Page 13 of Finn (Dirty Misfits MC 6)
I shook my head. “Oh, no no. That isn’t how this works.”
“Well, it’s how it works with us. Now, come on.”
I reached open and grabbed his wrist before he could open the door and tugged his ass back into his seat.
“What the fuck?” he asked.
He ripped away from me as I stared him down. “While I’m in town? While you’re working with me? You don’t make the calls. None of you criminals do.”
He grinned. “Does it make you feel better to think of us as a bunch of lowlives so you don’t form a crush?”
I wanted to vomit on him. “No, I just speak the truth. And you want to know what your truth is?”
“Hit me with it. I’ve got all the time in the world to have some girl tell me what’s what.”
I leaned toward him a bit. “You lost someone near and dear to you. Probably a girl you loved, or maybe even a sibling. And for some reason, you blame yourself for it. You blame yourself for that death and now you close everyone out and you use that one measly moment in your life to justify all the shitty things you do and say, day in and day out. You’re no better than the criminals I put in jail for a living, and you’re sure as hell no better than my sister. I see now why she gets along with you guys. You’re all born from the same pathetic pod that can’t get over bullshit that happened to you when you were a child. But, newsflash, Mr. Finn: you’re not responsible for how you are raised. But, you sure as hell are responsible for how it forms you as an adult. Now, stay here and shut the fuck up, or I’ll arrest you on the spot.”
His eye twitched. “For what?”
I nodded to his hip. “For having the fucking audacity to carry an illegal firearm in the presence of a goddamn detective.”
The car fell silent and I felt his anger radiating toward me. I had pinged him from the moment I laid eyes on him and that simply came with the job. I had to read people all of the time because almost no one ever told me the truth right off the bat. I usually had to pull it out of him. But, reading Finn like that was almost unfair.
I mean, he was such an easy target.
“I promised the guys I’d--.”
I opened my door. “Fine. You want to come inside? Great. But, you better be ready to answer some serious questions, which you have probably been instructed not to answer. Correct?”
He growled as he flopped back against his seat. “Whatever. Just take my number in case you need help, all right? I can text it to you.”
I pulled out my phone. “No need. Let me have it.”
After he rattled off his cell number, I punched it into my phone. I saved it under my contacts just in case for some asinine reason I needed to place a call to the one person I didn’t want to be around, then I made my way inside. The first thing I needed to do was talk to the Chief about getting permissions to operate within their boundaries.
Then, I had to ask him if he knew of any cops he was supposed to be keeping an eye on.
That idiot actually thinks I need his help. What a dud.
I left Finn in the car and walked into the building and the signs on the walls pointed me directly to the Chief’s office. I knocked on his door before clasping my hands behind my back, trying to come in as unassuming as possible. But, when he opened his office door with his cell phone propped against his shoulder, I saw a cascade of files open on his desk.
He ushered me in with the flick of his finger and I had to push papers to the ground in order to sit on the only available chair in the room.
“Yes, that’s what I meant. No, you can’t quote me. I don’t give a shit about your job, especially since you’re making mine harder. Uh huh. Yeah. Right. Sure, uh huh, I can do that. Wonderful. See you tomorrow. Yep.”
And when the Chief hung up the phone, he stuck out his hand. “You must be Detective Riley.”
I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, Chief Lundson.”
He sighed. “Have a seat. I hear you want to be read in on the Black Flags, correct?”
I nodded as I sat down. “We’ve had an influx of women being shipped into the Santa Barbara docks here lately and I’ve been put on the case.”
He flopped down at his desk. “That sounds like them all right. Give me a second, I pulled their files and set them somewhere.”
“Files? As in, multiple?”
