Page 45 of Sly (Dragon Riders MC 5)
I went to go yelp his name in excitement, but my brother quickly pressed the palm of his hand against my mouth. He glared at me before nodding his head back to the building, where agents stood at the windows watching us. I nodded quickly before scrambling into the backseat, throwing myself into Sly’s arms.
And as I hunkered down against him, he peppered my cheeks and my head with kisses.
“My God, I’m so happy to see you,” I whispered.
He held me close. “I’m just glad you’re all right.”
Ben’s voice came from up front. “It’s not safe to go back to Sly’s place tonight. You guys want to get a hotel room? Or stay with me?”
Sly kissed my forehead. “The last place they’d expect us to go is back to my place. Keep to the backroads so you aren’t clocked on any of the cameras and pull into the back parking lot of my complex. We can sneak in without cameras catching us and no one will be the wiser.”
I smiled. “You’re so sexy when you talk illegal, you know that?”
Ben chuckled. “What about your front door?”
Sly pulled me closely against his body. “Just trust me. I wouldn’t take your sister back there with me if I didn't know it was one-hundred percent safe.”
My brother sighed. “Well, you won’t be staying the night there or anything. We have to get a jump on Skeleton tonight. I can give you guys two or three hours, but once midnight hits? We roll.”
I furrowed my brow. “What’s he talking about, Sly?”
He gazed into my eyes. “Your brother and us have cut a deal. We help him take down Skeleton and his crew for good, and in exchange we get our lives back.”
Ben snickered. “And I get my hands on all the surveillance information they’ve gathered on Skeleton and this bullshit crew of his.”
Sly kissed my temple. “Including the names and addresses of another crew helping Skeleton to run drugs all across the state.”
I shook my head slowly. “This guy really sucks, doesn’t he?”
Sly chuckled. “That’s one way to put it.”
After that, we rode in silence all the way back to Sly’s place. My brother talked us through the timeline of how things would go down tonight, and the more I listened, the more worried I became. Were the other guys okay? What about the girls? Had the bar been raided, too?
Sly pressed his lips to my ear. “Don’t you worry, beautiful. This nightmare is almost over.”
And I wanted to believe him so badly.
Ben drove us back to Sly’s place and we headed upstairs. Walking into the room made me feel on edge and jumpy. But I busied myself with trying to clean up the place. I stripped Sly’s bed and put new sheets on it while he went into his dungeon and placed everything back onto the wall. There were dishes that had been shattered, so I tracked down a broom and swept the whole of the studio apartment as Sly rearranged furniture and picked random things off the floor.
Like pillows.
And a cell phone charger next to the kitchen table.
And the kitchen table itself.
“Fucking hell, this place is a wreck,” he murmured.
I walked over to the front door. “You’ll need a new door.”
“You think the FBI will pay for it?”
I shrugged. “No clue. But I bet you could finagle my brother into getting one for you.”
“Nah. I’ll just fix this one and be done with it for now.”
I scoffed. “Not if I’m going to be staying over.”
“What?”
I peered over my shoulder. “If you want me to come stay on any sort of a regular basis, you’re going to have a door that isn’t already busted up. Got it?”
He grinned. “Ten-four, beautiful.”
It took us all of three hours to get his place back in decent-enough shape. But all too soon, my brother came knocking on the door. I looked over at Sly as he finished putting up the last of the dishes that hadn’t been busted in the raid, and when his eyes met mine, worry pooled in my gut.
“Are you sure you have to do this?” I asked.
My brother knocked again. “It’s time, Sly. We gotta head out.”
Sly walked over to me. “I promise, I’ll be back before sunrise.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Come back to me. Okay?”
His forehead pressed against my own. “I promise.”
As my brother continued knocking, he captured my lips in the sweetest kiss that sent my heart spiraling down an endless, dark tunnel. I was Sly’s girl, no matter what happened. No matter where we went or what we did, I’d always love this man.
“I love you, Tara.”
My eyes met his. “What did you say?”
He smiled. “I love you. And I’m coming back. You have my word.”
My eyes watered over as my heart took flight. “Oh, my God. I love you, too. So, so, so much.”
