Chapter Seven

Cameron

Iglanced up into my rearview mirror, snarling when I saw blue lights flashing behind me. It was pouring down rain—so much so that my windshield wipers were on full blast—and lightning was streaking across the sky, the thunder that followed loud enough to shake my fucking truck.

I wasn't even going over the speed limit because I could barely see out of my damn windshield. These fuckers had to be petty as fuck and on a mission to get on my bad side to pull me over in this weather.

Muttering a curse beneath my breath, I hit the button for my hazards and then pulled onto the side of the road, throwing my truck in park. I grabbed my driver's license out of my wallet and then snatched my insurance card and my truck registration out of the glove compartment before settling in to wait for these dumb fucks to make the walk to my truck to take my shit.

A few minutes later—damn near ten minutes—the driver stepped out of the car and made the walk to my truck, rain pounding down on him. Through my passenger-side rearview mirror, I saw the other patrolman get out of the passenger side, and I sighed.

Here we fucking went.

I rolled my window down, the rain lashing into my truck, when the officer knocked on the window. I arched a brow at him. "How can I help you?" I drawled, trying to hide my annoyance. I didn't need to get hauled in, and one thing to know about cops—they could take someone in for whatever they wanted. It wasn't their job to decide if I was actually in the wrong. That was for a judge and jury to decide.

"I need you to step out of the vehicle, sir."

Jesus Christ.

I pushed open the door and stepped out before shutting it back behind me. The rain immediately began to soak into my clothes and made the bun on the top of my head drag painfully on my scalp.

"We got a report of a suspicious vehicle matching your truck's description," the officer told me, but he had a twitch in his jaw that gave him away. It was barely noticeable, but I spotted it immediately. He'd been given orders to harass me, and that was exactly what he was doing.

"You want to check my truck?" I asked. "Go right the fuck on ahead. You're not supposed to without a warrant, but I don't have shit to hide."

He patted me down first, bending me over the hood of the vehicle and searching my person, coming up empty. The other officer checked my truck, dumping everything out of my glove compartment and out of my middle console, not bothering to even attempt to put any of it back, before shrugging at the officer who'd patted me down. "Nothing."

The officer faked a smile and nodded at me. "Thanks for being so cooperative, sir. You have a good day."

"Go to hell," I muttered under my breath, not moving until they were pulling away.

Ace frownedat me when I walked through the clubhouse doors. "You look like hell," he said, for once not having some smart-ass comment. I guessed I looked as pissed off as I felt.

"Got pulled over for being ‘suspicious'," I muttered, heading for the staircase. "Can you make me a cup of coffee?"

"Yeah," he called after me as I ascended the stairs. Once I was in my room, I stripped out of my clothes and headed straight for the shower to get warm. I was rinsing my hair when Ace knocked on my bathroom door. "You want the coffee now or just want me to set it on the counter?" he asked.

I poked my hand around the shower curtain. "Now," I rasped. Once it was in my hand, I swallowed the scalding coffee, letting it warm my insides in a way the shower couldn't. I handed the mug back to him when I was done. "Thanks, kid."

"Your phone is ringing," I heard him say a moment later from my bedroom. "It's… Abbie."

I sighed, my shoulders tensing. I wasn't in the mood to deal with her after this shit show I'd just dealt with. "I'll deal with her when I get out," I told him.

"Sure." A moment later, my bedroom door shut, and I was alone again. I finished my shower in peace, then got dressed in jeans and a hoodie, pulling on a pair of old, worn sneakers since my boots would probably have to be thrown out.

Just what I wanted—a goddamn shopping trip to buy another pair of boots.

I snatched my phone off the bed and called Abbie back as I headed down the stairs. "Hey," she greeted when she answered.

"Hey yourself," I muttered, walking into the kitchen to find a snack—chips, cookies, something. "What's up, little devil?"

"You sound… off," she finally settled on. "You okay, Cameron?"

I sighed. "Just some fuck ass cops," I told her. "Pulled me over in the pouring rain to pat me down and search my truck because it was suspicious."

"They what?" she asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

"Mhm," I hummed noncommittally. Wasn't sure why she would be surprised. She was targeting us just as much as the rest of that fucking precinct was.

She sighed. "I'm sorry, Cameron," she said softly. And if I didn't know better, I would've thought she genuinely was sorry that I was being targeted more than likely due to my affiliation with the club and our meddling in the trafficking shit going on around here. But I did know better—knew that she was using me to try to climb the ranks as an officer, knew she wanted to take down my club and throw my brothers in prison, starting with Jax.

Playing her like a fiddle for the past month had been kind of fun. She still got irritated when I wouldn't talk about my family, and she responded to that by not talking about her personal life.

Sometimes, she slipped up though. Like I knew she had no parents—they died in a car accident when she was eighteen. I found out she couldn't afford to go to college without student loans, so she decided to become a police officer at twenty-one after working a bunch of dead-end waitressing jobs. She liked to spend her days off sleeping in, reading, watching movies, and eating junk food.

She knew next to nothing about me because I wouldn't let her.

"It's fine," I told her.

"Do you want to grab lunch with me at the coffee shop?" she asked tentatively. "My partner is with me, but…"

I shrugged and closed the fridge. Wasn't anything I wanted here anyway. I could get another coffee and maybe a cookie from the coffee shop. "Sure," I told her. I looked at Ace as I walked out of the kitchen, who seemed to be working on a new tattoo design for Shaw. "I'm bringing my little brother with me."

"Oh?" she asked, surprise tinging her voice. Hell, if I were her, I'd have been surprised, too. But I didn't need to be alone, and Ace, despite him being a cocky little brat who liked to push my buttons more often than not, he'd also have my back. Always. "Okay. I'll find us a table when I get there. See you in a bit, Cameron."

I ended the call and looked at Ace, who was watching me. "Want to get something to eat? We're meeting Abbie and her partner, Trent, at the coffee shop."

He shrugged. "Lunch with a cop." He snorted. "Sounds like some elementary school shit." He locked his tablet and hopped down from his bar stool. "Sure. I'm in, so long as you're paying."

I sighed. "Bro, doesn't Shaw pay you well for your art?"

He shrugged. "So? You invite me, you pay."

I rolled my eyes. "Christ," I muttered, pulling my truck keys from my pocket. "Let's go."

When I pulledup outside the coffee shop, Abbie was outside, standing under the awning. Trent was already inside, a coffee in front of him at a four-seater table. I got out, Ace following, and walked up to her, pressing a kiss to her lips. "Come on."

Pressing my hand to her lower back, I led her inside, holding the door open for Ace before following her to the counter. Once we'd ordered our food, Ace went to sit down, introducing himself to Trent. Trent looked a little offended when Ace wouldn't shake his hand, making me snicker.

"He doesn't like being touched?" Abbie asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. He hates it."

She frowned. "Can I ask why?"

I shook my head again. "Nope." That wasn't her business, and it wasn't my business to tell anyway, even if I did want her to know—which I didn't. Ace's history was his, and no one needed to know unless he wanted them to know.

Besides… not even us—his own damn brothers—knew what had made him so afraid of being touched. He was close-lipped about it.

She eyed me for a moment. "You're in a particularly bad mood, Cameron," she noted.

"I'm always like this," I said evasively, wishing she'd just drop whatever she was doing. She didn't want to fuck with me today. I wasn't in the damn mood.

She huffed, turning to face me. "You're always so closed off, but today, you're just being fucking rude about it. You were short on the phone and hung up without even giving me a proper goodbye, and now, you're literally popping the P on your words like an obnoxious child."

I scoffed, narrowing my eyes at her. "Like an obnoxious child? You're the one picking a fight in the middle of a goddamn coffee shop, Abbie."

"Well, maybe I'm tired of being treated like shit," she sneered. "You sweet talk me enough to get in my pants, and then you're a douchebag the rest of the time. You're always hot and cold, and I can't keep up. Seriously, Cameron, it's been a month. You could thaw just a little."

And I just… I fucking lost it. I was tired. I was aggravated. And I was just done.

"I could thaw a little?" A cruel laugh spilled past my lips that made the blood rush from her face. "You want me to fucking thaw, Abbie?" I sneered. Ace immediately got up from the table, heading my way, but it didn't matter. I was on a goddamn roll. "The only reason I decided to fuck with a pig like yourself is because I overheard you and your little fuck head friend talking about taking down my family, starting with Jax—my goddamn brother."

Her face paled even more—so much so, she looked like she might fall over at any second. Ace shook his head at me, warning me to back off now, but I was so over her holier-than-thou shit. "I've been playing you this entire fucking time, Abbie. Distracting you to keep you away from my family. Fucking you so good, all you can think about is the next time my dick gets to be inside your tight little body." Her face turned red, anger and hurt burning in her eyes. "So, take your opinions of me and shove them right up your perky little ass, little devil, because I didn't start this shit—you did. All I did was protect my family from asshole cops like you," a cruel smirk tilted my lips, "while you were ready to rip apart lives, rip apart my family, just so you could earn two more dollars on your pissy-ass paycheck."

She grabbed the coffee the barista had just set down and threw it in my face. Ace lurched forward, pressing his hands to my chest, and pushing me back from her. "Truck," he snapped at me. "Now, Cameron. Get in the fucking truck."

I spit at her, watching the glob land on her cheek. "Burn in hell, you bitch."

With that, I spun on my heel, yet another set of clothes ruined, and stormed to my truck, too fucking pissed to even be surprised that Ace had touched me. We were both silent on the way back to the clubhouse, and when we got there, I was surprised to see everyone there. Konrad, Blu, and Grey were missing, but Jax and Blakely were sitting on the couch, watching me and Ace stroll in. Even Arlo, Shaw, and Amaliya were sitting down at a table.

"Give him space," Ace said quietly to them.

I stormed up the stairs, clenching my jaw when I heard Grey moaning. Jesus Christ.

I slammed my door shut behind me and peeled off my hoodie and t-shirt before dropping onto my bed and shoving my pillow over my head to block out the sound of Konrad getting his boy and girl off. I wanted so badly to tell them to knock it the hell off, that I wasn't in the mood to listen to them moaning and begging and screaming, but I knew I'd never do that—no matter how shit of a mood I was in.

Grey and Blu deserved happiness, and if that happiness involved loud orgasms, then I'd fucking deal with it.

At least someone around here was going to continue getting sex on the regular because I'd just fucked that all to hell.