Page 15 of Sapphire

“So, what about you and all this shit with Lanzetti?”

She balks. “You already asked me about that. I said we had it under control.”

“Doesn’t sound like it. Lanzetti is a piece of shit. I need to take him out.”

“That’s a genius idea, especially now Diamond is with Nash, the new sheriff. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“You know what I mean, there’s only one way to deal with thugs.”

“Well, we can’t exactly kidnap him and dump the body with law enforcement right under our noses, can we?”

“More than one way to skin a cat.”

She shifts. “What do you mean?”

“The sit-down he keeps avoidin’.”

She narrows her eyes. “How do you know about that?”

“Good news travels fast in a small town.” I tap my nose. “I have eyes everywhere.”

“You been snooping around Saddle?”

“I’d hardly call it snoopin’.”

“What would you call it, then?”

“Same as what you do to me,” I throw back. “I know every single time you come to town unannounced.”

That shuts her smart mouth up, but only for a second. “I have business here.”

It’s comical how hard she tries to appear like she’s not lying.

I smirk. “Uh, huh, what kind of business?”

“Do I answer to you?”

“You don’t answer to anyone, cupcake, but I wanna help.”

That goes down like a bag of cement. “I told you, Sin, we’ve got this. You don’t have to swoop in and save the day. I know we have vaginas and all, but we can handle Lanzetti.”

I turn to face her. “Don’t have to be like that.”

She blinks. “Like what? And why are you using that tone with me?”

I purposely use my sincere voice because I mean every word. I don’t want to fight. I want her to know I care about her. Club business is club business—I get that—but this jackass isn’t going away anytime soon. “No tone. I just wanna help. What’s your plan?”

She opens her mouth, then subsequently closes it again. “I’m working on it, but that’s increasingly hard when Diamond is banging the sheriff. Makes it a lot more difficult to do my job.”

“If you need a shovel, I’m there.”

She stares at me. I wish I knew what was behind those pretty eyes, but Sapphire isn’t the easiest to read. “Not funny.”

“It was a little funny.”

“If we need help, we’ll ask for it. You know how Diamond is. She likes to solve things herself. It’s Rustic Grove—her pride and joy—as well as the clubhouse on the line. We’ve all grown up there in a sense. If those walls could talk, oh man.”

I pull her tighter into my side. “Say this isn’t only one night.”