Concealed Force

Chapter 23

She slept well that night, which was lucky as Reid was keen to have his favor returned the next morning. He'd come on her skin, as if he'd wanted to mark her, and then he'd used that as an excuse to shower together again. They spent a lot of the day in bed, and then the next day too, as apparently there was no one to intimidate or extort money from, and no other clubs to fight or court at the moment.

The only interruptions were Alyssa, wanting Laura to help her with chores (she did one load of laundry before Reid came to fetch her), and the fact that Reid couldn't stop checking his phone, monitoring where Lonnie was, making sure the president hadn't turned location services off, and wasn't already at the lab.

He'd also dropped the rest of the info he'd found into a shared file, which his DEA boss could access, and he was waiting to hear if it was enough to bring a case against the club, enough to get them out of there.

Apart from the anxiety of waiting it was like a holiday in the middle of the compound, and Laura was already dreading tomorrow, when there would be actual work to be done and Reid would have to be out of her sight.

"I'll be out most of the day," Reid told her, coming back from a brief chat with Poke, "and I can't keep checking this while everyone's around. Can you monitor my phone?"

Someone bumped against the window on the walkway. Two guys smoking outside their rooms. Reid glanced at them Laura got up and went into the bathroom, to turn on the shower. They sat on the floor, close, huddled over the phone.

"Take a screenshot every time he stops moving and break the sim card in half if it looks like the location service has been turned off. That's important, Laura. If Lonnie sees he's being tracked you need to make sure he can't be sure it was this phone tracking him."

"Okay. I get it. I'll be careful, you don't have to worry."

"You know I'll worry anyway." He gave a small smile.

"Do you think he'll go to the lab tomorrow?"

"I have a feeling, yeah."

"What happens then?"

"Then my boss sends in the cavalry. It'll take a few days to get the warrants sorted and the units ready, because they'll need to hit the lab and the compound at the same time. But then we're done here."

She smiled, ignoring the way her heart squeezed. Time was running out. He'd said he would get her clear, he'd told his boss she wasn't in danger, and he was a man of his word. That was enough, surely. He'd said this was all they'd have, he'd only ever promised she'd be home with her parents, never that she'd be out with him. He was her hero, she couldn't expect him to be her boyfriend too. But part of her had hoped...

"Stop looking at me like that," he said. It was almost his mean voice, but there was an edge of pleading to it.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm your fucking savior. I'm not."

"Except, you kind of are, Reid."

"No, Laura, I'm nothing. I'm just some shit who's been taking advantage."

"No, that's not who you are."

She crawled over to him, on to his lap, feeling the way he stiffened, held himself back, taking his face in her hands, still amazed that she could just touch him when she felt like it, in private anyway, just put her hands on this beautiful, powerful man.

"I'd be dead if it wasn't for you...or wishing I was dead."

"Don't say that."

"Why not?" she said. "It's true."