Ambrose (The Theriot Family 5)

“Remember the people I worked with a few weeks ago to deal with that drug-running problem.”

“Fuck, Eric. You’re not mixed up with them again, are you?”

“Someone has come in and taken over the business we thought we’d stopped. Someone a lot worse than the man we dealt with.”

I hated seeing the worry on her face. “Can’t you call in the FBI or something?”

“The last thing I’m going to do is call the feds. They’ll just fuck everything up.”

She rolled her eyes. “You shouldn’t be dealing with something like this.”

“It’s crime that’s happening in my parish.”

“A place you have no reason to be. You could be back here with me. You could be working for a security firm or any number of things that would be—”

“I was in danger all the time as part of the Baltimore PD.”

“Not like this. This is, like, action-movie danger.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been shot at, dealt with addicts who were so hyped up they couldn’t feel anything, and caught murderers. This isn’t new.”

Candace shook her head. “You’re lying. That little wrinkle right there—”

She pointed her finger at the screen to where I’d wrinkled the space between my eyebrows. It was my tell, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t stop doing it. It was a damn good thing Ambrose hadn’t noticed yet. At least I hoped he hadn’t.

“Did they come to you again, expecting you to just fall in line with their plan like before?” Candace asked.

“No, I contacted them—one of them—the one who negotiated with me before.”

“Ambrose?”

Had I told her his name? I’d tried to keep names out of it to the extent that I could. “Yeah.”

“The one you constantly talked about.”

I hadn’t talked about him any more than the others, had I? I couldn’t help that he was the main Theriot I’d interacted with. “I don’t think—”

“The one you have a thing for.”

“What?”

“Don’t deny it. I can tell right now you know what I mean.” Why had I called her, and why the hell had I wanted her on video where she could see my face and read everything I was trying to hide?

“All right. He’s hot, and I’m attracted to him. It’s not going to go anywhere. He’s straight, and we couldn’t be worse for each other.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Eric? Why do you always fall for the straight ones?”

“I don’t always fall for straight guys, and just because I think he’s hot doesn’t mean I’m falling for him.”

“Eric, you know you’re sadly incapable of casual relationships. That’s how you ended up moping for so long after you finally realized Dean was never going to admit he was gay or bi or whatever the appropriate label would be for him.”

I’d had enough. “This isn’t why I called.”

“Are you sure about that? Or did you actually call so I would talk you out of pursuing him?”

“I’m not pursuing him, and I can’t let you talk me out of working with him. I can’t fight this dealer on my own. I need Ambrose’s help. His family wants the guy gone as much as I do.”

“The enemy of my enemy?”

“Yes, just like before.”

“You don’t need me to talk you out of risking your fucking life over this, but you need me to keep you from making a huge personal mistake. The professional ones I’ve pretty much given up on.”

“Candace. I wasn’t going to let the chief—”

She held up her hand. “I know. You did what you needed to do. I don’t blame you for that. It was a hard call, and you stuck to your values.”

“I’m still doing that.”

“Are you? Working with these men?”

“I am. I need these drugs out of my parish.”

“Won’t they just take the traffic somewhere else.”

I frowned. “Not if my assistants eliminate them.”

“Kill them you mean? And do they actually think of themselves as your assistants?”

“No. They think of me as an informant for them. They don’t even want me to take part in this.”

“Well, that’s smart of them.”

“Why doesn’t anyone seem to understand I am capable of doing my job?”

She raised her brows. “Is this your job?”

“Capturing men who are committing crimes in my jurisdiction? Yes, that is exactly my job.”

“Working with the mafia?”

“Sometimes we have to make difficult choices about who we work with.”

“Uh-huh.”

Why did my justifications sound so much weaker when I said them to Candace? “I can’t let this man move into my jurisdiction. He’s not going to stop with simply using the area as a holding place for drugs.”

Candace sighed. “I know. I wouldn’t want to have to make the choices you do, but I’m worried about you.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“How careful can you be in this situation?”

Not very. “I’m doing my best here. This is serious. The most serious thing I’ve worked on.”

“Who would have thought that would happen in your little backwoods town?”