Reckless Temptations (The Tempted Series Book 4) (34 page)

“Sorry fella’s we’re fresh out of donuts,” Jack said, shoving his gloves into his pockets. He leaned back on his heels as he eyed a group of blue and whites. “But gotta tell you, got this warm fuzzy feeling…” he pounded his fist against the center of his chest, “…up in here. We’re touched all you rat bastards showed up in our time of need. Isn’t that right, Riggs?” He asked, keeping his eyes steady on one particular cop.

“Right,” I agreed, sizing up the situation. The cop Jack was staring at narrowed his eyes at him.

“Just doing our jobs, Parrish,” he replied. “Putting away the bad guys and all that shit.”

Blackie, Bones, Pipe and Wolf walked up behind us, all of them glaring at the men in uniform. The cop lifted his head and raised an eyebrow in Blackie’s direction.

“Well, look who it is,” he taunted, stepping around Jack and closer to Blackie. Jack was quick on his feet and stood in front of the vice president.

This was new, usually the cops we deal with are on the payroll, not these guys. They were out for blood, and by the looks of it Blackie’s was what they were thirsty for.

“Relax Bulldog, no need to get possessive over a junkie,” the cop ground out, flexing his jaw. “Scum like that not worth the effort,” he added.

“You would know right, Craig?” Blackie clipped, as Jack placed his hand on his chest, holding him back. “I’m good,” he told Jack, shoving his hand off his chest.

“Instead of taunting my brothers why don’t you assholes do your job and find out who shot up Pop’s business,” Jack suggested.

“We intend to,” Craig promised. “Who’d you piss off this time, Bulldog?”

“Don’t bust my balls. Do your job or get the fuck out of here, put all those hard earned tax dollars to use," Jack hissed, turning around to face the rest of us and nodded toward Pops.

“You people probably never paid taxes a day in your life,” he sneered.

Jack ignored him and we walked away from the tribe of officers when Craig called out to us.

“Hey, Blackie, I’d watch my back if I were you. It’d be a shame if you suffered the same fate as Christine,” he crooned.

Blackie spun around.

“Fuck,” Jack hissed, as Blackie charged for the cop.

“Keep her name off your fucking tongue or so help me God I’ll slice that thing right out of your fucking mouth,” Blackie growled, as I grabbed him by the back of his cut and pulled him back.

“Sounds like you just threatened a police officer,” he tormented.

Blackie shrugged me off of him and took another step toward Craig.

“You got a hard on for me, motherfucker?” Blackie whispered, extending his arms outward and crossing one wrist over the other. “Go on, lock me up,” he hollered.

What the fuck was going on?

I glanced at the name on this Craig character’s badge, Brantley. I think Craig Brantley needed to get locked out of his bank accounts, or maybe he needed a profile on a gay dating website, shouldn’t be a hard task, for a mastermind like me. I’d be all over that shit.

“Pussy,” Blackie hissed, dropping his hands to his sides and turning back to face us.

“You okay?” Jack questioned.

“I’m fine,” he confirmed, tipping his head toward the ambulance rolling into the parking lot.

“Pops?”

“No, the kid working,” he informed us, leading us to where Pops was crouched down on the ground over the young worker’s body. “Took a shot in the leg but he should be fine. Pops on the other hand, he’s feeling some sort of way,” Blackie added.

“They took the guns,” Pipe confirmed.

“We’re sure it was Wu?” I asked, knowing the answer.

“Yeah, they didn’t even try to hide their identity, sending their message loud and clear,” Wolf said as he lit up a cigarette. “Those fucking Dragons, man,” he took a puff, turning toward Jack. “Give me the green light, make them watch as I fuck all their mothers,” he offered.

“Christ, Wolf,” Bones snarled. “What the fuck did their mothers do to you?”

“Them bitches brought those fucks into the world,” he insisted.

Wolf was a maniac.

I loved him.

Jack walked over to Pop and I decided to follow him, my eyes zeroed in on the kid on the ground, no more than eighteen years old.

“You’re going to be fine, boy,” Pop assured the kid wailing in pain, as he lifted his eyes to Jack.

“Christ,” Jack muttered, running his fingers through his hair.

“He won’t help you now son,” Pop said through gritted teeth. “Hope you know what you’re doing because these bastards aren’t playing games.”

“You okay?” Jack asked.

“Going to take a lot more than a bunch of amateurs to take me down, but this kid here? He didn’t deserve to get stuck in the crosshairs of whatever it is you have going on with the Chinese. He didn’t sign up for that, and quite frankly neither did I,” he glanced over his shoulder at the building behind him. “Got a fine mess here to clean up.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Jack vowed.

“Yeah, you will,” Pop announced as the paramedics pushed him aside to work on the kid. “Don’t feel like revisiting history son, did my time, buried enough innocent lives to last a lifetime.” He rose to his feet, brushing the dirt from his pants and stepped closer to Jack. “You need to get a handle on these bastards before they draw more blood,” he demanded.

“I said, I’ll take care of it,” Jack seethed.

“Pop, you should go to the hospital, get yourself checked out,” I suggested, noticing the blood on the old man’s neck. “Were you hit?”

Pop turned around, lifting his hand to his neck, bringing it back to stare at the blood on his fingers before he turned to Jack.

“Just a nick,” he declared, holding Jack’s stare for a moment before turning back to the paramedics. “I’m riding with him,” he told them as they lifted the kid onto the stretcher.

I watched as they ran the stretcher to the back of the ambulance, one paramedic applying pressure to the wound as the other opened the ambulance doors. They lifted the stretcher into the back of the ambulance and Pop climbed up, taking a seat on the bench beside the kid. The paramedic closed the door before running around to the driver’s side. The sirens sounded, and lights flashed as they peeled away from the scene of the crime.

That kid would be fine.

But Pops was right.

More blood would be shed.

More innocent lives were at stake and would pay the price for what we did.

I was the one behind the plan. Wu knew I had orchestrated this whole thing—there was no doubt he had let me go because the motherfucker had a bigger plan for me. I get it. I’d do the same fucking thing. I’d let the bastard suffer, make him wonder when I was coming, and then I’d make him watch helplessly as I took everything he cared about.

I got it.

It’s exactly what I would do.

I put myself in the enemies shoes, calculating what my next move would be if I was him and Lauren’s face flashed before my eyes.

“Riggs,” Jack said, pulling me away from my Kitten’s innocent face and I turned to him, blinking as I tried to mask the fear in my eyes.

“Yeah,” I rasped.

Jack stared at me thoughtfully and opened his mouth to speak but Blackie interrupted.

“What are we going to do here?” He questioned, rolling a toothpick between his teeth and tipped his head back toward Brantley and his posse. “You know they’re going to be riding our asses now,” he added.

“Fuck ‘em,” Jack hissed, blowing out a heavy sigh.

“Gladly,” Blackie gritted, spitting the toothpick onto the ground. “We putting this club on lockdown?”

“No, not yet,” Jack said, surprisingly. “For now round up the prospects, put them on Reina, Lacey and Lauren,” he ordered, turning his eyes to mine. “That going to be a problem?”

“No,” I said immediately. The fact that Kitten was lumped in the list of priorities along with Reina and Jack’s daughter, scared the fuck out of me. “Jack,” I started, losing the words on my tongue.

“It’s a precaution, Riggs,” he answered, taking in the worried look in my eyes. “We need to bide our time and keep our heads. We can’t keep our heads if we’re worried about our women. You feel me?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, nodding my head.

“You trust me?” He asked.

“Of course,” I declared.

“Then trust me when I say we will get these motherfuckers,” he declared, as he cupped my shoulder. “We always win, even when it looks like it’s impossible. You know why? Because I’ve lost too much to let anyone else ever take a goddamn thing from me and mine.” He fixed his eyes on me and patted my cheek. “Get that look out of your eyes, Riggs,” he ordered. “Looks like you found your heart, kid. Now, you have to hang on to it.”

I should’ve freaked out with the first part of that sentence but it was the last part that threw me for a loop.

I knew Lauren had become my heart and if I’m being honest I’ve known for a while. I didn’t fight it very hard, a part of me wanted her to be the person I lived for, for her and Pea to be my purpose.

A big part.

But the small part of me knew having them in my life could hurt them. That was the part that was winning now, trumping everything else.

How do you hang on to someone knowing it’s better if you let them go?

What kind of man would that make me if I kept Lauren around just for my benefit? Sure, I could throw a prospect on her but that wouldn’t ease my conscience.

Hang on for what? Purpose? A reason not to be reckless?

Something happens to them, God, if something happens to them I’d really lose my heart. Then, and only then would I lose my purpose.

I turned around, striding toward my bike, ignoring Jack and Blackie’s calls and grabbed my phone from my pocket, dialing Anthony’s number.

“Yo,” he answered. “Where’d you guys go—”

“Don’t tell anyone it’s me,” I interrupted. “I know you’ve got company and shit but think you can sneak out and meet me at the gym?” I asked, as I straddled my bike. He was silent for a moment. “It’s important, Bianci. I wouldn’t ask you otherwise—it’s about Lauren,” I confessed, my own voice sounding very unfamiliar to my ears.

“Give me an hour,” he said.

“Thanks,” I muttered before disconnecting the call.

Bones ran up beside my bike, placing his foot on top of the wheel and gripped the handlebars.

“Where are you running off too?”

“Get out of my way,” I snapped.

“Riggs, I know that fucking look in your eyes. Don’t do something stupid,” he ordered.

And for the first time I wasn’t doing something stupid or reckless. I was doing something worth a damn.

“I’ve got no issue running your ass over,” I shouted over the noise of my engine. Bones knew me well enough to know that when I had something in my head, no one could sway me another way. He grunted as he removed his hand and foot, standing to the side as I peeled away from the mayhem and headed straight to Hell.

The Hell where Kitten wasn’t mine.

I sat on my bike parked in front of Xonerated and waited for Anthony to arrive. I reached into my cut, desperate to take the edge off and pulled out a perfectly rolled joint. I searched the inside pocket of my cut for a lighter and my fingers gripped the lace of Lauren’s panties.

My gift to you. A reminder that dreams come true.

What a fucking nightmare.

I left the panties in my pocket and pulled out the lighter, flicking a flame and lighting up the paper, taking a greedy hit as it burned. I took it from my lips, holding the smoke in, letting it ferment within before exhaling and staring down at the joint in my hand.

Funny how it used to work, how it used to take the edge off and calm my restless ways.

Not this time.

It’s pretty fucking crazy how I went from living life without a care in the world to this shit.

Soon enough my life would go back to the way it used to be.

A life with no worries.

No responsibilities.

Free to do whatever the fuck I wanted, whenever the fuck I wanted.

A life I thought I was meant to live.

One I wanted.

I chose my path.

And here I am, wishing for a motherfucking detour.

Wishing for another way.

Another life.

Regrets?

I had them in spades.

Dreams?

I had those too.

Nightmares?

I’m pretty sure I’m living one right now.

Anthony pulled up in front of the gym and I took another long hit of my joint as he stepped around the car and made his way to my side. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, clipping my joint before tucking it away in my pocket.

“What’s up?” He questioned, crossing his arms against his chest as he scrutinized me.

“Some shit went down today,” I began, blowing out the smoke I held hostage in my lungs.

“Figured that much,” he cautioned, cocking his head to the side, trying to figure me out.

Good luck, brother.

Let me know what you find.

“You sat at that table when everything was going down with Gold. You know it was me who offered up a way to get the drugs to save Blackie and Reina. What you don’t know, and I’m not even sure I should tell you, is who we took them from,” I paused, deciding it didn’t matter.