Chapter 6

Dani

My body was tight and aching as we drove across town with me wrapped around the back of Johnny. My mind raced with the idea of what it would feel like to belong to a guy like him. Was he violent in bed, or loving and giving? I smiled and balled my fist tighter as I held onto him. The bastard had slashed the back tire on my cop car, making life a little more difficult than it had to be.

Funny enough, if it were Tani he was looking for, I'd have done the same thing. My heart ached as I let myself say her name a few more times. It was easier to refer to her as 'my sister' to everyone, hell, even to myself.

Something about her name brought back too many memories, too much longing.

Johnny pulled the bike in the driveway of his house and parked.

I pulled the helmet off and swatted his hand away as I got off. "I told you he wasn't here." I pulled my phone from my back pocket. "You're wasting my time."

He ignored me and walked to the house, leaving me holding the helmet. I dropped it on the ground and followed after him.

"Johnny. This isn't a joke. Jason's messed up too many times on his-"

"I'm aware, cop," he barked over his shoulder. The anger in his voice stopped me cold in my tracks. There was nothing loving or gentle about him. I needed to remember that not everyone had a good story for why they were who they were, or why they were where they were. Some people just sunk to the bottom of their own perdition. Johnny Moretti could simply be that type of guy.

The handsome president of the Lost Breed Biker club had been a hit man for the mob and had connections directly to the Cooper syndicate out on the West Coast via Jeremiah "Axel" Cooper. If he were close to Jeremiah, then he couldn't have a redeeming quality inside of him.

"Maria?" Johnny called out as he walked into the house.

I reached out and stopped the door from slamming on me. Maria? His wife? Girlfriend?

My curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to know how he got into a life of crime. I kept romanticizing it in my head, making him a bad guy with a good heart.

"Stop it. Shit," I mumbled as I walked into the kitchen and looked around. The small dilapidated kitchen was clean and smelled like bacon and maple syrup.

"Fuck." Johnny walked through the kitchen and stopped in front of me. "My sister isn't here. She must have gone to look for the kid."

"The kid? Jason?"

He sneered. "What other kid do you think I'm talking about, lady? Did you sniff glue as a kid? Shit." He moved past me and barreled out of the house.

"Wait." I turned and forced the need to defend myself back. He was an asshole. I had nothing to say to him. Period. "Johnny. I'm coming with you."

"Not without a helmet you aren't." He got on the bike and put his helmet on and held up three fingers, pulling one down at a time as he watched me through the tinted glass around his eyes.

"I don't like you very much." I scooped up the helmet and got on the bike.

He popped up his face visor and glanced back. "Hold on tight. We're gonna break a few laws, cop."

"I'm fine." I reached behind me and gripped the handlebar at my ass. A scream ripped from my lips as he backed up and hit the gas, skidding out and almost throwing me off the bike. I reached up and wrapped myself around him like we were lovers. "Asshole."

His chest and stomach muscles contracted. The dick was laughing. I hated him even more.

Sort of.

*

We drove through town until Johnny took a sharp left turn and headed toward the countryside. The cold wind blew around me, whipping at my skin. It should have been uncomfortable, but for the first time in a long time, I felt alive.

Closing my eyes, I pressed my chest tightly to his back. His back muscles tightened as if my closeness surprised him a little. I'd blame it on being scared, though I was far from it.

Some part of me that never experienced happiness anymore woke up. I wanted freedom. Lust. Love. Adventure. I wanted to be the woman he put on the back of his bike because I'd captivated his heart.

And maybe it wasn't just about him. I didn't know him from Adam. He was hot as fucking sin, but so were a lot of other men. I just wanted one of them to fall over themselves to be with me.

It was Seth's fault, or maybe my father’s.

Or hell. Maybe it was my fault. I didn't know, but I wanted affection and attention more in that moment than I could remember wanting it before. It was horrible timing.

It always was.

Johnny pulled the bike over to the side of the road by a school, and I glanced to my right to see a bunch of teenage kids sitting around on a playground. He turned the bike off and extended his hand to me.

I ignored it and got off, pulling off my helmet and handing it back to him. He stood up, pulled his helmet off and gave me a stern look.

"You one of those feminist chicks that won't let a man hold the fucking door for you?"

"No, but I'm not sucking you off after you fix my tire either if that's what you're asking." I smirked and walked past him toward the kids.

He chuckled, but stayed behind me. I was grateful to have a minute with the kid by myself.

"Hey. It's our lucky day." One of the guys sitting near Jason smiled at me and wagged his eyebrows. "You come to service us, pretty lady?"

"Not quite." I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my badge, flashing it. "Detective Markum. NYPD."

"Oh fuck." One of the other boys rolled backward off the swing he was sitting in and ran toward the school.

"Fuck is right." I smiled and nodded to Jason. "I'm your new Parole officer. You're in violation of your Parole. Looks like you have a night of snuggling up to whoever else is in the county jail cell."

"No way." He lifted his hand as his friends ran this way and that.

"Yes way, you little fuck." Johnny walked past me and grabbed the kid by his hair, lifting him up like he weighed nothing. "You think you're going to keep dicking with the law and they're just going to let you slide by each time."

"Ouch. Fuck you, Uncle J. You did. Dad did." Jason kicked and screamed.

I should have stepped up to help him, but maybe Johnny being a little rough with him was a good thing.

"No, bitch. Your dad didn't make it." He dropped the kid and knelt in front of him, grabbing the front of his shirt and growling down at him. "You're going to end up dead and in a hole in the ground. These bastards you're playing with aren't kids, Jason. They're monsters."

"Fuck you, Uncle-"

Johnny slapped the kid hard across the face and stood up, taking the boy with him.

"Johnny." I moved up only to have him turn over his shoulder and glare at me.

"Don't," he barked. "You have no idea of the life we've lived. Back the fuck up. Now."

I took a step back, scared for the first time in a long time. Johnny Moretti would be a great weapon to have against Tanner King and his crew. It was a funny thought, but I was too lost in how to handle the situation next to enjoy the thought.

He turned away from me and lit into his nephew, slinging the kid around here and there.

I pulled my phone from my pocket and called for back-up, quickly giving them the address and asking for a patrol car to be sent over. I'd barely put the call in when a car pulled up behind me with the lights on.

Thomas got out of the car, followed by Detective Oliver Hill. I groaned internally at the sight of him. The guy drove me up the fucking wall with his condescending attitude.

"Need some help with a teenager, Markum?" He snorted and walked past me.

"Yeah. That's what's up." I shook my head and walked over to Thomas. "Hey. How are you?"

He smiled wearily. "Good. We miss you in Sex Crimes. They assigned a new female cop, but she's just not you. She lacks finesse and fearlessness."

I smiled and glanced over my shoulder. "I'm not sure I'm going to do much good in this new position. It's just not me at all."

"I doubt that." He closed the door and walked toward Johnny, who was dragging Jason by his hair again.

The poor kid was an idiot for messing with someone like Johnny, but that much was obvious by the boy's rap sheet. He'd fucked up a million times, and should have been in juvey.

"Hey. We'll take it from here." Oliver moved in front of Johnny.

"Move, pig." Johnny walked toward Oliver, who moved out his way and looked almost offended that someone would talk to him in such a manner. "Take his fucking ass to jail for the night, cop."

"That was the plan." I moved back to the car and opened the back door. "Jason, you understand why we're taking you in."

I reached for him as Johnny released him and shoved him toward me. The kid reached out and caught himself by grabbing me, almost pulling us both down.

"Yeah. I fucked up. I get it. So what?" He kept his head down.

I read him his rights and put him in the car as Oliver and Thomas talked over on the other side of the car.

The sound of a motorcycle roaring to life caught my attention. I glanced back to see Johnny's tail lights and a cloud of smoke.

"Hey. How did you get here?" Thomas asked from across the top of the car.

"Don't ask. I need a ride over to the station to get my car."

Oliver gave me a funny look until I held up my hand. "Don't. Ask. Seriously."

He lifted his hands and smiled. "Not sure how you get yourself into these situations, but maybe if you didn't, you would be further along in your career."

"Fuck you too." I got in the front seat and buckled up. I was pissed that Johnny left me standing there. That he fucked up my car. That I looked like an idiot in front of Thomas and Oliver.

But most of all, I was pissed that Oliver was right.

My flailing career was nobody’s fault but my own.

I was obsessed with justice, and that came at a price.

A big one.