“Thanks for breakfast, Red. I appreciate it. You’re a good cook.”

“Glad you enjoyed it. If you need a ride back to your hotel, Carver can give you one.”

That’s one guy whose hand I should probably shake before I left. It was only his presence that had kept me from fucking her on the floor of the gym. If Ari and I had been alone this morning, that’s exactly what would have happened, and that couldn’t happen yet. I needed to make this right with her brother before I took things any further.

“I’ll get a ride. It’s no big deal. Thanks for letting me crash. I’ll get out of your way.”

As I said the words, I dragged my gaze up her body, knowing it was a lie. I didn’t want to get out of her way. I wanted to be in her way so she’d remember everything she’d ever felt for me. I didn’t want to give her a chance to forget.

“I do have work I need to do.”

I’d spend all day working on her.

Her cheeks flushed like she could read my mind. Good. I wanted her thinking about it too.

“Then I’ll see you around, Red. Soon.”

She bit her lip as if she was stopping herself from saying something else. Like stay, maybe?

Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. Not until I talked to Heath. I might be an asshole, but I wasn’t going to be the asshole who screwed around with his best friend’s sister behind his back.

As I edged toward the door, she finally found her tongue.

“Have a good one, Rhett. If there’s anything I can do to help with your mom, let me know.”

Her offer reminded me of the Ari I’d known before. Always going out of her way to give. For the last year, I’d been the douchebag who took without giving anything in return. That was going to change.

I left the house and walked down the long driveway to the gate, pressing an inside button that sent it sliding to the side. Once it closed behind me, I knew it was the right choice.

I couldn’t have her today, but that was going to change too. I knew what I wanted, who I wanted. But first, I had to get answers and sort out this disaster I called a life.

So I pulled out my phone to call for a ride.

* * *

Four hours later, I walked into a place I hadn’t been to in over a year. The fact that the inside of Voodoo Ink hadn’t changed a bit gave me some comfort, but the massive guy with the man bun and covered with tats sure as hell wasn’t Con Leahy. I knew they’d hired someone else, but I didn’t remember the guy’s name.

Either way, it didn’t matter because the man I was here to see was in the other chair, not moving a single facial muscle as the tattoo machine permanently marked him. Like always, stepping into this shop made me itch for something new, but that wasn’t my purpose today.

Rix’s silver eyes landed on me as I stopped outside the room he occupied. “Figured you’d be tracking me down sooner or later.”

“What else have they figured out?” I didn’t bother with an intro. Rix wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly why I was here.

“Can’t talk about an ongoing investigation.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. If you were in my shoes, you’d be demanding answers.”

Rix looked at the artist. “We clear here, Bish?”

He nodded. “We sweep regularly. With Eden’s dad being nosy and shit, we don’t much have a choice.”

I blinked and stared at the man. I couldn’t name another tattoo shop on the planet that regularly swept for bugs . . . at least, I assumed that’s what he was talking about.

Rix’s silver eyes locked on me. “You’re lucky Bishop’s girl is a mob boss’s daughter, and he’s up on security protocols and shit.”

I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. Voodoo Ink had never been your average tattoo shop. Why start now?

“What can you tell me?”

Bishop lifted the tattoo machine and wiped away the excess ink with a paper towel, and Rix stretched before settling back into place.

“Not much. There’s a rumor going around in the department that there’s still a dirty cop among us. I’m starting to wonder if shit’ll ever be right even after . . .” He trailed off, but I knew what he wasn’t saying.

Even after the department was clear of Hennessys.

“Who?” The question came out with more force than I intended. If there was still a dirty cop on the city’s payroll, that meant there was a chance my dad could have been set up. Slim chance, but a chance.

“Hell, Hennessy, if I knew that, I would’ve already arrested his ass so we could finish cleaning house. Everyone’s on edge, looking at each other like their partner could be the one.”

No police department should be running that way. I knew what it was like to have people constantly look sideways at me when I had a badge. Before my dad’s role had been uncovered, my brother had been killed in the line of duty and fingered as a dirty cop working for the cartel. If I’d let that lie—let my brother forever be known as dirty—I never would have found out that it was my dad who was on the take, and that his fuckup had gotten his own son killed.

For the first time since I’d pulled up at the scene at my folks’ house, I wondered if my father could have wired the house and pressed the button to blow it all to hell. Maybe he couldn’t live with the guilt of knowing he’d killed his son any longer.

I didn’t want to believe any of it.

“What do you think, Rix? You think my dad did it?”

“Wired his own house and planned to blow it up?”

The part about taking out the guys coming to bring him in made my gut twist, but I gave Rix a curt nod anyway, even though I wanted to rage that there was no way in hell my dad could have done it. What stopped me? I remembered the mother of a serial killer screaming that her baby boy could never hurt anyone, despite the fact that he’d been caught with seven bodies in his deep freezer.

No one ever wanted to believe that someone they loved could do awful things, but the sad reality was that they were wrong. And if my dad did this, what did that say about me? What was I capable of?

“I don’t know. I didn’t get to see the file, and without that, I’m not gonna speculate.” Rix shifted in the chair as Bishop moved on to another part of his arm, and met my gaze with a serious glint in his. “But knowing how bad the captain needed to close that case, it wouldn’t surprise me if they took shortcuts and found a convenient scapegoat.”