Edge (Parker Reed #2) (21 page)

She shook her head. “No. He is Devin Tate. He’s too possessive and controlling to give that part of himself up. But I can tell you one thing, go in protected. I hear that you’re smart. Use your brain and everything will go smoothly.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked, frowning.

“I can’t give excuses for what my cousin did and does. I don’t even know the half of it,” she shrugged. “But I do know that something needs to be done.” She glanced at Greyson who stood a few feet away from us. “And you,” she pointed at him. “Don’t let this shit get between you and your brothers. I will leave first before I let that happen.”

Greyson raised an eyebrow. “You would give up everything that you have with Ex, for me and my club’s suspicions?”

She looked between all of us. “Yes.”

He took a deep breath and clapped a hand on Ex’s shoulder. Leaning his forehead against the other mans, he whispered something to him.

Ex nodded every so often, eventually letting out a heavy sigh. “I love you, brother.”

Greyson squeezed his nape. “I love you too.”

“AGENT CROSS.”

“Meet me in the alleyway two blocks from the station,” I told Steven Cross.

“Keely? Why would I do that?”

My back stiffened at the humorous tone in his voice. “I’m sick of you questioning me. If you want answers, then meet me.”

“Fine. What time?”

“Right now,” I said and hung up, throwing the cell phone in a nearby trashcan. After chatting with Sherry that morning, even though she wasn’t much help, we all decided that we needed to get this rolling.

“You being demanding turns me on.”

I laughed at the smooth deep voice in my ear. “Well, I learned from the best.”

“You sure did.”

I shook my head.

Parker’s chuckle vibrated through me. “Hurry back, beautiful. I don’t think Agent Cross wants to deal with my charming self on his own.”

I scoffed. “Probably not.” I rounded the corner and headed down a side street before turning onto a dim alley. If I wasn’t meeting Parker in the safety of his town car, I would probably be nervous. No one should walk an alley by themselves.

When the black car came into view, I breathed a sigh of relief and took the earpiece out of my ear.

“Nice choice for a meeting, don’t you think?”

“Get in the car, Agent Cross,” I demanded, not bothering to turn around. Luckily Jones and Colin were in the front seat because I had a feeling that Parker’s jealousy might just try to get the best of him.

“So demanding. Anything else you want to tell me to do?”

The door opened slightly. “Get in the fucking car, Agent,” Parker’s deep voice bellowed.

Steven met my gaze and raised an eyebrow. “Well this just keeps getting better and better.” He slid into the car.

I followed in after him, shutting the door behind me.

“Come here, angel,” Parker commanded softly.

I moved to the empty spot beside him, making sure to sit between the both of them. Parker grabbed my hand, holding it in his lap. He had a smug smile on his face and under normal circumstances I would have rolled my eyes.

“I see that you do know each other,” Cross pointed out.

“You knew that. Why you felt the need to question me is beyond me,” I bit out.

“So tell me why we couldn’t have met at the station like we were supposed to,” Agent Cross said, sitting back on the plush leather seat.

“You know why, agent,” Parker mumbled.

“We need to make sure that we can trust you,” I said before their conversation turned into a pissing match.

“I’m an FBI agent. Of course you can trust me.”

That time, I did allow myself to roll my eyes. “You do know that Devin has his hand in everyone’s pocket. Especially the cops.”

“I am not paid by him. I may be an asshole but everything I do is fucking legal.” Cross sat forward, leaning his elbows on his knees. “It is.”

“Are you trying to convince us or yourself?” I asked, pointing at him. “Doesn’t matter if what you do is legal or not. You think this meeting is legal? Does your boss know where you are? Does he know who you’re meeting with?”

Cross frowned. “I liked you better when you were alone.”

A slow grin spread on my face. “You see. The funny thing is, I’ve never been alone. This man beside me has always been with me whether I knew it or not. So, agent, I’ve never truly been alone.”

“What do you want?” he said through clenched teeth.

“Immunity,” Parker and I said at the same time.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Agent Cross scrubbed a hand down his face. “Alright. Explain.”

“If you clear both of our records, free our names of any shit that might fall back on us after all of this is done…well, I guess mine just needs to be cleared,” I said, looking at Parker.

“Parker is no longer considered dead,” Colin said, turning around in the front seat. “I have that part covered. But if you want our assistance, you need to make sure these two stay out of jail,” he told Cross.

“And why would I want or need your assistance?” the agent asked, crossing his thick arms under his broad chest.

“How long have you been trying to bring Devin down?” I asked.

“Why does that matter?”

“You told us that you wanted to help. So answer the damn question,” Parker barked.

“Fine. Just over five years,” he mumbled, clearly unimpressed with how poor of a job they were doing at bringing down one of the most powerful men that I knew.

“Exactly.” I wasn’t one to brag but the good agent needed our help whether he liked it not. “Do you know what I’ve been doing for the past twenty-four hours?”

At that point, Steven Cross made a very stupid move and let his gaze roam down the length of my body. I was wearing jeans and a sweater. Why that made him want to check me out was beyond me. A growl sounded from beside me and the next thing I knew, Parker had the agent in a rough grip. His eyes widened but a hint of amusement flashed in his gaze, which in turn made things worse for him.

“You think it’s fucking funny? Checking out my girlfriend while we’re trying to help your sorry ass out, you bastard?” Parker said through gritted teeth, his hand tightening around Cross’ throat.

“Parker,” Colin snapped. “Focus your shit. You can play with him after we get this sorted.”

Parker leaned down to Cross’ ear and whispered something to him on a low growl.

Steven coughed a laugh and rubbed his throat when Parker released him. “Possessive much, are we?” he rasped.

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Parker sat beside me, practically shielding me from the wandering eyes of our guest.

“Alright, gentlemen. Let’s focus on the issue at hand or next time, we won’t stop him,” I told Cross. I pulled a stack of folders off the seat beside me and placed them on my lap. Stroking my fingers over the cream material, I took a breath and smiled with my sweetest smile at Agent Cross.

“Uh….” His brows furrowed. “Why do I feel like you’re about to give me bad news?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Maybe because I am. You’ve been a bad boy, Agent Cross.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” His back stiffened but he made no further moves so I continued.

“You see, after you threatened me, I did some research.”

“I didn’t threaten you.”

I raised an eyebrow. “No? I seem to recall that you had a file on me, telling me that I wasn’t a good girl and all that shit. I don’t take kindly to threats, Cross. I was with Devin for years and even he never threatened me.”

“That’s because he just took what he wanted,” he mumbled under his breath.

“Watch your fuck—”

“Parker.” I squeezed his arm and turned back to Agent Cross. “What Devin and I had is between me and him. How would your wife feel if she found out that you were siding with the bad guys? Yes, he abused me but that is no excuse. You of all people should know that.”

He looked away, guilt written all over his face.

I opened the folder before me and smiled. “You’ve paid your informants off in more ways than one. Getting cozy with the ladies, are we, agent? I see that some drugs have gone missing from the evidence room. And some guns, too.”

His mouth fell open and he snapped it shut before shaking his head. A dark shadow moved over his face. “You don’t—”

“I do. I’d be very careful what I say next, Steven. I’ve had a very long morning and I’m in no mood to deal with your uncooperative shit. Your life is now in my hands.” Thankfully my voice came out stronger than how I felt because, in reality, my nerves were shot. It had been a rough couple of months and I was in no way ready to deal with this. But I had to. A war was setting in between all of us and Devin and his boys. I didn’t even know how many people he had working for him but I could only imagine that it was more than what we had.

“You have nothing on me,” Cross growled, a slight flush creeping up his neck.

“Just like you have nothing on me?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He didn’t respond.

“That’s what I thought.” I handed him a folder. “That can go away if you do everything that we say.”

“What do you need?” he asked, flipping through the file.

I glanced between Colin and Jones. Colin nodded at me encouragingly.

Parker squeezed my hand.

I met his gaze for a brief moment before turning back to Agent Cross. I finally said the only thing that I could think of. The only thing that all of us had needed over the past couple of weeks. “Freedom.”

CAN’T clear your records. I don’t have that kind of authority,” Agent Cross stated, keeping his eyes on the file in his hands. “I don’t…” He let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping with defeat.

We had him. Right where we wanted him.

“How do you think I’m going to erase everything for you? I don’t have that kind of power.”

“Yes, you do. If we hadn’t stepped in, you’d bring Devin down on your own.” I smiled. “It would probably take you a couple more years but you would eventually succeed.”

His eyes popped up. “And you actually think that you could bring him down faster? What are you going to do? Kill him?”

I laughed. “That would be too simple. You see, I want him to pay for the shit he did to me when I was a young girl. I want him to suffer at the hands of fate as I stare into his lifeless eyes.”

“You said that you didn’t want to kill him.”

I shrugged. “I don’t. That man is a monster. He’s a sociopath. There is no life behind his eyes. He’s cold and heartless and completely emotion-free. He doesn’t care about anyone except for himself.” Agent Cross shifted in his seat. I smirked and continued. “You know who I am and what I can do with a computer. How do you think I dug up that information on you so quickly?”

He shook his head. “I knew you were good but I had no idea how good.” He blew out a breath. “I think I underestimated you, Miss Price.”

“It happens,” I said casually. “Most people do.”

“So,” he tapped the folder on his lap. “How do you know that I’ll clear your records? I could just say that I will and be on my way. How would you get proof that it’s done?”

Parker pulled a USB stick out from the inside of his suit jacket and placed the small item, which looked like Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies, on top of the folder Cross was holding.