Switching the television off, I grabbed my keys and headed out to my bike. It looked like it was time for me to put another plan into action in order to force Danny’s hand on getting me off the trial as a witness. No fucking way was I going on that witness stand.
As I sped off towards the clubhouse, I began piecing the plan together that had been sitting there waiting for me to decide to act upon it. Problem was, my thoughts kept drifting off to Sophia and this morning. She’d looked so damn cute sitting on her driveway with dirt all over her. When she’d taken the time to tell me what had happened - in only the way Sophia could - my dick had hardened because, fuck, that woman was sexy when she dropped her mask and let the words fly out of her mouth.
Christ, I had to get her out of my head. She was occupying too much of my time.
The trouble with that was I liked her being in my head.
And that was a whole other problem in itself.
* * *
I spent a few hours going over the surveillance from our restaurants and Indigo, looking for anything that might give us a clue about the fire at Trilogy, but came up short. Leaning back in my chair, I rubbed my neck. The knots I had there were only getting worse, and my training sessions weren’t doing much to take the edge off.
“Griff, you got a minute?”
I looked up to find J standing in the doorway and motioned for him to come in. “What’s up?”
“Just wanted to give you an update on Ricky.”
“You found much on him yet?”
“He likes Asian women and coke. Besides that, he’s kept his nose clean the last couple of days so we’ve learnt nothing.”
“Shit. This motherfucker is smart. Who would have figured?” I said, frustrated as hell that we were still no closer to getting confirmation he was behind the fire.
J grimaced. “We’ll keep tailing him, and Nash is working on some other angles. He’s gotta fuck up somewhere soon.”
“I’m not so sure he will, J. He’s been around for years, and you don’t build a business like that by making stupid mistakes.”
“We talking about Ricky?” Scott asked, joining us.
“Yeah, there’s still no leads on the fire,” I answered him.
He nodded his head slowly, his gaze fixed firmly on me, and my skin prickled – something was off with him. Keeping his eyes on me, he said, “J, can you give Griff and I a moment?”
Fuck.
I
’d always trusted my instincts and right now, they were telling me something was very wrong.
“I’ll keep you updated,” J promised and left us alone.
Scott entered the office, closed the door behind him, and stared at me as if he was trying to figure something out. And in that instant, I knew that he knew.
Standing, I said, “You know.”
His nostrils flared and his shoulders tensed. He clenched his jaw, and nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
My gut clenched in a knot. I’d always wondered if this day would come. Had been unsure how I’d feel if it did, but I’d never figured I’d feel the way I currently was. Regret washed over me. Scott had become my family, and to see the look of disbelief, anger and pain on his face now…that shit cut deep. “How?”
“Jesus, Griff - how?” he thundered, his face a dark cloud of rage. “Ricky fucking told me. He showed up with a file on you. But I don’t want to talk about how; I want to talk about why. Why the fuck did you do this? I trusted you like a brother. Like fucking family! If I hadn’t seen that file, I wouldn’t believe it to be true.” He raked his fingers through his hair, and added, “You had me fooled, that’s for sure.”
I stood my ground. I had a lot to say, and needed to find a way for Scott to understand and believe that I spoke the truth. Because this would be the truth. Finally. “I’m gonna give you the truth, but it’s gonna take a bit to get there. Can you give me that at least?”
His hard look didn’t change, but he nodded. “Go on.”
“I was raised to be a cop. My dad was one, my uncle was one, and my grandfather was one. My cousin and I went through the academy together, but it never felt right to me. I never wanted what everyone else wanted for me. I finished my training but I never pursued a career after that.”