“We’ll comb through CCTV footage and go over any statements from the neighbors that might be helpful. We’ll find out who did this, Ms. Torres, and we’ll bring him in,” Lloyd assured me.
“You need help identifying that son-of-a-bitch, you know my number,” said Roy.
He and Lloyd exchanged another look, and even I heard the message loud and clear. The Wild Stallions weren’t going to stay on the sidelines, and Lloyd knew it.
I didn’t really care one way or another who found Hoffman—I just wanted it to be over.
Jed’s hand was wrapped around mine, and he was watching their exchange alongside me. I squeezed his fingers, silently begging for his attention.
When I had his eyes, I murmured, “Can we go? I really don’t want to be here anymore.”
“Yeah, darlin’. You’re with me. You wanna change?”
I wanted to do a lot more than change. I wanted a shower and a drink.
Aware that finding my way to either of those things meant mounting Jed’s Harley, I knew I needed to get out of my work outfit first. So, I stood with a sigh and went to my room. As I swapped my skirt for jeans and my blood-smeared top for an old graphic tee, it dawned on me that the last time I changed in my room was when I was trying to get out of there after something awful had happened.
No wonder home didn’t feelhomey.
Wrangler
Hewatchedheruntilshe closed herself into her bedroom, then cut his eyes toward the detectives. They were no longer standing nearby, the two of them taking a closer look at the crime scene that was his woman’s apartment.
A fuckin’ crime scene.
Wrangler scowled as the memory of Alexia’s phone call replayed itself in his mind.
His Lex was a pit bull when it came to the law—fearless and confident in her wisdom. But when bullets were flying, she was terrified. He’d heard it in her insistent whisper, and it made him feel things he never had before.
Not when his children were born.
Not when Lowe got sick with her first ear infection, or when Ax fell and scraped his knees raw when he was learning to skate.
Not when either of his kids called him scared or worried over one thing or another.
Neverhad he felt as powerless as he did when Lex told him someone was shooting into her apartment, and he wasn’t there.
It pissed him off something fierce.
He looked to Bull, and in a voice low and controlled, knowing Lex was in the next room, he asked, “What thefuck?”
Bull met his eyes, but he didn’t get a chance to speak before Wrangler continued.
“Been sayin’ we don’t want war—but if the cartel is behind this, they’ll get their fuckin’ fight.”
Bull didn’t flinch. Neither did he make a quick reply. Wrangler saw it as his president considered his next words carefully.
“Don’t know that Alvarez has motive to be so bold. Hoffman, on the other hand, is a man with nothin’ to lose.”
“And you think Hoffman has the balls to dothis?” Wrangler spat, losing a bit of his patience as he pointed at the holes splintering the glass of the sliding door across the room. “He’s a greedy fucker, I’ll give you that. But emptyin’ an entire clip? Knowin’ good and damn well she’s got us at her back? That’s notnothin’ to lose, Bull—that’s a fuckin’ death wish.
“I won’t claim to know what Hoffman and Borerro have been up to, but I know you haven’t forgotten it was Borrero who snatched her up not once but twice. The second time at Hoffman’s insistence.”
Bull nodded as he took a step toward Wrangler. Then, his tone still level and measured, he spoke, “Soon as we’ve got answers, we’ll know what to do next. There’s no fight to start until we know who’s responsible. I know you’re worked up, and for good reason. But—”
“Worked up?” Wrangler practically growled. He closed what distance was left between them and barely restrained himself from yelling as he said, “Fifteen fuckin’ rounds at my woman, Bull.Fifteen!”
Bull had Wrangler by an inch or two, but Wrangler had Bull by a good twenty pounds. As they stood nose to nose—Wrangler barely containing his fury, and Bull fighting to keep his cool—rank became an afterthought.
