Page 22 of The Risk

Rob saw it every damned day. Perps in, perps out. System just churning them over and over. Same process, different names. Cops were no better. He’d worked with dozens in his years who were nowhere around now. The ones who had stuck it through were almost unrecognizable from what they once had been.

And now... he had done something stupid. For what? Revenge? What did revenge matter now?

Fields was retiring. Candy was rotting in the grave. A grave paid for by the state, because Candy hadn’t had anything left.

Hell, she hadn’t had a chance once Fields arrested her back then. She hadn’t had a prayer.

And there was nothing Rob could do now to fix it.

His sister was dead. There was no going back.

19

Gene wipedthe sweat off his forehead and looked at the men next to him. The twins, Grady and Gunn, were just as filthy as he was. Chad was cursing. He’d smashed his fingers in the damned gate. There was blood on one.

Chad had been distracted. He was lucky he wasn’t hurt worse. Now they were done for the night—and Chad was getting his hand cleaned up while Guthrie checked it out and ribbed Chad for being such a klutz.

Gene’s brothers were ribbing Chad when Chantal came into the Fields’s living room. All thoughts of Chad Fields being a doofus went out of Gene’s head, and thoughts of Chantal Fields looking like a goddess took their place.

Gene fully understood Chad’s distraction. The guy had probably been thinking about a woman or something. Someone from the hospital, most likely. Chad—and Gene’s brother Guthrie—were players, at times.

Well, Gene had once been, too.

He would like to think he was different now.

Chantal wore a soft cotton T-shirt. Her hair was pulled up into a braid. The black yoga pants she wore clung in all the right places.

And, as if the gods had answered his prayer, she was standing there telling them all she was going back to Gene’s house. For the night.

The entire night. With hissister.Not him.

She’d spent the night countless times before—he’d always just made certain to be elsewhere when that happened, even if it was just upstairs in the large family room on the second floor.

But now... Chantal was going back to his house.

For the entire night.

He wished she was going back to be with him.

Right there, in his home, where he could lure her into his room and just hold her. For as long as he wanted.

His son was at Gene’s parents’ place tonight.

If he could just get his brothers and Genny out of the house—especially Preacherman Gunn—he could spend the entire night with the woman he wanted more than anything in the world. It took him a moment to get himself together—by that point, they were all in the trucks headed that way.

She was going to his place to be with Genesis.

His sister.

Not him.

But he was going to take advantage of the opportunity.

As soon as they got rid of... her brother. And all of his.

And his sister, too.

If nothing else, maybe he could get another chance to kiss her. That was all he really wanted. A chance to hold her tonight. His plans changed when they pulled in and beautiful women tumbled out onto the porch. Everywhere.