staying with friends?”
“Hopefully? Think that it had nothing to do with me, so that he still thinks I’m on his side, and I can get close enough to stab him in the back. It makes sense that you’d be scared after he broke into the house, and you’d run to a friend. It makes more sense than you picking up and heading south, actually. So you’ll be safe there, and I can take care of things.”
“And your big plan is that you ride into the garage like a cowboy, and somehow convince everyone that Declan is a big bad monster, and then they all fall in line behind you, and Declan wanders off like a kicked puppy with his tail between his legs, and there’s no consequences for anyone?”
His jaw was working hard, and he didn’t say anything at all.
“Because I’m sure I’ve heard of worse plans than that. Somewhere. It's a terrible plan and it's not going to turn out the way you think it will.”
“What would you have me do?”
“Same damn thing I’ve been suggesting from the beginning. Take this to the cops.”
“Dammit, Caroline, we’ve been over this. The cops are dirty. The fact that Declan knew we were asking questions proves it. We turn this over to them, it all goes to hell. And one of the few things that’s keeping him from doing even more disgusting things than he’s already doing goes away.”
“And what if he ends up dead? Do you think dirty cops won’t know who to pin that on, too?”
His eyes flicked from the road to her for just a moment, then back again, as he adjusted his grip on the steering wheel.
“Didn’t think of that, did you? It’s not going to be easy, Mason. I don’t know how you’re going to pull this off.”
“Yeah. I don’t know either.” His eyes locked on the road, then, and he turned the radio up loud enough that conversation was impractical. She thought about calling 911 and telling them that she’d been kidnapped, but what was really the point? This was annoying, and she would have preferred doing things her way, but Mason—so far, he was a “his way” kind of guy. And if she was really thinking that she wanted him in her life in any capacity at all, she was going to have to accept that. At least, to some degree.
She smiled as she rested her head on the window and closed her eyes. He’d get a surprise or two, eventually. She wasn’t always this easy to push around.
CHAPTER NINE
When Caroline gave in, resting her head against the window and relaxing back into sleep, Mason breathed a sigh of relief. She was a spitfire, and he loved that about her, but the possibility of her calling the cops on him was not nonexistent. He was pretty sure, once she’d calmed down and stopped shouting, that it wasn’t going to happen, but it wasn’t until she went to sleep that he believed he was safe. From her, at least.
She was right about Declan. The jackass wouldn’t stop. He was like a rabid dog; he needed to be put down the same way. The rest of the guys who’d been working with him—Mason was fairly sure they’d just vanish into the night once Declan was gone, leaving behind the club that had been his family these past few years. But Declan. Declan had to be stopped.
It’d have to be quick. It’d have to be somewhere where the body wouldn’t be found. After all, it would just be a missing persons case until they had a body, and a guy like Declan—no one would be looking too hard for him. Hell, they might give him a medal for getting rid of the asshole.
But before he could do anything, Caroline had to be safe. Jack had promised to watch out for her, and as much as it went against the grain of everything he’d learned since he came back from deployment, he had to trust someone. He couldn’t go after Declan again without knowing that Caroline would be okay. When he’d gone to the house where he’d hoped she’d meet him, and she wasn’t there, his heart had dropped into his