Free Beast (A Righteous Outlaws Novel #4) (The Righteous Outlaws) by Savannah Rylan Page A

the car.
    “You got this?” Stanson said to Ryan.
    “Yeah, I got this.”
    Stanson turned around and headed inside. As soon as the door shut, Ryan spun toward me. “I don’t need you to fight my battles, especially ones that don’t need to be fought.”
    “Maybe if you knew how to fight, this never would have happened.”
    She gritted her teeth and pointed her finger in my face. “Don’t you ever assume you know what I’m capable of because you have no idea. Shit happens. Mistakes are made. People sometimes get hurt. It’s part of the job, and I accept that. I don’t need you acting like some knight in shiny leather.”
    “Kinky.”
    She gave me her infamous eye roll. “Why are you even here?”
    “Came to see your old man. See if there are any new developments on Gordita’s Army.”
    “Not that I’m aware of.”
    “I’ll check with him anyway.” Besides, I had other things I wanted to discuss with him. Like sending his daughter out with an inexperienced bonehead.
    “Is that it, then?” she asked.
    “Yeah.”
    “Good.”
    “Good.”
    She walked away, and I should have just let her go. Should have just ignored the tiny sliver inside of me that cared. “Ryan,” I called after her.
    She glanced over her shoulder. “What?”
    “Be careful.”
    She nodded, and got in the cruiser with Reed. I watched as they pulled away, keeping my eye on Reed the entire time. There was something about him that I didn’t like, and it had nothing to do with his badge. He acted like an entitled douchebag, but it was more than that. I had a really bad feeling about this rookie and something told me that, if he could take down the Outlaws, he would do it in a heartbeat.
    I needed to keep my eye on him. The last thing the Outlaws needed was some newbie cop looking to become the small town hero. Because what he didn’t realize was that, if the Outlaws got taken down, the entire town would go with them.

8
    Ryan
    I spent a good hour trying to cover the black and blue around my eye with makeup, so Mom wouldn’t have a coronary when she saw me. I was beginning to realize that Sunday night dinners were going to be more of a hassle than anything else. I just wanted to get there, eat, and come home with no surprise set-ups or lectures.
    I got to my parent’s door, and took a deep breath before knocking. Relief washed over me as I stepped inside, and the first person I saw was Dad.
    “Hey, Munchkin,” he said, as I eased the door closed behind me. “How’s the eye doing?”
    “Shh!” I held my finger to my lip, and rolled my eyes in the direction of the kitchen.
    He put a hand over his mouth, and then whispered a sorry, before taking my chin in his hand. He tilted my head back and examined my eye. “It looks better,” he said, and I didn’t bother telling him that it was most likely the makeup.
    “What looks better?” Mom asked, coming from the kitchen and wiping her hands on her apron.
    She looked up and caught my eyes. A loud gasp flew from her mouth and, with the speed of a gazelle, she pushed Dad out of the way and grabbed my chin. “What is this? What happened?”
    “She got her first badge of honor,” Dad said, and by the scowl on Mom’s face it was clearly the wrong answer.
    “You got hit?”
    “It was an accident,” I said.
    “Who hit you? Who would hit my Ryan?”
    “Some drunk guy down at Mikey’s.”
    “I told you this job is too dangerous for you. Why can’t you get a nice office job like Malaya? Meet a nice boy who can give me more grandbabies.”
    I bit my tongue to keep from rolling my eyes. She honestly would be happy if I quit my job and became a baby-making machine. “I like being a cop, Ma. And sometimes that means I’m going to get hurt. And sometimes that means sacrificing my personal life, but if I’m okay with that, I don’t understand why you can’t be.”
    “I thought when you lost Chris, it would open your eyes.” Her words were like a swift uppercut to the gut. Anytime