Page 12 of Live Love Steal (Destroyers MC: Skilletsville PA #2)
“ While I appreciate your feedback, I can’t use your testimony. I’m afraid the animosity you carry for his ex will taint the evidence.”
“ That’s bullshit.”
“ It’s reality,” I quickly told Isobel . My reality. The one where my ex was going to get my kid and move him just far enough away that the courts wouldn’t get too pissed off and just far enough away that I’d never see him again.
“ It sucks.” Isobel crossed her arms and glared out the window.
I thanked my lawyer for her time and hung up. While I agreed with Isobel , there wasn’t much I could do without screwing everything up. This had to go through legitimately, otherwise I didn’t stand a chance of keeping him. The silence in the car was loud.
So loud, I didn’t notice the cop tailing us until he turned on his lights.
“ I’m going to lose my son,” I muttered. I set my phone on the dash. The screensaver was a picture of Noah . I’d taken him to the park, and he was hanging upside down from the top bar. With his hair hanging almost straight from his head, he looked like me. It was my favorite photo.
The screen went black, and the cop rapped on my window.
Isobel scrambled through her purse. I wanted to yell at her to stop, but instead slowly rolled down the window and waited to get shot.
I looked up, expecting to see the maw of his gun, but instead saw his laser glare on Isobel .
“ I have my registration and insurance card in here somewhere…”
“ Do you have your license?” He asked me.
I lifted my hands off the steering wheel, letting the left hand hover in place. “ Back pocket, wallet.”
Isobel reached across me. “ Here’s the insurance card and the registration.”
If he looked at the VIN number at the bottom corner of the window, I was screwed. We both were screwed. But the cop barely glanced at the papers she handed over.
“ Did you know why I pulled you over?”
I shook my head, not willing to guess. They’d use that against you.
Isobel was staring at me. Since I had her attention, I shot her a glare that hopefully told her to shut the fuck up.
“ Here .” I pulled my license out of its holder and returned my hands to the wheel.
The cop leaned in slightly. I mentally kicked myself for rolling the window down so far. He was probably looking at the steering column I hadn’t fixed on this car, because, dumbass that I was, I fixed Isobel’s car. The one we weren’t driving, and the one that actually matched her paperwork.
“ Why is he driving your car?”
“ I …” Isobel started.
And I noticed the alcohol on her breath. That would be another strike.
I spoke over anything she was going to say. “ She’s had a few.” I’d had one drink. It was over an hour ago since I slammed the remnants of her drink, given that we’d hung around the club until I was sure to intercept Whoosh at the dealer’s. That wasn’t a neighborhood you wanted to linger in.
“ Is that true?”
Isobel nodded. “ It was only one, but they filled the glass too high and… fuck. It was a tumbler.”
“ They ?”
Here’s where she’d tell him about the club, the bikers who’d basically kidnapped her, and then forced her to drink, and I’d be screwed… or at least the club would be. I tried like hell for my thoughts to not show on my face.
“ His asshole buddies. Bet me I couldn’t drink whiskey ‘cause I’m only just a little woman. It’s not against the law, you know.”
That did it. I winced. “ Iz .”
“ Don’t , ‘ Iz ’ me. I know. He’s a cop. Duh .”
I was a dead man. I took a chance to tilt my head to look at the cop. He frowned as he stared at my license. “ David ?”
“ Yeah ?”
“ Does she drink often?”
“ I wouldn’t know.”
That got his attention, and Isobel’s . “ Jerk ,” she muttered.
“ Where are you going?”
“ He’s taking me to see a guy about a part. For my car.”
Don’t lie . I tried to scream that at her without saying a goddamned word.
“ Did you know the courthouse parking lot doesn’t have security cameras?”
Where was she going with this?
“ Well ?”
“ Ma’am ...” The cop was ready to start reading her the riot act, but Isobel tumbled on, her words slightly slurred and her pace a bit all over the place.
Bear was a dead man. I was going to kill him for getting her blasted, then dumping her off on me.
“ So , this morning, I’m running late to fight a ticket, and then got stuck in the elevator, with him,” she pointed at me and continued summarizing the morning she had, “and then after all that shit, I come out into the courthouse parking lot and my car was broken into. Thank God my dad put an immobilizer on it, or it would have been stolen. And then I wouldn’t have a car.
And David here says, ‘ I can fix it’ . But he’s not Bob the Builder , sorry stupid reference, and doesn’t know that the fucking steering column parts are on back order everywhere, except maybe this sketchy place in Harrisburg . ”
And that’s where her rambling started to make sense. Huh .
“ And while I’m getting drunk because today fucking sucked, he’s making arrangements to pick it up. But I … I’m drunk.”
The cop stared at her, then really poked his head into the car and looked at the duct tape that held the steering column together.
He then looked at my license again and handed it back. “ Good luck with her. I was going to cite you for an improper lane change, but I see you have your hands full.”
I blinked and almost hesitated too long. “ Thanks , man.”
“ An elevator? Really ?” He was trying not to grin.
“ It wasn’t like you think. Trust me.”
He snorted. “ Drive safe.” He handed me her papers and waved me on.
I waited until I was at least a mile away before even thinking about thinking. Mostly , I was in a state of shock.
“ Hell , yeah. It worked.” Isobel’s slur was gone.
“ You were pretending?”
She nodded, pleased with herself. I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. It came away wet. Another thing the cop should have noticed. But Isobel had been so convincing that…
“ Don’t do that again.”
“ It worked. You wouldn’t believe the number of tickets I’ve talked my way out of. And he totally was going to strip this car down to the struts after seeing the steering column like it was.”
I bit my tongue. She had a point, but… damn it . “ That was risky.”
“ No shit. So is driving a stolen car with a kidnapped woman in it.” Her tone got sharper by the word.
“ I deserved that.”
“ No , you didn’t. But I’m not going to apologize.” She sighed. Then reached over and grabbed my phone off the dash and powered up the screensaver.
“ Hey !”
“ He’s cute. His name’s Noah ?”
She was looking at my son. “ Yeah .”
“ Did you look like that when you were little?”
“ Messier hair, more scrapes, and missing more teeth usually.” I smiled at a few of the memories and the similarities between me and my son.
“ He was born premature, so he’s a little skinnier.
” Although , I was a skinny kid. Not eating regular meals did that.
My son didn’t have that excuse, unless Sharon forgot to make the food he liked. He was a picky eater.
“ Is that why you have a gold cap?”
“ Yeah . That and I could finally afford one.”
“ You look like a thug.”
Was that a compliment or an insult? With her, I didn’t know.
She was smiling, so maybe she liked thugs?
Isobel put my phone back and stared at the road. “ He doesn’t deserve losing you like that. That’s why I did it.”
“ Here I thought you forgot this wasn’t your car.”
“ My car doesn’t smell like ass.”
“ Excuse me?”
“ This car smells like the bottom of a garbage can.”
“ It does?” I inhaled. Now that she pointed it out, it did have a funky aroma. But not nearly as bad as the bottom of a garbage can. “ I think that’s hair gel you’re smelling.” And it wasn’t mine.
“ It’s gross hair gel. Like Walgreens ’ discount bottom shelf shit.”
Like it or not, she was right.
“ I just realized something.”
I braced for what was going to tumble out of her mouth next. But had to ask, “ What did you realize?”
“ My car doesn’t have plates. Your prospect is driving a car to a drug deal without plates. When he gets pulled over, they’ll find your drugs.”
She settled in her seat, arms crossed, nose held just a fraction higher, and a placid, yet somehow still smug, expression on her face.
It was time to wipe that right off.
“ The drugs aren’t in that car.”