Burn: Outlaw Romance (Hotter Than Hell Book 3) (21 page)

Keeping the lights out, we clear the bar and check the other bedroom. We’re worried that whoever’s watching us will notice the lights and realize we know something’s going down. We can’t take a chance that they hit us right away even if the warrant won’t be good. We find nothing more.

I take the phone from Sofia. She’s calm and acts like this shit is a daily occurrence. Yep, my dick twitches. “Did you get everyone?”

“Yes, they’re holding tight until they hear from you.”

I send off a text and cancel the drug buy. Won’t go over well, but we don’t have a choice. My text is vague but gets my point across.

Canceling appointment, legal issues.

My next message goes to Gomez, Moon’s enforcer.

Mom talking, shit going down, I’ll be in touch.

Gomez’s response is almost immediate.

Need us?

We’re good
.

The response about the drug buy comes in just as I’m about to add my phone to the pillowcase.

You lost our business, we only dealt with Fox. Lose this number
.

Pauline must be talking to more than the cops. People say things about silver lining bullshit. This is ours and I’ll take it. I don’t reply, it’s unnecessary. We are now officially out of the drug business. I toss my phone in the pillowcase along with Sofia’s, which I slipped in my pocket from where I kept it in the dresser. Sofia’s gun goes in too. Doesn’t matter that it’s hers. Never asked where she got it or if it’s clean. She’s under this roof, so my and Rufus’ prison records will cause problems we don’t need.

Red comes in with a handful of glass pipes and other assorted items we need to get rid of. Rufus’ gun joins everything else and then Red takes off. She has a flashlight that she’ll use when she’s far enough away. She’s stashing the pillowcase and heading back to the trailer to wait with the ladies.

I pull Sofia in close and hug her. “Sorry about this, princess. Stay dressed and try to get some sleep,” I tell her.

“Are you sleeping?”

I look around the room and hope we caught everything. “I’ll lie down with you.”

It’s four o’clock in the morning and neither of us sleep. I fucking hate this shit and my heart beats overtime until the sun peeks through the window and the front door crashes in.

Shouts of, “Sheriff’s Department,” come from the front and back of the building. I raise my hands when the bedroom door flies open. “Get on the floor, get on the floor. Keep your hands where we can see them.”

Sofia cries out as she’s jerked from the bed. I should have told her to immediately follow their instructions. I try to control my anger as she cries out again when they jerk her arms behind her back and snap cuffs on her. I’m shoved to my stomach and my face is pushed to the floor.
Fucking assholes
.

“What the hell did I do, shithead?” Sofia yells.

“Clear, clear,” can be heard coming from all the rooms. One of the deputies roughly lifts me to my feet and walks me into the front room, where another deputy pushes me so I sit down against the wall by the front door. “We have a warrant,” the deputy says. He could have told me to fucking sit down and I’d have complied. They like putting on their show and shoving everyone around. I hate these motherfuckers. Controlling my anger is near impossible, but I know from experience being angry will get me nowhere. Prison was like this every fucking day.

“No shit, really?” I spit out about the warrant. “Where’s my woman? She hasn’t done anything.”

The deputy ignores my bitching. “Where’s Frank Tison?” he demands.

“Frank who?” I play dumb even though I know damn good and well who he’s talking about. This deputy is still wet behind the ears and doesn’t appear smart enough to trick me into anything involving Fox’s death. I’m thinking Pauline kept that info to herself for some reason.

Another deputy in full black riot gear steps forward. “Fox, where is he?”

This is the one I need to watch out for. He’s special task force of some kind. “Cleared out a few days ago. Didn’t like the changes,” I say. Still no strange looks and I breathe a sigh of relief. I’m almost positive they don’t know Fox is dead.

“Who’s in charge?” he asks.

I’ll lawyer up if they ask me anything I don’t want to answer, but they’ll know it’s me soon enough. “I am. If you want me to answer more questions, get my woman out here so I can see she’s okay.”

He nods at the other deputy and the young one leaves the room.

“You got a name?” I ask.

“Agent Crier,” he says, which answers my silent question. This guy is drug task force. They all have the distinction of “agent.” Whatever gets their rocks off and all that.

“And your name?” he asks me.

“Dax Montgomery,” I say.

Red and the other three ladies walk in through the door off the kitchen in handcuffs. They’re followed by another deputy. Red’s the only one who isn’t crying. She’s as pissed off as I am. I’m worried about Sofia. A minute later I hear her cussing as they walk her into the front room with the rest of us.

“You assholes. What the hell did I do? Worried a Latina woman will kick your ass so you need to restrain me?”

That right there shows that Sofia has never been in prison. She doesn’t have the demeanor of someone who’s ever needed to follow rules or face the consequences. I can’t help my smile.

“No talking,” says the deputy who brought in Sofia. Another deputy follows with Rufus.

“So I can’t talk either? Who the fuck are you, God?” Sofia has her steely gaze directed fully on the deputy.

“They think they’re God,” Red adds to the mix.

“Everyone calm down,” Agent Crier says. “Let us do our job and this will go quickly.”

Now he receives the wrath of Sofia. “I was in bed thinking about blowin’ my man and getting a lick or two of my own and you dog fuckers storm in and start throwing us around. This is bullshit.”

I bite my lip praying he’ll ask why she called him a dog fucker.

Agent Crier moves closer to Sofia. “And who are you?” he questions evenly.

“Name’s Sofia Guadalupe Acosta. I’m here visiting and this is what I get? You assholes need a lesson in manners.” Her hair’s tangled and flying around as she jerks against the handcuffs. “These things are hurting my wrists, and I’ll be taking pictures of the bruises.”

“You need the cuffs loosened?” Crier asks as he reaches for the cuff key on his belt.

“Double lock them,” I say when he leans down. Crier looks at me and nods. When you’ve spent time inside, you know the tricks. Double locking keeps the cuffs from going tighter as well as looser.

“Turn around,” he tells Sofia.

She huffs out a breath but shuffles to her knees and turns. “I’m surprised to see someone like you visiting here. What’s your story?” he asks while he fixes the cuffs.

Don’t fall for it
, I plead silently.

She shifts back around when the cuffs are adjusted and plops her ass on the floor. Her eyes are still spitting fire. “I have no fucking idea what you mean by
someone like me
,” she says with scorn. “Came to spend some quality time with my dad. What’s it to you?”

Fuck
!

“Just making conversation. Who’s your dad?”

Fuck. Fuck!

Sofia doesn’t know when to shut up. “He goes by the name Fox. That’s my daddy dearest,” she says with fake sweetness.

Agent Crier’s eyes snap back to mine. I was fucking wrong. They do know something’s gone down with Fox. Crier knows exactly who I am, but he’s playing dumb cop, which isn’t a stretch for most of them. Crier’s fucking smart, though, and I need to remember that. Of course Sofia might land my ass back in prison and everything I’ve tried to do will be for nothing.

Crier slowly turns back to her. “You seen your dad in the past few days?”

I’ll personally take care of the bitch Pauline if I make it out of this. She fucking ratted everything, the sorry bitch.

“Daddy wasn’t too keen on having a Latina baby girl and high-tailed it out when I hooked with my man there.” She looks at me and her eyes go steamy. Hell, I’m falling for her theatrics and I know it’s all bullshit.

“Where did he go?” Crier demands in a louder voice. This obviously wasn’t what he expected.

“Took off and said fuck the club. I’ve been cooking and providing extra services for my man. We want a whole passel of little bald babies with dark skin. These boys have decided to get with the times and integrate. I’ve invited a few of my chicas from back home. The boys here will pay us to cook and clean. Fucking’s optional, which is a pretty good deal for the likes of us.”

I’ve never heard her lay on the Spanish accent so thick or the dumb Latina routine. I lean my head back against the wall and look up at the ceiling while she continues talking.

“Dax, my man, is turning this club around. No drugs and no breaking the law. Daddy dearest didn’t like that he was outvoted. This here is a democratic club now. The ladies you have in cuffs are clean for the first time in years. You can just think of this place as rehab for druggies and reformed bigots.”

The look on Crier’s face is priceless. Sofia is so enthusiastic it’s hard not to believe her. Rufus snickers softly beside me and Crier turns to us. His light brown eyes are darker now and I’m guessing he isn’t happy.

“She’s right. Club’s turning over a new leaf. We’re all about diversity now,” I add with as much sugar in my voice as I can manage.

Crier shakes his head and walks away stopping at another guy dressed in riot gear. The two of them speak quietly. It sucks that I can’t hear what they’re saying. Additional deputies enter and under Crier and his buddy’s direction begin tearing the place apart.

“I hope you wiped your boots off. I mopped those floors yesterday,” Sofia taunts.

I just shake my head, sit back, and enjoy the show. I watch Crier and his bud’s frustration climb the longer the guys search without finding anything. They carry my laptop out, which is clean, but it will be in their hands for months. I need it to work on plans for the convenience store, so I’m not happy. Crier walks back over an hour later.

His pleasant expression is back. “You mind if we search your car parked in the back?” he asks Sofia.

“You got a warrant?” she quips.

“No,” he crouches down to her level. “We didn’t see the car before we got the warrant signed.”

She smiles and bats her pretty brown eyes. “Too fucking bad. No, you can’t search my car. I keep my extra sex toys in the trunk and I don’t want your dirty hands on them. They cost a lot of money and I’ve been collecting those babies for years. If my old man’s away,” she nods toward me, “I need something to help flick the bean. I’m a girl with high needs.”

Crier doesn’t bother responding to her jibes; he just stands and walks away. I can no longer contain my grin. An hour later, we’re uncuffed and Crier hands me a receipt for what they confiscated along with the copy of the warrant. I had a clean, throwaway phone that I intentionally left for them to find. He’s unhappy but does his best not to show it.

“You really trying to clean this club up?” he asks me.

“It’s done,” I tell him.

He gives me a chin lift and leaves. We stand at the window and watch the ten plus cars clear out. When the dust settles, I turn to Sofia, pick her up, and twirl her around.

She laughs until I stop and pull her in for a deep kiss.

Sofia

THE COPS DESTROYED THE
place. It takes us more than an hour to get everything back in order. Brothers start showing up and Rufus runs his mouth repeatedly. I’m a pretty hot topic right now. I guess my job was to play the nice, quiet Latina while the white man fucked me over. They don’t know me well because I’ll never be intimidated by those assholes. I haven’t done anything and the secrets I hold are between me and God.

I was pissed off about Dagger’s wrist and that they handcuffed him. He doesn’t wear the brace to bed, but I’ve seen him massaging it since the cuffs came off. He hasn’t put the brace back on and the last thing I’ll do is whine at him for it.

Some of the guys who weren’t too fond of keeping me around are now giving me chin lifts. I’ve concluded that men have an entire chin language that females are ignorant of. I give my own lift back, but it just doesn’t work for me like it does for them.