by Tessa Bailey
Daniel propped a hip on his desk, breaking the cycle of his thoughts. “Morning, Bennett. You want the good news or the bad news first?”
“Good,” Brent answered for him. “Always take the good first.”
Shaking his head at Brent, Matt pulled up a chair and sat. “Tenney woke up from his coma this morning.
We just got back from the hospital. No permanent damage.”
A wave of relief rushed over Troy. “Great. That’s great. What’s the bad news?”
“Brent is still here,” Daniel deadpanned.
“Funny, asshole,” Brent returned, seemingly
unaffected. “The bad news is that tip we received about Tenney being involved with Driscol proved out. Tenney told us from his hospital bed that one of Driscol’s guys worked him over.”
Troy nodded, unsurprised. He’d already been convinced that Driscol was responsible, based on the fact that he’d gone into hiding and the evasive answers he’d gotten when questioning his associates. “That gives us what we need to bring him in.”
“Right. It’ll take us a day to put a team together. First, we need his location.”
Troy pushed his notes across his desk toward the men. “I’ve got it narrowed down to two places. Both in Brooklyn. Now that we know Driscol is our guy, the lieutenant will put more bodies on this. We should easily have his location by tomorrow.”
Brent picked up his notes and scanned them quickly. “Heard you put surveillance on a possible witness? The lieutenant wasn’t exactly forthcoming about the details.”
Troy shifted uncomfortably, knowing he had to come clean. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to leave his fellow officers out of the loop, unaware that a possible wildcard was in play. “Remember the girl pool player from O’Hanlon’s the other night?”
“The long-legged beauty with all that black hair?”
Daniel’s grin spread wider. “Sure, I remember her.”
Troy glared at him, then quickly explained the connection between Ruby and Driscol.
Brent’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you kidding me? She could lead us right to him.”
“Not going to happen,” Troy enunciated. “We’re not putting her at risk. She’s not one of them anymore, and if her association with me is discovered, we’ll be doing just that. We find Driscol on our own.” He turned to find Matt watching him silently.
“Guess a lot has happened between Friday night and this morning.”
“You could say that.”
Brent’s head dropped forward into his waiting hand with a smack. “Please don’t tell me you fell for this girl. She cheats people out of money for a living.”
Troy didn’t answer, merely raised an eyebrow. He had no interest in discussing his relationship with Ruby. Not when an axe still teetered so precariously over their heads, waiting to fall. “Thank Christ this emotional bullshit will never happen to me,” Brent continued. “If I ever see it coming, I’m going to haul ass in the opposite direction like I’ve got ten mother-in-laws chasing me with rolling pins in their hands.”
Matt gave an uncharacteristic laugh. “Your time is going to come, Brent.”
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” Daniel chimed in with a nod.
“Fuck that. If I go down, I’m taking you all with me.”
Daniel sighed. “I assume you’d be taking me along for advice on pleasuring a woman? You see, there’s this thing called a cl—”
“Are you lovely ladies finished?” Troy broke in impatiently. “We’ve got two locations to scout, and we don’t have a lot of time.”
…
Ruby walked briskly down the sidewalk, throwing occasional glances over her shoulder. Evening had fallen, and the cold wind nipped the skin of her cheeks.
After hiking her yoga mat higher on her shoulder, she dug her hands into her pockets for warmth. She’d spotted the unmarked police car five minutes ago, but she had to admit they were doing a good job of staying inconspicuous. If she hadn’t known to look for them, their presence might not have registered.
Too bad she was about to lose them anyway.
She’d walked for a good half hour to a billiards hall in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn she hadn’t frequented in over a year. The surrounding neighborhood had taken a turn for the better, college kids attending school in the city taking advantage of the cheaper rent in Brooklyn as opposed to Manhattan. New stores and coffee shops had popped up shortly thereafter to take advantage of the new blood. Her destination, however, had remained true to itself, standing out among the new developments like a sore thumb at the end of a row of empty warehouses.
A broken-down eyesore, Hildebrand’s Billiards hopefully still drew the same rough crowd it always had, in addition to the newer, younger crowd invading the neighborhood. In fact, Ruby was counting on it.
If she could do something to keep Troy from tangling with Lenny Driscol, she needed to do it. This was her dark, twisted world. She had the kind of access he would never have. And unlike every other man in her life, he hadn’t tried to use her to his advantage. He truly wanted to keep her removed. Safe from harm.
She knew what Lenny Driscol was capable of. Her father, who’d never been scared of another soul or a dangerous situation in his life, had lived with a healthy fear of Lenny. He’d warned her on several occasions to keep her mouth shut about anything she saw or heard pertaining to the man. Had even hinted at the possibility that Lenny might have friends on the police force or in political office who kept him out of trouble.
She couldn’t sit by and watch the same fate befall Troy as it had so many before him. Her own father, even. Not when she could so something about it.
She ducked into the yoga studio she’d looked up online this afternoon after returning from Troy’s apartment. A man in a white robe standing behind the counter looked up expectantly with a welcoming smile on his face. “Welcome. Are you here for the seven o’clock class?”
Ruby ignored his question. “You have a back door in this place?” He looked confused, but obviously interpreting the urgency behind her expression, pointed toward a dimly lit studio toward the back.
“Great. Thanks.” She started walking in the direction he indicated but came up short, turned, and picked up a brochure off the counter. Maybe she’d come back some time and see what all the fuss over yoga was about.
A moment later, she slipped out the back door into the alley running behind the studio. Knowing she only had about an hour before her personal surveillance team realized she wasn’t actually taking a yoga class, she hastened toward the back entrance of Hildebrand’s.
The crack of pool balls and bass-heavy classic rock greeted her as she pushed inside, immediately noting her favorite table stood empty in the corner. She skirted around a group of college students in trucker hats drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon and made her way to the bar, grateful when she recognized the stocky man behind it. Pulling a pint with one hand, Gerard smiled wide in greeting.
“Well, shit. If it ain’t Ruby Elliott. Where you been at, girl?”
“Around,” she said with a mysterious wink. Out of the corner of her eye, she scanned the bar for the man she’d come to find, but didn’t see him. “Mind if I knock a few balls around?”
“Go on ahead. Your table awaits.” Gerard leaned forward on the bar and dropped his voice. “Just do yourself a favor and don’t take any money off my new hipster clientele. They’ll write a Yelp review faster than you can blink, and that ain’t good for nobody.”
“No worries, Gerard. Their money is safe tonight. I’m only here to practice.”
He straightened once more, suspicion tightening his mouth, but he didn’t comment. Anyone who’d known Ruby a year ago wouldn’t believe she would waste her time in a place like this unless there was a pile of money waiting at the end of the night. Before he changed his mind and questioned her further, she grabbed a tray of pool balls off the counter and headed toward her table.
Forty-five minutes passed without any sign of her man. Ruby tried to appear disinterested in the comings and goings of customers into Hildebrand’s but felt herself beginning to get nervous. She needed to walk out the front of the yoga studio within fifteen minutes or the unmarked car would report back to Troy that she’d ditched them, which would lead to a series of questions she didn’t want to answer.
Just as she was about to give up hope, she saw Tim Keith walk in through the front entrance and park himself at the farthest end of the bar. Gerard automatically began building a pint of Guinness for Tim, a Hildebrand’s regular and neighborhood lifer. If information existed about Lenny Driscol’s whereabouts or what he’d done to put the cops on his trail, Tim Keith would know the details. Now she had to find a way to get the lowdown without trying too hard.
Ruby re-racked her balls, shoved her stick back inside the rolled-up yoga mat, and headed toward the bar. Sliding into the seat beside Tim, she sent a smile in Gerard’s direction. “Ginger ale, please?”
“You got it, honey.” Ruby turned to find Tim watching her closely, so she smiled back casually. “Hey, Tim. Long time no see.”
Tapping an unlit cigarette against the bar, he nodded. “Haven’t seen you in this neighborhood in a while. What brings you by?”
“Just missed it, I guess.”
“Huh.”
Gerard set her drink down in front of her, and she took a sip to wet her suddenly dry throat. Tim had never been anything but friendly toward her, but he now appeared mildly suspicious. She should have gotten up, cut her losses, and walked out right then, but she stayed rooted to her seat. If she wanted to help Troy, she needed information. And besides Bowen, who she definitely couldn’t go to in this case, she had no other way of retrieving it. Ruby leaned back in her chair, trying to appear relaxed, and waited for him to speak.
“Haven’t seen your daddy around in a while, either. Is he still working with Lenny, or is he following your lead and turning over a new leaf?”
She ignored Tim’s question about her father, knowing he’d only asked it to needle her. “Actually, this new leaf I turned over isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’m thinking about asking Lenny for my old job back. I can’t get the same kind of action working solo.”
Her cell phone went off in her pocket, and she ignored it, knowing it had to be Troy. Her time had run out.
“I can’t seem to find him. Any idea where he’s doing business now?”
Tim’s sharp eyes met hers, delved deep for any kind of deception. Her friendly, open expression didn’t waver. He seemed to make a decision then, his body relaxing in the stool. Finally, he pulled out a pen from his coat pocket and scribbled an address on a napkin before sliding it across the bar in her direction. When she reached for it, he held on to the edge. “This place is just a hunch. He dropped out of sight almost a week ago, and no one really knows where he went.” He lowered his voice. “He put a beating on a badge last week for some unpaid debt. Put the freaking guy in a coma. Now he’s got another cop sniffing around, so he’s more than a little paranoid.” Tim shook his head.
“I hear he’s already marked this new cop as next on his list. He’s starting to lose his touch for subtlety.”
When Ruby slipped back into the alley moments later, her mind ringing with Tim’s words, she forgot all about walking back through the yoga studio so her tail could follow her home.
I hear he’s already marked this new cop as next on his list.
She needed to work fast.
Chapter Nine
Sitting in the dark stairwell of Ruby’s building, Troy tried to fight his mounting panic. He’d received a call from the surveillance officer at eight o’clock telling him Ruby had gone into a yoga studio and never come out. His guy had canvased the neighborhood with no luck. She’d been long gone. Troy, wanting to go look for her himself, had been forced to sit and wait, aware that showing his face anywhere Ruby had recently been would be a bad idea. Being in her building, even hidden inside, wasn’t exactly the greatest idea he’d ever had, but the desire to see her clouded his judgment.
An hour having passed since the call, she still hadn’t come home and wouldn’t answer her goddamn phone. Fear mixed with irritation and helplessness. An intolerable combination in his current frame of mind.
Troy shot to his feet with an expletive, intending to go look for her when he heard the sound of a key turning in the lock. His heart felt ready to beat itself out of his chest as he waited to see who would enter.
The heavy metal door pushed open to reveal Ruby, looking half-frozen with the damn yoga mat slung over her shoulder. She was beautiful, her hair floating around her shoulders courtesy of the wind gusting in through the door. In one hand, she held a half-eaten chocolate doughnut.
She’d actually stopped for a doughnut while he’d sat there, fearing for her life? With that, his anger reached its boiling point. “Where the hell have you been?”
Ruby’s entire body jerked with a cut-off scream, and the doughnut fell to the floor at her feet. She backed up against the wall, searching wildly in the dark, and finally noticed Troy a second later. When she saw him standing a few feet away, she sagged with undisguised relief, one hand pressed over her heart.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Are you crazy? You almost gave me heart failure.”
Regret moved in his chest. It served to deflate some of his anger, but not all. Not by a long shot. “No. I’m not crazy. Crazy would be blowing off professional protection to go buy a fucking doughnut.”
Angrily, she kicked the fallen doughnut at him, barely missing his dress shoe. “A doughnut I only got two bites out of!”
“Don’t try and be cute,” he warned, shaking his head. “I am pissed as hell, Ruby.”
“We had a deal,” she said with a shrug, having the grace to look mildly contrite. “I spotted your guy, so I split. Next time, send someone with half a brain.”
“He’s the best I could find besides myself. He’s former military.”
“And yet…” She wrinkled her nose, head tilting to the side. “He lost me.”
Troy laughed darkly. “Oh, you have no idea the kind of fire you’re playing with, baby.”
With an irritated huff of breath, she tried to skirt past him on the stairs. “Why don’t you go cool off, then? It’s my ass in trouble, so let me worry about it.”
“No, dammit.” He stopped her progress past him with a firm hand on her elbow. “Believe it or not, I care about what happens to you. The last hour has been pure hell, Ruby. You think it’s funny to scare the shit of out of me?”
Her belligerent expression deserted her, and she looked away. “No. I don’t think it’s funny. I didn’t do it to scare you.”
“Then why?” he demanded.
“I…” she started hesitantly, then blew out a breath.
“I needed to go make some money. I can’t do what I do with a cop watching my every move.”
Troy shook his head. “You don’t think I briefed
them on your usual activities? They weren’t going to interfere unless you were in trouble.” He let go of her arm. “Would it be so much to ask for you to give me a little credit?”
A long pause ensued as they both regrouped from the argument. When Ruby spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper, telling him how much the apology cost her. “I’m sorry.” He nodded once in acknowledgment but didn’t say anything. She moved in front of him, trying to meet his gaze, but still righteous in his anger, he stared resolutely over her head at the wall. Until she stood on her toes to kiss the underside of his jaw and the now-familiar heat settled low in his belly. “You know why I’m wearing my hair down today?” Another kiss, this time lingering on his neck. “You marked up my neck last night with that filthy mouth of yours.
And you know what else?” Troy felt his defenses slipping. Against his better judgment, he looked down and immediately got lost in her green eyes. “I like it.
Having
your marks on me.”
His cock swelled against the front of his pants, begging for the stroke of her hand. Ruby’s scent, her lips tracing the column of his neck, the body he’d memorized hiding beneath her coat all threatened to topple his anger, but the memory of his fear remained too fresh. He needed to regain the control she’d wrested from him. Needed promises he knew she wouldn’t give.
He grasped the wrist trailing down his chest toward his stomach. “Tell me the truth first. Were you only hustling tonight? The truth, Ruby.”
Hesitating for the barest of seconds, she smiled up at him. “Would I lie to you?” Too late. He’d caught her hesitation, and now he had his answer. She hadn’t been able to stop herself from interfering. Appeasing her boundless curiosity. Knowing her, the innocently posed question would be the closest he came to the truth tonight. It appeared that, in order to retain his sanity, he would need to regain his lost control in another way. He couldn’t let her know he was on to her. Yet.
Troy brought her hand to his mouth, kissed the inside of her wrist. “Do you remember what I told you the first night I brought you home?”
She looked momentarily thrown by his sudden change in direction but answered him smoothly. “You said quite a lot that night. Narrow it down for me.”
He pulled her closer. Let one hand slide down the back of her coat to squeeze her tight ass, satisfied when her breath hitched in her throat. “I told you I would tolerate your smart mouth, your goddamn evasiveness, during the day. But when it comes time to take you to bed, that’s when I put an end to it. I won’t allow you to hold back anything when I’m fucking you.” His teeth bit into her earlobe and she whimpered. “Now do you remember?”
Warily, she nodded. “Yes.”
“Good.” He hitched her up against his body, forced his hips between her thighs. “Just so we’re clear, baby, that’s what I’m doing. Letting you divert my attention with your tempting body so you don’t have to answer my questions or explain where you went tonight. I’m aware of it. I’m the one who’s letting you get away with it.” He gave a single upward thrust, letting her feel his need. Her eyes closed, mouth parted on a moan. “And you won’t be getting away with it for long. I’m not feeling very charitable toward you at the moment.”
