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last night?”
    Declan stiffed. His last memory had been staring at the row of bottles behind the bar in the little dive he’d found on the outskirts of downtown. He’d picked it because the chances of running into any people he knew were pretty slim considering how off the beaten path the establishment was and the cab ride home wouldn’t break the bank. But apparently there hadn’t even been a cab ride home like he’d thought after he’d woken up the next morning with one hell of a hangover.
    “You drove me home?”
    Jagger nodded.
    “You go to that bar?” Declan grated out.
    “Connor works there,” Jagger said.
    A faint memory of the hot bartender flitted through his mind. He hadn’t seen Connor Talbot the day he’d interrogated Jagger so he hadn’t recognized him when he’d slid him a crisp hundred dollar bill.
    “For a guy who’s supposedly smart enough to make detective, you sure do stupid shit. Getting shitfaced, hook-ups in flea-bag motels.”
    Terror went through Declan at Jagger’s statement about the motel.
    “Don’t worry, I don’t give a shit whose wife you’re fucking,” Jagger snapped.
    Wife? Had Jagger not seen Zane leaving the room?
    “What I do give a fuck about is how you know where Ren Barretti is,” Jagger ground out.
    The relief that Jagger hadn’t discovered his secret was nearly palpable but the use of Ren’s name brought Declan back to the present.
    “It’s my cabin,” Declan said. “I gave Ren the key and the security code after the shooting,” Declan finally admitted and wasn’t surprised when Jagger grabbed him by the throat once more.
     
    ***
    Jagger was so enraged that it was everything he could do not to wrap both his hands around Declan’s thick neck and squeeze. To think Vin and Dom Barretti had been torturing themselves for days wondering where their brother had disappeared to and this asshole had known all along – had lied to their faces.
    “Explain,” he growled.
    “After the D.A. signed off on the shooting as being justified, Ren wanted to leave. I tried to convince him to go back to his brothers but he wouldn’t even consider it. I knew it wasn’t safe for him out there on his own so I offered him use of the cabin. He said he’d think about it, but only if I promised not to come here…not to check on him. I agreed and gave him all the cash I had on me.”
    The answer surprised Jagger. “So you’ve been coming here to check on him anyway?” he asked as he forced himself to release Declan. The feel of the man’s pulse beneath his fingers was too distracting. Declan’s hand reached up to rub at his throat and the move made Jagger’s cock jerk in his pants.
    “No. I have an app on my phone that notifies me if anyone disables the security system. It wasn’t disabled until this afternoon. I have no idea where he’s been since the shooting.”
    Jagger cursed the fact that it was too dark to see Declan’s face. The man had even been smart enough to disable the dome light in his car, presumably so that Ren wouldn’t see the vehicle where it was parked in a grove of trees at the base of the driveway.
    “Why not tell Dom and Vin?”
    Declan snorted. “Do you really believe that if they know where he is, they’d be able to stay away?”
    “He’s messed up Declan. He needs help.” Jesus, why the hell did using the man’s name sound so right on his tongue?
    “You think I don’t fucking know that?” Declan said. “But I also know that short of institutionalizing him, Dom and Vin wouldn’t have been able to keep him from taking off if that was what he wanted to do.”
    Jagger sighed. “So what exactly was your plan?”
    Before Declan could answer, a gunshot rang out and both he and Declan instantly ducked behind the car. But Jagger instinctively knew the muffled sound hadn’t come from outside and he was running towards the cabin a second after a horrified Declan uttered Ren’s name.
     
    ***
    Jagger didn’t bother slowing as he rammed