Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 132031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132031 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
That other ten percent rivaled Dev on the crazy meter.
“Who’s that?” Keyes tilted his head to take a look behind Dev. Dev glanced over his shoulder too. He hadn’t heard the Dallas PD cruiser pulling up to the pavilion. It was always a roll of the dice whether to bristle at a cop or flip them off in a salute, knowing they were on the Disciples payroll.
“Tay Grisby. He’s got somethin’ to say so I’ve been avoidin’ him the last few days. I don’t really want to hear it.” Dev took another bite as Keyes swallowed, reached for the napkin to wipe the crumbs off his hands, then beard. He wadded the paper napkin up, tossed it aside, and bowed that big chest, looking like the threat he was.
Dev liked the way Keyes’s chest expanded about five inches bigger every time he wanted to look intimidating. At a little over six feet tall, Dev had muscle, but not like his friend. Most people feared his brother when it was Dev that could cause the most destruction in every situation.
Keyes stood to his full height, holding his ground as the officer came under the pavilion’s cover. The cop eyed Keyes closely as if judging the threat. Keyes looked mean as hell, which was one reason his old man included Keyes on his secret drug runs.
Dev took another bite, watching the show of force playing out in front of him. He got involved when Grisby’s hand shifted to rest on the butt of his pistol attached to his belt. “Calm down. It’s too fuckin’ hot outside for a cop to be out of their climate-controlled cage. Why’re you here?”
“You’ve been avoiding me,” Grisby said and cut his irritated gaze to Dev. “I don’t like having to chase you down. It’s not part of our deal.”
“Quit flirtin’ with me,” Dev said, taking another bite of his sandwich. “You want a go at this? All you’ve ever had to do was ask.” Dev raised a single brow at the cop.
Keyes just stood there, a stoic sentinel. His fists balled at his sides. Keyes did silence so well. Grisby had been on the Disciples payroll for years. Up until their last invasion, he’d been excellent at keeping the club one step ahead of everything going on behind the scenes that they weren’t privy to.
The one thing Grisby had in spades was homophobia. Dev’s implication hit its mark. Grisby got his back up. Stupid fucker.
“That shit’s not ever funny, Devilman. Where’s your old man?” The disgust was clear in his tone.
“Why?” Dev asked. Grisby was the informant, not Dev. If it concerned his old man, his location was the last thing Grisby needed to know.
“Something’s going down. There’s a change happening. I don’t know what and I’m not sure where it’s coming from.”
Okay, that was cryptic. Dev could play along. “More than what we’ve been dealin’ with?”
“Yeah,” Grisby said, looking serious, acting uncomfortable as hell.
Now they played twenty questions.
Dev took a smaller bite of his sandwich, coming up with nothing. The threat could literally be from many different directions.
“What do you know?” he finally asked.
“Tell Fox to get his connections in the feds to sniff around.” Grisby hooked his thumbs into the shoulder straps of his bulletproof vest as he eyed Keyes. “Does he have to stand that way?”
“I don’t know,” Dev said and turned to Keyes. “You have to stand that way?”
Keyes’s intimidating gaze stayed leveled on the cop, but he didn’t otherwise respond.
“Seems so,” Dev answered and reached for the bag of chips. “He’s an animal who hates cops. I think that’s the best you’re gonna get.”
Keyes grumbled. Man, he and Keyes had this good cop, bad cop thing down. The joke was so funny in Dev’s head that a chuckle burst out of his mouth.
Officer Grisby looked between the two of them. His hand lowered again to the butt of his revolver. “Tell your old man what I said. I don’t like having to track you down. You should have answered the phone. Then to have this big oaf trying to intimidate me. It’s bullshit and not part of our deal.”
Dev glanced at Keyes then met Grisby’s gaze. “Don’t think he’s actually tryin’…yet.”
The cop huffed out a breath. “I’m gonna assume this is a show to protect the balance since we’re in public, but I don’t like it.”
“I’ll mark that down in the minutes. Get gone, cop.”
Grisby pivoted around and left the pavilion, grumbling under his breath. Dev let it go. Keyes tracked every step the cop made all the way to his cruiser.
“Come finish your food,” Dev said, letting Grisby’s ominous tip go for now. He’d relay the message but had all he could deal with today. Tomorrow he’d worry about the federal concern. Whatever. They were already under federal investigation and that had turned up squat. Let the bastards come. Not the first time, wouldn’t be the last.