“’Cause they touched what was ours.”
“Levi’s birth mother?”
He ignored that question. It wasn’t only Autumn they fucked with, but Dyna, too. And as much as Red was family now, Dyna was blood. Not just Fury blood but Dietrich blood.
Those fuckers had also shot at Trip. They’d shot Dodge and injured Ozzy and Shade, too.
If that wasn’t enough, they knocked up young girls.
Rook couldn’t give a shit about the meth and moonshine. Or even their weapons, as long as they weren’t pointed at anyone in the Fury.
He looked at the female in front of him. She would, though.
He wondered out of everything the Guardians of Freedom were involved with what would bother her the most. Not that it mattered. He wasn’t working with her and she’d be stupid to go up there by herself. She’d also be stupid to risk her career.
He’d heard the rumor she’d done a stint in the Marines, so she should know how to take orders. She should also know what happens if she defies them.
Cops as well as prison guards considered themselves paramilitary organizations, which meant they had a chain of command. Max Bryson was at the top of hers, cousin or not.
Rook considered that important bit of information.
Maybe they could make some sort of deal. But would she really risk her career to cover for a criminal like him?
He should test that theory. Because if they made a deal, she’d go down along with him if he got caught. Having her on his side could be some kind of insurance.
She didn’t have to know all the details. He could feed her as much or as little as he wanted since she wouldn’t know any different. She’d have to trust him for any info received. Which would be a big mistake on her part.
That could work in his favor. As a bonus, getting her involved would be a good way—once the Shirley men were all gone—to deal with the women and children.
Nobody wanted to talk about that. Nobody wanted to make the decision about what to do with them. But in the end, they couldn’t leave those brood bitches up there raising more Shirley spawn to only fuck with the club years down the road.
That meant, if they’re going to solve the Shirley problem, it needed to be solved for good. The club learned their lesson the hard way with only giving the clan a warning. They didn’t listen to it, which led his brotherhood to now doing something much stronger than a warning.
Destroying those inbred motherfuckers.
But, yeah, it was risky for them all, even though the Shirleys would never go crying to the PD. They hated all government organizations and they hated pigs even more than Rook did.
So yeah, maybe he should work with her, but leave Easy out of it. This way Rook would control the situation. Because if he didn’t, she might try to.
And that could get ugly.
For both of them.
“We do this, you’d have to be satisfied with anythin’ I give you.” Once he realized what he said, he smirked.
If she picked up on the sexual innuendo, she ignored it. “If you agree, you can’t feed me lies.”
He reached out to grab her chin and tilted her face up at the same time he dropped his. “Darlin’, there are always gonna be lies between us. You don’t show your hand to the enemy.”
He didn’t miss the fact her fingers curled tighter around the butt of her gun and her thumb once again settled on the snap.
For a second, he imagined those same fingers curled around his dick.
But only for a second, though.
And that was a second too long.
Because she was the enemy. As long as she wore a badge, she always would be.
He couldn’t forget that. Not even for the brief second he allowed himself that fantasy.
“Get your hand off me.” Her warning was low, slow and spoken distinctly.
He slowly raised an eyebrow. “Or?”
“Or I’ll shoot you. And not with my taser.”
He stared into her blue eyes for one heartbeat, then a second one before releasing her chin. He waited a few more before he stepped back.
He did not miss the pulse leaping in her throat. Or the dilation in those eyes.
Or the way her breathing had changed.
He didn’t miss it because he felt all of that himself.
She would be a problem.
Not only if he didn’t work with her, but if he did.
And not because of her, but because of him.
Because, for fuck’s sake, he was having a hard time ignoring the woman beneath the uniform.
Rook thought back to all the times she kept her gaze glued to him when he was in her sight at the garage. He was also curious about her reaction when he’d held her chin.
“You won’t shoot me,” he said softly.
“Try me.”
Her two words weren’t a challenge but much more than that. He could see it in her face and he wondered if she knew what those big eyes of hers were revealing.