Poor girl? Carli? LJ nearly snorted. That conniving bitch had it coming to her.
“Game over, Copper,” her father said, glaring down at the president. “I win.” His tone grew gleeful.
“We’ll see,” Copper replied, cool as a fucking cucumber. With his shoulders straight, head high, and laser-focused eyes looking straight ahead, nothing about the man presented someone concerned for going to prison.
Her father’s smile slipped a hair. “Start searching,” he ordered, glancing over his shoulder at the band of officers milling about. “I want every inch of this place turned over. The drugs are here somewhere.”
“That’s what you think, asshole,” Screw muttered.
LJ met the sheriff’s gaze. He winked, letting the man know he wasn’t remotely worried.
Until Holly’s father shifted his gaze to her and started in their direction.
Then LJ grew very uneasy.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
THE PAST HOUR had been such a cyclone of mind games, Holly swore she’d wake from a nightmare at any time. She’d open her eyes to find herself tucked in her bed, all warm and cozy. Her father wouldn’t be a dirty cop who framed an innocent man for murder and was trying to set up the man she loved as well.
But none of that happened. Instead, her stern-faced father drew to a stop in front of her. Despite the complete lack of humor in the situation Holly almost laughed. This was certainly a scenario she’d never imagined. Handcuffed on the ground, waiting to find out if her father would be sending her to prison. Sure, they’d found and removed a buttload of the planted drugs, but had they gotten it all? According to Zach, just one of those bags could cause serious trouble for the club.
Her insides trembled as her father burned her with a glare she’d seen him use many times in the past. One full of revulsion and loathing reserved for criminals.
And now her.
“Holly, once the drugs are recovered, you’ll be transported to the county jail like everyone else here. We don’t have enough space at our small station for the entire MC.”
“I don’t expect special treatment,” she said, proud of the even keel of her voice. “I chose to be here like everyone else in this room.”
“Your mother will never recover from this. You’ve broken her heart.”
“I broke her heart?”
Beside her, LJ cleared his throat. They’d decided Holly shouldn’t reveal what she knew about her father’s and the deputies’ scheme. At least not yet. Copper wanted to have the information so he could control the situation and planned to drop the bomb when he felt it was most beneficial for the club.
So instead of calling her father the nastiest names she could drum up, Holly bit her already abused lower lip so hard a metallic taste flooded her tongue.
“You realize your life is over?” Her dad cocked his head.
She straightened her spine despite the ache already forming between her shoulders from the unnatural position. Then she took a breath and allowed all her feelings for LJ to fill her heart. A grin took over her face. “I like to think my life is just beginning.”
Her father grunted. “You might be right about that,” he said. “Especially if you’re referring to your life behind bars.” He turned and walked over to the officers searching behind the bar.
Dismissed, just like that. Like she was nothing.
“Damn, woman,” Screw muttered from the other side of LJ. “You’re something else. If this dummy doesn’t lock you down, let me know and I’ll work his ass over for you.” He bumped LJ’s shoulder with his own.
Though Holly smiled at Screw’s faux threat, LJ remained straight faced. “Consider her locked the fuck down,” he said without tearing his gaze from her.
Holly’s insides burst with delight.
“All righty then,” Screw said. “Guess that takes care of that.”
This time, neither she nor LJ paid him any attention.
“Holly Lane, you’re fucking amazing.”
The delight turned to elation.
“You all need to shut the fuck up,” Schwartz yelled as he strode down the stairs.
Empty handed.
Holly let out a tiny sigh of relief. All around her, the men exchanged glances, their eyes sparking and most of them succeeding in hiding their smirks to various degrees.
Not Mav. He grinned like a loon. “No luck?” he asked.
“The fuck I just say?” Schwartz practically snarled.
Mav just chuckled and Holly had to admit the moment called for a good laugh. Seeing Schwartz knocked down a few pegs felt damn good.
The deputy marched straight over to her father and the two whispered back and forth. With each word spoken, her father’s face pinched tighter.
Time crawled. What in reality was probably no more than a half-hour felt like ages. The longer the bones of her knees ground into the unforgiving floor, the more her legs ached. What started as an annoying discomfort morphed into a full-on pain traveling up both thighs. Then there was the tingling in her fingers and burning stretch in her shoulders.