When He's Dirty (Walker Security - Adrian's Trilogy 1)

He’s also familiar.

My lips part in shock with the realization that Joe “Rocketman” Mason, one of my ex-clients at my father’s firm is right here, right now. The nickname is appropriate since he’s no friend of the ATF, considering he runs an underground weapons operation I assume includes rockets, despite his denial, of course. I never liked him. I never willingly represented him, but my father forced my hand, which is another story altogether. Rocketman is not someone who’d be in this coffee shop at this time of the morning. He’s more of a vodka and moves around during hell’s nighttime hours kind of guy. “Joe,” I say, my heart thundering in my chest. “How are you?”

“You tell me,” he snaps.

“I—don’t know,” I say cautiously. “Am I supposed to know?”

“I hear Waters wants to start making deals.”

I blanch, not shocked really since it’s clear someone is leaking information, but unsettled. I also don’t assume he knows this at all because what I do know is Rocketman. He’s a bluffer. What concerns me at this point, is just how many people with criminal tendencies have skin in this game. “I can’t talk about my case with you,” I say, keeping my cool and giving him nothing

“You gonna make the deal?”

“I assume you have an opinion on me making the deal?”

“My opinion is my attorney should not be fighting Waters. Get off the case.”

“I’m not your attorney,” I say, and the timing of this, right after Logan’s visit, is glaringly obvious since my father’s firm still represents him. Obviously Rocketman has a connection to Waters, or maybe even Whitaker. “I am curious, though. What are you afraid of?” I decide to dig for his motivation. “Waters giving you up or you losing some sort of money train he somehow feeds?”

He gives me a deadpan look and then says again, “Get off the case.”

“Just as I wouldn’t desert you mid-case, which I didn’t, I can’t jump off this one. I have a duty now to the DA’s office.”

He shocks me by stepping closer, so close I can feel his hot breath on my face. Unsurprisingly, he smells like booze, though I can’t say specifically vodka. “You won’t be anybody’s attorney if you stay on this case,” he states.

Suddenly, Adam is there by my side, big and broad, his presence a crackle of power. “Introduce me to your friend, honey,” he says as if we’re dating.

Rocketman smirks and eyes me. “You really want your new man in on this?”

“She might not,” Adam says, “but I do.” Adam doesn’t look at me, but he says, “Bathroom, Pri. Now.” He nudges me to the left and claims the spot in front of Rocketman.

I don’t wait around to find out what’s happening. I take off for the bathroom, walking as calmly as my quick pace allows. Once I’m down the short hallway, I find the door in question, open it and rush into the large one-stall bathroom to find that I’m not alone. Adrian is waiting on me, shutting the door behind and locking it. He drags me to him, his hard body a welcome landing spot, one of his hands on my hip, the other on my face, his mouth closing down on mine, in a fast, hot, and wildly erotic yet somehow calming kiss. “Are you okay?” he asks, inching back to study me, real worry in his brown eyes. How did I think I needed to hold a gun on Adrian last night?

“Yes,” I say. “I know him. He was my client at my father’s firm. Embarrassingly, I represented an arms dealer. He goes by Rocketman. He wouldn’t hurt me, at least not in public.”

“An arms dealer,” he repeats, his tone flat, his expression unreadable.

“Yes,” I say tightly. “It was my job. The one I left for a reason.”

“I know that,” he says. “But because of that job, you should know that you never underestimate a criminal.” His hands come down on my shoulders. “You hear me? Never.”

“I know. I’m not naïve. I’m just saying he’s smarter than to attack in public. And he’s not a killer. He’d send someone else. He meant to intimidate me. He wants me to drop the Waters’ case. Him here today, right after Logan was at my office, isn’t a coincidence. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but it’s not what it seems.”

Adrian rotates and leans on the sink, with me in front of him. “I think he’s setting up a hit on Ed. If he dies before the election, the case may never be picked up by the next DA.”

“It will,” I say, “but it could take a very long time. There will be pressure to catch and convict the killer. There will be fear and chaos. The case against Waters will have to be rebuilt and it’s flimsy now without me.”