Page 18 of T-Bone (Steel Demons MC #11)

T-Bone

I t was weird as fuck being inside Ashley’s place without her.

The place was dead silent, which was so unlike her that it felt foreign to be in there without pop music playing in the background and cooking shows playing on the TV.

Without light, all the colors ceased to exist as if the place was as dead as she was.

“I can’t believe they’re not protecting the place. ”

Faith snorted from the other side of the room. “Protect it from what? The people they’ve already helped out by blaming her ex-boyfriend, who they don’t have in handcuffs or behind bars.” She was annoyed with me and the distance between us grew with every passing second.

“Look, Faith, my objections weren’t because I’m hiding something from you.”

She scoffed. “Right.”

“I mean it,” I growled and raked a hand over my head with a heavy sigh. “We’re being chased by bikers and breaking into crime scenes, which means we need to be smart.”

“I was a homicide detective, T-Bone, I can take care of myself, and I know how to be smart . We’re partners, remember that.

I don’t need you acting as my bodyguard.

” She moved methodically through the living room, going through every drawer, checking every sheet of paper on the shelves and even under the furniture.

She was meticulous, highlighting the point that she didn’t need me.

“So what, now you don’t trust me?”

She laughed. “Who said I ever trusted you?”

My lips curled into a reluctant smile. She was so fucking feisty, and she never worried about hurting my feelings. “Fair point. Though you did trust me enough to fuck me.”

She laughed. “Yeah well, nobody’s perfect.”

Silence fell around us again but there was less tension in it this time, allowing me to search properly.

There were bills on the coffee table, sketches pinned to a corkboard near the fridge and more drawings done by a kid stuck to the fridge with magnets.

“There’s a little girl in her life, or there was at some point. ” I pointed to the fridge.

Faith walked over and studied the drawings like they were famous works of art. She nibbled her bottom lip as she took in every single detail before she nodded and walked away with a short huff.

“Nothing to say?”

She shrugged. “I already figured she died protecting Gemma. The question is who else was she protecting?” She shook her head as she worked out the problem in her head. She searched high and low for any details. “Son of a bitch,” she muttered after about ten minutes of silence.

“What?” I stood with a stack of papers from the top of the fridge in my hand and waited her out. Though Faith had proven herself to be no nonsense, right now she was letting her emotions guide her.

“I thought you said you didn’t know her?” Faith walked across the room with two photo frames, one in each hand. She shoved one photo in my face. “Well? You look pretty goddamn friendly to me.”

I looked at the photo of me, Pike, and Ashley, and I smiled.

“That’s from a few years back. Ashley did some art on a few bikes, and she came with us to a bike event held out in the desert.

” I shook my head at the memory. “She was so fuckin’ excited to showcase her art so publicly and Pike was so proud.

Peyton took a photo to mark the occasion. ”

Her lips pulled into a tight line. “And this photo?”

That one was just me and Ashley and there was no good news. “I don’t remember a damn thing about taking this photo,” I answered honestly.

She snorted out a huff of disbelief. “Of course. Memory loss.” She stared at me with a mix of anger and distrust. “Understood.”

“What the fuck do you think you understand?” Because I sure as shit didn’t understand a damn thing.

Faith set down both frames on the kitchen table and sighed heavily, shaking her head. “Nothing, just another lesson learned.” She mumbled under her breath and went back to searching, this time in the kitchen as if she didn’t trust me to search properly.

My jaw clenched tight at her words. It stung to be another lesson learned , especially when she said it sounding so fucking disappointed.

“Just ask what you’re doing a very shitty job of not asking, Faith.

” This shit right here was exactly why I kept my interactions with women on the surface.

If they remained shallow, then I didn’t have to dig too deep and I didn’t let them dig too deep.

“I don’t care about your past, T-Bone. Honestly, I don’t, unless it’s something you’re trying to hide that can help me find Gemma.

” She looked up from the bottom drawer filled with utensils and sighed.

“If you’re trying to protect my feelings because you think I’m jealous, don’t. I need to find my niece.”

That was both hot and annoying as fuck. “Jealous?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Men tend to make themselves untrustworthy by hiding things, usually insignificant things they simply don’t want to deal with.”

“Men?”

She nodded. “Yeah, men. Like right now, you think I’m jealous you might have screwed your best friend’s little sister so you’re acting sketchy right now. All I’m saying is don’t. I don’t need you to.”

“I’m not,” I growled, taking a step forward.

Faith stood and took a step forward, fire burning in her eyes. “Then explain to me why it seems like you knew Ashley better than you’re saying.” Every syllable was laced with steel.

“She was Pike’s sister, so she hung around a bit and yeah, I knew her. Knew she was an artist and loved shitty pop music. Knew she liked fish tacos but that’s it. I don’t know the intimate details of her life.”

She studied me for a long moment and then nodded. “So you never had sex with her?”

My brows rose. “Now you are sounding jealous.”

“You didn’t sleep with her and share intimate details afterwards, like her helping out a woman with a little girl? Like her getting fake IDs for a woman and a little girl?”

“No,” I sighed, shoving disappointment down deep. Why the fuck did I want her to be jealous? That shit led to complications I didn’t want. Ever. Period. “I didn’t fuck her.”

“So you’re not hiding anything?”

“No, Faith. I’m not hiding anything.” Except the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about having her again.

“See?” She tossed her arms up in the air. “Five wasted minutes and for what? Nothing!”

I let out a low growl, ready to tell her how crazy she was being when she smacked a hand over my mouth. My eyes widened with shock, and I reached for her wrist to remove her hand.

She lifted a finger to her lips to quiet me and then moved to her ear, motioning for me to listen.

Her scent wrapped around me, sweet but mixed with motor oil and highway. I shouldn’t be thinking about how good she smelled, I should be thinking about sliding into her sweet little cunt, which was interrupted by Faith motioning wildly.

“Listen,” she mouthed to me. She didn’t say a word but somehow, I heard her annoyance.

I shifted my focus from fucking her, to the voices outside. Deep, masculine voices sounded in hushed whispers. Faith and I stood frozen, listening to the conversation.

“I know that bitch knew more than she ever said,” the first voice said.

Faith’s eyes widened and she whispered one word. “Nate.”

I nodded and we kept listening.

“What did she do with the fucking brat, Sheriff? Did your deputies say anything?”

“Maynard,” Faith whispered.

“No, they didn’t say a damn thing, certainly nothing like they found a little girl in the crime scene.” He sounded offended at the thought.

“That bitch’s sister is in town right now. That can’t be a coincidence.” Blade let out a low growl of frustration. “Thanks to the asshole who had the job before you, everybody thinks she’s dead, but there’s no fucking proof. The sister knows something.”

“So just ask her what she knows,” Maynard grunted. “If she won’t answer the nice way, see if she responds to the not-so-nice way.”

“You don’t think I’ve thought about that? The bitch is joined at the hip with that big gorilla motherfucker from Steel City.”

Faith’s lips twitched but she tried to hide it from me when she noticed me watching. “Not sorry,” she mouthed with a smile.

“Steel Demons,” Maynard asked, surprised. “From what I heard she has no love for bikers, so that’s suspicious.”

“Don’t matter,” Blade grunted. “I’m gonna follow that cop bitch until I get the answers I need, and then I’ll put a bullet in her and her bodyguard.”

Maynard laughed. “Try not to do it in Red Rock, the last thing I need is Steel City’s sheriff crawling up my ass for answers.” He laughed to himself. “What are we doing here, Blade?”

He shrugged. “I thought that bitch was headed here but I lost them on the highway. Guess they went back to their clubhouse.”

“You wanna go in to be sure?”

“No I don’t want to fuckin’ go inside, I want to find that little brat.”

“Right,” Maynard grunted. “Well then, I best be on my way. You got somethin’ for me?” Paper rustled and I assumed it was Blade handing over an envelope full of cash.

Next, two sets of footsteps took off in different directions, but I wasn’t convinced they were gone, not yet. I moved towards the window to watch them, but Faith gripped my forearm and shook her head. She mouthed one word. “Wait.”

Time passed slowly while we waited, Faith’s green eyes watched me carefully but this time she wasn’t looking for lies, for reasons not to trust me. She just… watched.

I took my time and watched her back, taking in her thick chestnut waves mussed from the helmet, the wind and constantly running her fingers through it.

Even now, frustrated and rumpled, she was beautiful.

Her curves were on full display in the worn jeans.

She nibbled her bottom lip while we waited in silence for Maynard and Blade to get the fuck gone, her green eyes bounced back and forth as if she wasn’t seeing me at all, just thoughtful.

After fifteen minutes had passed, Faith’s hand slipped from my arm, and she turned to the closest window. “There’s a squad car out front.”

I froze at her words, turning slowly. Were they waiting to ambush us or just watching the house in case we came by? “Anybody inside?”

She shrugged. “Looks like he’s sleeping or eating.”

“Figures,” I snorted. “We should get out of here and go back the way we came.”

Faith blew out a breath and nodded slowly. “Yeah. But we need to finish searching this place. Use that torch sparingly,” she said, nodding to the phone clutched in my hand.

“Bossy,” I grumbled under my breath, but I couldn’t help but smile when she snickered as she made her way to the second floor.