Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
And with that, Cap, Roam, Eric, Javi, Knox, Liam, Brady, Shaw, Landon…and Gabe materialized from the shadows.
And they weren’t packing Tasers.
But they were packing.
Gabe came right to me.
And he said, “Someone means something to you, he means something to me.”
Ohmigod!
I had just the best guy in the world!
Still.
“Gabe—” I started.
“It isn’t like we don’t think you got this,” Gabe said. “It’s that this weasel needs to go to ground and stay there. And if Duane has this kind of power at his back, they are not gonna fuck with him ever again.”
Okay, sue me.
That was so sweet, I threw myself at him and gave him girlie hug.
Gabe returned a quick squeeze then set me away from him.
Okay, yes, right.
We had work to do.
This wasn’t the time for girlie hugs or, say, make-out sessions.
Even quick ones.
Alas.
“Ready?” Raye asked.
We all nodded.
“Let’s go,” Luna said.
All the men but Gabe and Cap vanished again.
“Where—?” I began.
“Shh, cupcake,” Gabe whispered.
Okay, yes, right.
We had work to do, and these guys knew how to do it.
We’d gone for our cat burglar looks again (sans the knit caps), though this time I was in my black turtleneck and black jeans, which was good in this not very well-lit neighborhood.
And Gabe, Cap and Titus didn’t take us on a direct trajectory to the front door of Dex’s evil lair (which was just a house that was halfway between the cute place where Jinx lived, and the rundown, sad place where Duane lived, whilst leaning heavily toward the Duane side).
We hugged a lot of fences, went down a couple of alleys, ducked under some windows, and just when I was lamenting the fact that it was highly unlikely, if something went awry, I could hoof it flat out all the way back to the cars, we reached our destination.
When we got to the door, Gabe stood beside it, Cap on the other side, Titus next to Cap, and Gabe didn’t knock.
He looked to us huddling behind some bushes.
“You set, Gem?” Jessie whispered.
“We’re rolling,” Gem whispered back.
I gave the high sign to Gabe.
He took out his gun, put his boot to the door, it popped open, then Cap, also with his gun, and Titus, ditto with the gun, and finally Gabe, as mentioned, with his gun, stormed in.
There was some shouting, which meant my heart was thudding.
Raye rolled in with Taser at the ready.
We all followed the same way.
And we hit the living room to see two men on their bellies and all the guys there.
Shaw and Landon had their weapons trained on the men on the floor. Eric, Javi and Knox had extra guns shoved in the waistbands of their dark cargos. Gabe, Cap and Titus had their weapons aimed at the couple on the couch. And Brady and Liam were returning from clearing the small house.
Which meant in the one point two seconds it took us to follow, they’d disarmed everyone in the room and cleared the house.
Again, these guys really knew what they were doing.
Amy was on a sofa, cuddled up to Dex, undoubtedly there not only because she was his moll, but so she could rub it in Duane’s face when he showed that he’d been played.
She didn’t look playful now.
She was pale-faced and wide-eyed with shock.
With Cap shadowing her, Raye walked up to Amy.
“Hey, Amy,” she greeted, then said, “Duane sends his love.”
Her eyes got so big after that, I thought they’d jump out of her head.
I couldn’t stop the smirk hitting my mouth.
Raye looked to Dex. “And Dimitri says thanks for the windfall. He wasn’t super talkative, but I hope he uses it for a nice vacation by a beach.”
Dex looked like he was going to scramble up, but Titus was there, pointing his gun right at Dex’s temple, and by “right at” I meant it was metal to skin.
Wisely (for once), Dex stilled.
“Now,” Raye threw an arm out, “as you can see, Duane has a posse that isn’t super hip on anyone fucking with him. We suspect you’ll be busy with all those loan sharks you borrowed money from, but just in case you get some free time, our advice is not to use it to fuck with Duane. He isn’t a big fan of that, and neither are we.”
No one said anything.
“I know your word isn’t good for much,” Luna piped up. “But we want to hear you say it.”
Dex shot her an evil glare before he said through his teeth, “Duane isn’t gonna have any problems with us.”
“No one Duane adjacent either,” Jessie added. “Let’s hear it.”
Dex was still talking through his teeth. “No one associated with Duane will have any problems with us.”
“Okay, Amy, since you like being on film so much, it’s time for your close up.” Raye held her hand out.
Gemma gave Raye her phone, which was FaceTiming with Duane, of a sort, seeing as mostly she was just pointing it at the action so he could watch.