She laughed, her entire face so filled with light I felt the warmth of it in my chest.
“Only you could make me laugh at a time like this.”
I shrugged with faux modesty, which prompted another giggle as someone knocked on the door. We broke apart to watch Mr. White, the club’s lawyer, shove past Officer McDougal and Gibson.
I started toward the fucker with a snarl, but Mr. White held up a stayin’ hand. “Just a moment before you slug him, please, Mr. Garro. I think you’ll be satisfied with the way I handled this, and I do prefer to get one Garro out at a time, so let’s focus on Miss Irons, hmm?”
I swallowed the harsh burn of rage like cheap whiskey and moved around the table to sit beside Cress and Mr. White while the two officers took seats on the other side. Mr. White cleared his throat repeatedly, like an opera singer preparin’ for the stage, as he shifted through his briefcase and produced a folder of documents and an iPhone he lay on the table.
He folded his hands over the pages and looked at the officers. “We seem to have a bit of an issue here. By all accounts, it seems Officer McDougal,” he indicated the pig, who sneered in response. I flexed my hands under the table and bared my teeth at him. “Pulled over Miss Cressida Irons because he thought she had a faulty taillight. Officer Hutchinson was kind enough to go to the scene just now, and he sent a few photos that show her light was smashed after this incident.”
McDougal opened his twisted mouth to protest, but Mr. White kept on.
“So not only did you pull my client over without cause, but you then proceeded to drag her from her vehicle where you then manhandled her against the car. When her nephew, a minor by the name of Ares Garro, tried to intervene, you then shoved him to the ground.”
“That’s horseshit,” the cop spewed, spittle flyin’ over the table. “You got nothing but your word to prove that nonsense. The word of a biker’s bitch against the word of a policeman.”
“Ah, I wouldn’t be so quick to smear the Garros any further, Mr. McDougal,” White cautioned with his small, polite smile that I knew well enough to know meant he had some ace up his sleeve.
“They’re criminals and scum. Everyone in this town knows it,” he retorted.
“McDougal, shut up,” Gibson warned.
“Do as you’re told,” I muttered under my voice just so McDougal would look at me as I cracked my knuckles and leered menacingly at him.
I wanted him to feel the force of hatred emanatin’ off me like radioactive waves from a nuclear bomb site. I wanted him infected with fear for me so that when I finally stalked him and captured him like a predator did his unworthy prey, he would reek of panic and stink with remorse.
Mr. White swiped open the phone and pulled up a video clip which he then swivelled to face the two cops.
“This is a video Ares Garro was clever enough to take of the incident before he became involved. In it, you’ll see Officer McDougal drag Miss Irons from the car and clearly assault her against the vehicle. While it’s true that Miss Irons used force to subdue him and then later pushed the officer to the ground, it was only an act of defense against the attack first leveled against her person and then that of young Mr. Garro. Coupled with the irrefutable fact that you pulled her over without cause, I do believe we have reason to press charges against the Entrance Police Department. Would you like to bring your Staff Sergeant in to speak with us or would you like us to wait while you call your lawyer, Mr. McDougal?”
The silence that followed was as tenuous as a book held to close to the flame, a moment passed, and then it caught on fire when a little snort of humour escaped my throat. McDougal was up out of his chair in a heartbeat, leanin’ over the table to take a swing at me.
About fuckin’ time. That was exactly what I had been hoping for.
Before McDougal could right himself from his missed swing at me, I was on him, pushin’ him to the back wall with one huge shove and then holding hi’ up against it so that I could smile into his face.
I loved to smile, and I’d learned that it was a valuable tool of intimidation when I was angry because it spoke to somethin’ that wanted to unhinge itself inside me, somethin’ dark and crazy that wouldn’t obey my rules.
“You fucked with my woman,” I growled under the chaos of noise behind me as people reacted to my move. “And now, motherfucker, I’m going to fuck with you.”