Her mouth pulled into a frown and she stepped into the office. “You don’t look okay.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face and blew out a long breath. Frustration over the whole fucking situation of her husband coming after my club caused me to lash out. “Yeah well, that’s because your husband is fucking with me. It’d make my life a whole lot fucking easier if you’d give me some helpful information about where the hell he is.”
The ice I’d managed to thaw days ago returned to her gaze. “I’ve told you everything I think would be helpful. Maybe you should just let me leave here and go find him for you.”
“You’re not leaving here until I know you’re safe, so don’t bring that up again,” I snapped, still unable to control my frustration.
“You make no sense half the time! Snapping and snarling all over the place, contradicting yourself. But then, that was always the case between us, so I shouldn’t expect any different.”
She thought I made no sense? If only she could have seen shit from my perspective, she would have understood the whiplash I’d felt over her actions. Fuck, it just reinforced that I’d made the right choice years ago. I decided to shift the conversation because we weren’t going to agree on this. “Are you feeling okay?” I’d checked in with Winter each day who kept an eye on her for me, so I knew she’d been recovering well.
The ice in her eyes frosted some more. “Did you seriously just ask me that?”
Jesus, we were going from bad to fucked-right-up. “Fuck, Ivy, did I seriously ask you what?”
“Were you implying that I wasn’t feeling well and that’s why I said you make no sense? Because I am feeling okay and that wasn’t—”
“When I ask you something, I’m not fucking hinting at something else.” I grabbed my phone and moved towards the door, crowding her. “We’re done here.”
She glared up at me. “Yeah, we are.”
I watched her as she walked away from me, wondering how the hell to best deal with this situation between us. The past was best kept there, and I would do that, but in the meantime, we had to co-exist under the same roof without these misunderstandings. But fuck, even when we were getting on, disagreeing with each other was our go-to move.
I exited the office as I continued to contemplate a solution; however, Axe met me on the way to the room we’d set up for surveillance, and interrupted all thoughts I had.
“I finally heard from my guy. Marx retracted everything before he died. They’ve got nothing on Nitro or the club as far as he’s concerned.”
“So they have no reason to continue holding him?”
“Not unless they have something else on him.” He paused for a beat. “There’s more, though, that isn’t good. They’re investigating Bronze for ties to the club. That’s why he hasn’t been able to access any
information.”
Fuck.
“Have they got anything solid on him?”
“It appears so, but that’s not based on fact. It’s just the feel my guy got when he talked to his contact. I’ve asked him to keep searching.”
I stabbed at my phone, dialling Bronze. When he picked up, I cut straight to the point. “Sara sends her regards.” Our code to let him know he was compromised.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “Twenty minutes.”
I ended the call and glanced at Axe. “I’ve gotta take care of this. I’ll be back in an hour or so. Let Hyde know.”
“Will do,” he said as I left him to return to my office.
Moving fast, I opened the safe and grabbed out the package I’d hoped never to need. I placed my phone in the safe and grabbed out my burner that wouldn’t signal my location to anyone. I then quickly made my way out to my bike and headed to the meeting point Bronze and I had designated years ago. It pissed me off that I had to let him go. But there was no way I’d leave him out in the cold with his dick swinging in the wind. Not after everything he’d done for me.
I’d started working with Bronze seven years ago after his wife, Sara, had been killed in a hit-and-run accident. I liked to deliver justice to those who killed that way, and I had, but not before I’d used what I’d learnt about the driver for my benefit. I’d known Bronze for about two years when his wife died. He’d investigated the club a few times and for some reason that was still unknown to me, he’d gone easy on me each time. So when I went looking for a cop to add to my payroll, Bronze had been my first choice. His wife’s death made it possible for me to convince him to say yes. I’d offered up the name of the killer and my assistance when he took vengeance, in exchange for his agreement to work with me.
“What the fuck’s going on, King?” he asked as he slid into the booth at the back of the noisy, out-of-the-way café where we’d started our working relationship all those years ago.
“You’re being investigated for ties to the club. I don’t have hard facts yet, but I don’t doubt it’s true. It also accounts for why you can’t get any information at the moment.”
He dropped his head into his hand and swore before looking up at me again. “So this is it then?”
I nodded. “Yeah.” Sliding the package I’d brought with me across the table, I said, “Here’s the agreed cash, burner, ID and list of contacts you can use to disappear.”