Levins can’t be any older than thirty. His dark greasy hair is slicked back, his eyes darting around the room nervously as beads of sweat track down his face and neck. He’s either experiencing some serious withdrawals or terrified of what’s to come, maybe it’s both.

Brad is trembling where he sits, his eyes flicking from me to Venom and his eyes widen, a flash of recognition crossing his face. But that’s not possible. Is it?

Brad flinches when I step closer. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want some information and then I’ll let you go.”

I peel the tape away from his mouth, a little of his facial hair coming away with it. His eyes dart to Venom once again before back to me. “I don’t know anything. I swear.”

I cock my head. “Now, I don’t believe that for second. You’ve been around The Cobras long enough to know something. So, why did they choose to deal in my town rather than their own?”

“I don’t know, man. I swear.”

“Brad, this can go one of two ways. The easy way, or the hard way.” I move towards the cabinet to my left and dig out a large pair of pliers. “Do you want to reconsider your answer?”

Venom closes the distance between them, tugging Brad’s head back roughly by his hair. “Think very carefully about what you say next,” he says with a warning stare before releasing his hold with a shove.

Brad’s eyes are wide as they stare at the pliers in my hand. “T—To piss you off. Grimes wants to piss you off.”

“I gathered that already, but why ?”

“I don’t know.”

I release a heavy sigh. “Brad, believe it or not, I don’t want to do this. Please don’t make me do this.”

I close the distance between us, holding the pliers up a little higher, bringing it to his left index fingernail.

“Still don’t know?”

I give him a few seconds, and despite the fear in his eyes, his mouth remains closed.

“Alright.” In one smooth motion, I give the pliers a sharp tug, Brad’s fingernail along with it.

His scream echoes through the space, his voice bouncing off the walls as his shouts turn to hysterical sobs so loud I’m sure the whole fucking town heard.

I move the pliers to the next finger.

“Okay, fine. Fine!” Brad cries . “I didn’t hear much, but Ricky mentioned something about moving in on Stillwater.”

Moving in on Stillwater?

“They trying to patch us over?” I ask.

“Or kill us?” Cruiser adds. “They already tried running Jack and his girl off the road and fuck up our businesses. What’s next?”

I splay my palms on the arms of Brad’s chair, towering over him. Beads of sweat cling to his forehead as he continues to tremble. “Do you know anything else?”

He glances briefly to Venom before his eyes flick back to me, there’s fear in them. It’s like he’s even more afraid of Venom than he is of me.

He shakes his head. “No, I swear. They never said shit around me. The only thing I heard was that they want your town as their own and your crew gone.”

“That’s all?”

He nods. “Yes, I swear. S—Swear to fucking god, man. I swear.”

As he sits in front of me, he’s totally defeated and it’s clear he doesn’t know anything more.

“Cru, untie him,” I say and Brad’s body visibly deflates with relief.

“You’re letting him go?” Venom asks. “What the fuck?”

“We have no reason to kill him,” I reply.

“Other than the fact he’ll go running back to Grimes and tell them exactly what went down here.”

“It doesn’t matter. They knew we’d find out eventually. He doesn’t know anything else, we don’t have to resort to murder.”

Venom scoffs. “This is ridiculous. If we don’t kill him, it will make you look weak.”

My eyes snap to his. “ Not killing him makes me the bigger person. Only a man who feels threatened turns to murder and this man isn’t a threat.”

“Bullshit,” he mutters under his breath.

“If you have a problem with how I do things around here, Venom , then let’s hear it.” I don’t often call him by his real name, but he needs to understand the seriousness of what’s happening here.

He holds his palms up. “Have it your way, Prez .”

His eyes flick to Brad once more, shooting him a glare before he backs out of the room, letting the heavy door slam shut behind him.

I turn back to Levins. “I want you to find Grimes and tell him he’ll never get his hands on Stillwater Falls.”