Edge Of Fear (Arrow's Edge MC Book 4) by Freya Barker (best love novels of all time .TXT) 📗

She shakes her head and grins.

“Let me guess; you?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Ramirez puts his arm around Blue, pulling her to his side.

“Quit flirting with my wife. Don’t you have your own woman to bother?”

Not long after, Sophia appears and shows them to a table, while I order my dinner from Mack. Lea was right, the pulled pork is good and I tell her so when she checks in with me.

From my vantage point at the bar I have a good view of the dining room, where Sophia has taken over serving drinks. Mack comes to hang out with me in between orders. He may look like he came straight from prep school, but he surprises me when he tells me about the old bike he’s working on with a buddy.

I’m about to order another beer when Ramirez passes me on his way to the men’s room, giving me a pointed look. I motion to Mack to get me another draft. Then get up and make my way down the hall. Ramirez is leaning against the sink, arms folded over his chest.

“It’s date night. Blue would have my balls if she knew I was talking shop, but I wanted to give you a heads-up.”

“About?”

“Shit’s gonna go down tomorrow. Finally gathered enough intel to convince a judge to sign off on a search warrant for the house on the other side of the parking lot back there. We’ve been observing for a week now, noted a number of drug transactions in the area, and have been able to identify a number of key players. The one thing they have in common is that house. We suspect it’s used as a distribution hub. Like a goddamn Sam’s for dealers.”

It’s not making me feel good this is going down a hundred yards from where Sophia parks her fucking Jeep.

“No shit?”

The door opens and an older man walks in, eyeing us with suspicion before ducking into a stall.

“Dead serious,” Ramirez says in a low voice. “Hope we get some answers.”

We hear the toilet flush and step aside so the guy can wash his hands. I wait for the door to close behind him before I speak.

“Restaurant is closed tomorrow.”

He nods. “That’s why I suggested holding off until then.”

“What about the attack on the cook? Has he talked to you?”

“Bernie’s recuperating at his sister’s place in New Mexico, but he says he doesn’t remember anything. I don’t believe him, though. I have a gut feeling it’s linked to what’s going on across the parking lot, but at this point it’s nothing more than a hunch and that investigation is dead in the water.”

“What about the delivery guy?” I suggest, but Ramirez shakes his head.

“Doesn’t know anything, didn’t see anything.” He turns to the sink and washes his hands. “Better get back to Blue before she comes looking for me.” He dries with a couple of hand towels and tosses them in the trash. He turns to me with his hand on the door. “Do me a favor? Wait until after we’re gone to tell Sophia? I don’t want this conversation to get back to my wife. That would ruin the plans I have for tonight.”

“More than I needed to know,” I grumble, as he opens the door and slips out.

I give him a few beats before I walk out as well, but as I make my way to my barstool, I find Blue’s eyes narrowed on me from across the restaurant.

I’m grinning as I sit at the bar, my draft waiting for me.

It would appear Ramirez is busted.

Sophia

I watch Tse walk over to the bar.

Five minutes ago I saw him slip into the men’s room, moments after the detective disappeared inside. I’m not an idiot, I’m sure they were discussing something they don’t want me to know, but I’ll be damned if I let either of them leave me out of the loop. This restaurant is my responsibility and I’m not a wilting flower. If there is new information, I should be the first one to know.

Unfortunately, we are at the peak of the dinner rush and I’m stuck at the cash register, doing tallies for the tables getting ready to check out. When we have half the tables cleared off—including Ramirez and his wife’s—and I’m about to have a word with Tse, a group of twelve walks in, keeping both Lea and me busy for the next hour and a half. By the time they leave it’s close to nine, time for the kitchen to close. Other than a few drinking stragglers Lea and Mack can handle, the dining room is empty. Except of course for Tse, who is still on his perch at the bar.

“I have to check with the kitchen and I need to run my reports, but don’t think you’re off the hook,” I warn him.

I walk past when his arm shoots out and he grabs my wrist, pulling me back toward him. His other hand comes up to my face, and he surprises me with a hard kiss that robs me of some of the steam I’ve been building up.

“I like it when you get feisty on me,” he mumbles, his eyes full of humor. “Go do your thing. I’ll fess up after.”

“You’d better.”

When I stick my head in the kitchen, Chris is just on his way out.

“Busy night.”

“Yes. I’m running low on these.” He hands me a list with nonperishables. “If this volume is the new normal, we’re going to need to adjust the standing orders as well.”

He’s talking about our fresh deliveries.

“Fair enough. Let’s talk next week.”

He nods and darts out without a goodbye for Lauren and Mandy, both of whom are left to scrub the kitchen. Despite his arrogant personality, I like Chris. From a professional perspective at least. I wouldn’t invite the man to a social gathering but I sure like working with him. He’s on the ball, organized, reliable, and a damn fine chef. If he didn’t have such