Page 54 of Ridin' True

“Can I ask you a question?”

He was sitting on the couch, tugging on his second boot, while I stood at the mouth of my kitchen, my hip propped against the edge of the counter.

“Yup.”

“What did Fred Hoffman do? Why does Bull want him out?”

In retrospect, I probably should have asked during my quasi-interview, but it hadn’t occurred to me then. From the sound of things, trust had been broken, but not in such a way that there was an obvious breach of contract.

“He’s involved with the drug cartel, somehow. Borrero is one of his clients, but we don’t know why. And the timing is suspect. We had a bit of trouble last year with the cartel, and Hoffman was indirectly involved.”

“How do you mean?”

He finished lacing his boot, then sat up and looked at me.

“Long story short—our former president is currently behind bars. We put him there to get him out of our way, and he still managed to stir up shit. He reached out to Hoffman, Hoffman decided to be his messenger boy, deliverin’ orders to whoever was dumb enough to listen. Those orders created conflict with the cartel.

“Hoffman should have known better. Scorpion still has Stallion ink on his arm, but he has no authority.None.Hoffman answers to Bull. His loyalty should be to the club, but his actions have proven he can’t be trusted. Now his involvement with Borrero makes two strikes.”

“So, wouldn’t that be a simple case of conflict of interest?”

“We’re not in the drug business, darlin’. They stay in their lane, and we stay in ours. Technically, he can sign Borrero as a client if he wants.”

I knit my eyebrows together as I considered his response. It was possible it was as simple as he said—but it still didn’t make sense to me why Hoffman would consider it good business practice to take on Rocco as a client. I was a bit biased, but it seemed like an incredibly wise decision to steer clear of the drug cartel altogether.

“Okay, well, hopefully I’ll find something in his contract to justify his dismissal.”

“My money’s on you, Lex,” he said as he stood. “Hoffman’s no joke, but he’s greedier than he is prudent.”

I appreciated the vote of confidence, but I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task.

Jed closed the distance between us, then pulled me into his arms, completely eradicating any thought of Hoffman or contracts or anything that wasn’t directly related toJed Barker. I grabbed hold of his shoulders, going up on tiptoe as he held me close.

“You got my number, I got yours.”

I nodded at his implied invitation.

“Not tryin’ to go a whole week without layin’ eyes on this face, so I’ll see what I can figure out.”

“Okay,” I murmured through a smile.

“Alright. I gotta go.”

“Me, too.”

When he didn’t let me go, I didn’t let him go either, and I felt my smile stretch into a grin.

“Fuck,” he whispered, before bringing his lips to mine.

He kissed me just enough to whet my appetite, and then he reached underneath my shirt and squeezed one side of my bum, eliciting a giggle. He winked, let me go, and headed for the door.

“Bye, darlin’.”

“Bye, papi,” I replied.

This stopped him dead in his tracks, and he looked at me with an expression that would have made any woman’s panties melt.

“I lied,” he practically growled, prowling back my way. “Don’t call me that when I’m walkin’ out the door, Lex.”