Free What He Provokes (What He Wants #18) by Hannah Ford Page B

else about the finer points of BDSM, and what was or wasn’t considered consent.
    “Ms. Holloway has answered your questions,” Noah said. “Why, I have no idea, but she is a kind person, so it’s to be expected. We’ve told you everything we know. My fiancé was approached by this man, who asked to meet her here to give her information about some girls at Force. When we got here, the man was dead.”
    Detective Rake’s eyes narrowed. “It’s just a little coincidental, don’t you think, Mr. Cutler?”
    “What is?” Noah asked. I recognized the tone in his voice, and I squeezed his hand back, trying to telegraph a message. Calm down. The last thing we need is you getting arrested for assaulting a police officer.
    “That you happened to just stumble upon another murder scene,” Detective Rake said.
    Fury rose in my chest and my free hand curled into a fist by my side, the sharp bite of my fingernails digging into my palms. “Noah was cleared of those charges,” I said. “He didn’t do anything wrong. Professor Worthington – ”
    “We didn’t stumble upon a murder scene, Detective Rake,” Noah interrupted. “And if your department was more competent, perhaps there wouldn’t have been a murder scene in the first place.”
    Detective Rake picked up the phone and switched off the recording. “I’d be careful about making those kind of remarks about the police department, Mr. Cutler.”
    “Is that a threat?” Noah asked, his tone implying he would relish the idea.
    “No,” Detective Rake said simply. “But you took the Lilah Parks case, right? It would be awful if our investigation turned something up that made her look guilty. It’s already such an open and shut case that our investigators are confident a conviction is a guarantee. But there are ways to make these things even more difficult.” He shrugged. “Not to mention some of us still aren’t entirely convinced that the right person was arrested for the murder of Katie Price.”
    Noah’s eye twitched and for a second, I was afraid he really was going to punch Detective Rake. I imagined him getting hauled off for assaulting a police officer, being herded into the back of a police car and thrown in jail. What I would do? Who would I call? The last time Noah had been arrested I’d called Professor Worthington, but obviously that wasn’t an option anymore. Not since he’d, you know, tried to slice my body into bits.
    A smarmy smile crossed Detective Rake’s face, almost like he wanted Noah to hit him. I could tell he thought it would be worth it, taking a punch in exchange for the satisfaction of watching all his buddies come to his rescue and take Noah to jail. What the detective didn’t realize was that if Noah hit him, it wouldn’t just be one and done. Noah would end up knocking him out.
    “We’re done.” Noah took a step toward Detective Rake and I realized again just how big Noah was, how intimidating of a presence. Detective Rake wasn’t a small man, and yet Noah towered over him. “If you threaten me again, or imply that you will try to sabotage one of my cases, I will have you thrown off the force. And if you attempt to contact my fiancé and get more information out of her, I will do much worse to you, Detective. I will end you.”
    A look of guilt passed briefly over Detective Rake’s face, and I could tell he’d been planning to contact me, probably to ask me to come down to the station and expand on my statement.
    Noah waited a beat, his eyes boring into Detective Rake’s, like he was contemplating whether or not it would be worth it to take a swing at him anyway, if getting arrested for assaulting an officer would be worth it.
    But in the end, he must have decided it wasn’t.
    He walked back down the sidewalk toward his car, pulling me with him.

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    T he vibe in the car was tense and strained, the darkness outside seeming to seep through the windows and settle over my relationship.
    Noah’s foot pressed heavily