Better when He's Bold

“This is Detective King, Bax’s brother.”

“Oh, yeah, this is Brysen. What can I do for you?”

I figured he was just following up on everything that had happened with Drew, but my heart started to thunder when he sighed and told me very matter-of-factly, “I just called Race and Dovie down to the station. I have some news for both of them and I think it would be smart if you and Bax made your way in as well. I already called him because he would kick my ass if I didn’t.”

My hands curled around the keys I was still clutching until the metal dug sharply into my skin.

“What happened?”

“I can’t tell you until I talk to Race and Dovie. Just trust me, you want to get here as soon as possible.”

I hung up and bolted for the door with Karsen hollering after me, asking what was wrong. I made it to the police station in record time and didn’t have to search too hard to find Bax prowling around in front of the main intake desk like a dangerous, dark predator. His midnight-colored eyes flared a little when they saw me and he stopped midpace to stalk over to me.

“Titus called you down here too?”

I nodded and craned my neck around to see if I could see my guy or Dovie anywhere. There were people all over the place. Some in uniform, some in business dress; most were in street clothes and there were far too many in handcuffs who looked like they had just been picked up off any corner in the Point for my comfort.

“Do you have any idea what is going on?”

Bax grunted and rubbed his hand roughly over his head. It was obvious that he was as agitated as I was, but his concern came across as barely leashed violence.

“No. But if I don’t see Dovie in the next five minutes, I’m finding my brother’s office and getting some goddamn answers.”

Well, that was fine by me. He could storm the castle and I would just follow along behind him. I was going to tell him that I was all for that plan when his spine snapped straight and all of his impressive bulk went stone hard. His teeth snapped together with enough force that I heard it and the star tattooed on his face started to throb as red heat moved up his neck and into his face.

I turned to see what had him reacting so violently and could only frown in confusion as a beautiful young woman with endless amounts of jet-black hair and a body that would stop traffic faltered as she saw him and then made a move to walk past both of us.

Bax suddenly moved around me, practically knocking me over as he loomed unmoving in front of the woman, forcing her to a stop and look up at him. She had really amazing eyes that were almost navy blue in color and I could see the way she shook when Bax got right in her face and literally growled at her like a wild animal.

“Hey . . .” I tried to interject because we were in the lobby of a police station after all.

Bax ignored me and barked out in short, clipped tones, “What. In. The. Fuck.”

“Hello, Shane.” Her voice was surprisingly calm in the face of all that dark rage sweeping off of him. It was strange to hear anyone use Bax’s real name besides Dovie, and it was obvious he didn’t like it.

“You bitch. I should put your head through that wall after what you did to Dovie. She thought you were her friend.” His eyes blazed like the very pits of hell at her and I could almost see the rage rolling off of him in thick, suffocating waves.

The woman blinked slowly and she went really pale but she refused to look away from him. She had some serious balls. Bax was scary and the way he was looking at her was like he already had a shallow grave dug somewhere in the city for her body.

“No one has friends in the Point, at least that’s what I thought. I’m trying to make it right.” Now her voice cracked a little and I noticed that her bottom lip started to quiver slightly. She was far more frightened than she was letting on. Whatever else Bax had been ready to lay into her about was cut off when Titus suddenly appeared and smacked Bax across the back of the head, startling him enough to move away from the young woman as he reached up to rub the sting.

“Leave her alone, asshole. She’s trying to help.” Titus sounded annoyed and frustrated in equal measure.

The woman looked between the two men then at me, and was smart enough to bolt while she had an opening. She left without saying anything to either brother.

“Who on earth was that?”

Bax retaliated by ramming his elbow hard into Titus’s very flat belly, which had the older brother sucking in a breath and glaring as his sibling. Bax turned his dark eyes on me and bit out, “Reeve Black. She’s the person who told Novak Dovie was on her own the night he had his guys grab her off the street. She got into bed with him over a blood debt and he called it in and used it to hurt Race and Dovie. She should be in jail for capital murder, but she cut a major deal with the feds and went into witness protection. She’s supposed to be as far away from here as they could put her. I told this idiot”—he pointed at his glowering brother—“if I ever saw her again I wasn’t going to be responsible for my actions.”

“And I told you to stop saying shit like that to me. Remember, I’m a cop.”

“Why are we here, Detective?”

Titus scowled at Bax and flicked a narrow-eyed look at me as well. He crooked his finger and motioned for us to move closer to him.

“I got a call from one of the federal marshals handling all the witnesses in the Novak case.” I saw his Adam’s apple bounce up and down as he met Bax’s hard stare. “Race and Dovie’s old man was murdered last night in the secure location WITSEC found for him. Hartman was willing to give the names of major arms dealers, drug suppliers south of the border, and all kinds of other information the RICO unit was chomping at the bit to get their hands on in this case. He had a full security detail, was located out in the middle of goddamn nowhere, and someone still managed to get to him.”