Free His Risk to Take by Tessa Bailey Page B

in front of him, Ruby beneath him, Ruby’s dark hair spread out on his pillow as she slept beside him. He’d woken up half certain she wouldn’t be there. But she had been. She’d placed her trust in him, something he suspected she didn’t do easily. Now he needed to earn it. Once a girl like Ruby gave her trust, her heart would follow. He meant to earn that, too.
    Daniel propped a hip on his desk, breaking the cycle of his thoughts. “Morning, Bennett. You want the good news or the bad news first?”
    “Good,” Brent answered for him. “Always take the good first.”
    Shaking his head at Brent, Matt pulled up a chair and sat. “Tenney woke up from his coma this morning. We just got back from the hospital. No permanent damage.”
    A wave of relief rushed over Troy. “Great. That’s great. What’s the bad news?”
    “Brent is still here,” Daniel deadpanned.
    “Funny, asshole,” Brent returned, seemingly unaffected. “The bad news is that tip we received about Tenney being involved with Driscol proved out. Tenney told us from his hospital bed that one of Driscol’s guys worked him over.”
    Troy nodded, unsurprised. He’d already been convinced that Driscol was responsible, based on the fact that he’d gone into hiding and the evasive answers he’d gotten when questioning his associates. “That gives us what we need to bring him in.”
    “Right. It’ll take us a day to put a team together. First, we need his location.”
    Troy pushed his notes across his desk toward the men. “I’ve got it narrowed down to two places. Both in Brooklyn. Now that we know Driscol is our guy, the lieutenant will put more bodies on this. We should easily have his location by tomorrow.”
    Brent picked up his notes and scanned them quickly. “Heard you put surveillance on a possible witness? The lieutenant wasn’t exactly forthcoming about the details.”
    Troy shifted uncomfortably, knowing he had to come clean. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to leave his fellow officers out of the loop, unaware that a possible wildcard was in play. “Remember the girl pool player from Quincy’s the other night?”
    “The long-legged beauty with all that black hair?” Daniel’s grin spread wider. “Sure, I remember her.”
    Troy glared at him, then quickly explained the connection between Ruby and Driscol.
    Brent’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you kidding me? She could lead us right to him.”
    “Not going to happen,” Troy enunciated. “We’re not putting her at risk. She’s not one of them anymore, and if her association with me is discovered, we’ll be doing just that. We find Driscol on our own.” He turned to find Matt watching him silently.
    “Guess a lot has happened between Friday night and this morning.”
    “You could say that.”
    Brent’s head dropped forward into his waiting hand with a smack . “Please don’t tell me you fell for this girl. She cheats people out of money for a living.” Troy didn’t answer, merely raised an eyebrow. He had no interest in discussing his relationship with Ruby. Not when an axe still teetered so precariously over their heads, waiting to fall. “Thank Christ this emotional bullshit will never happen to me,” Brent continued. “If I ever see it coming, I’m going to haul ass in the opposite direction like I’ve got ten mother-in-laws chasing me with rolling pins in their hands.”
    Matt gave an uncharacteristic laugh. “Your time is going to come, Brent.”
    “The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” Daniel chimed in with a nod.
    “Fuck that. If I go down, I’m taking you all with me.”
    Daniel sighed. “I assume you’d be taking me along for advice on pleasuring a woman? You see, there’s this thing called a cl—”
    “Are you lovely ladies finished?” Troy broke in impatiently. “We’ve got two locations to scout, and we don’t have a lot of time.”
    …
    Ruby walked briskly down the sidewalk, throwing occasional glances over her shoulder.