Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77236 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77236 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
“Yeah, thanks, baby,” I said, reaching for my wallet. “Can you have any?” I asked, glancing at Kylo.
“Probably not supposed to, but I want it anyway,” he said as I handed Siana some cash.
“Okay. I’ll run down to the cafeteria,” she said, looking kind of relieved to get a few minutes away.
Kylo watched her go. “Nice that she found someone. That girl was always fucking alone. Save for Frida. That hangover looks rough,” he added, looking back at me.
“It is,” I said, smiling.
“What kind of drunk is she?”
“A loud, talkative, extroverted one.”
“Damn. Woulda loved to see that,” he admitted.
“It was a trip,” I agreed. “But she’s paying for it now.”
To that, he nodded.
“Alright, so what don’t you wanna ask in front of her? I’m assuming she knows what you do for a living.”
“She does,” I said, nodding. “But I don’t know if she’s ready to hear that I want those fuckers’ identities, so I can take ‘em out,” I admitted.
“That’s my place,” he said. “I brought this on her.”
“It’s my place, because she’s mine,” I countered. “Besides, the fuck you gonna do when you’re laid up like this?” I reasoned. “This needs to be dealt with sooner, not later.”
“I’m not in here much longer,” Kylo said, shaking his head. “But I get what you’re saying.”
“So, who do you think they are? Or are affiliated with?”
“The tall one. Bald with the red and black tats, I feel like I’ve seen him hanging around the Drakos family.”
“Drakos,” I repeated. “Family?” I added, the question hanging in the air.
Because in our world, there was only one sort of organization that used the term “family.”
That was the mob.
“Greek mob. They deal in a lot of party drugs. I don’t think these guys are the mafia. Think they might just be associates.”
I wondered if Tony Barelli, our contact in the Italian mafia in the area, might know something.
Or if this was just another job for Arty, our friendly neighborhood hacker.
Hell, I probably should have put him on this sooner. I’d just been too busy enjoying my time with Siana.
“I might put some feeler—“ I started, when a commotion out in the hall had me cutting off and turning.
Just in time to see the security guard hauling ass past the door.
I couldn’t tell you why my stomach dropped and clenched like it did, why my heart stuttered to a stop before restarting at a hummingbird wing’s pace.
Like I knew.
Somehow.
“Go,” Kylo snapped.
He felt it too.
Something was wrong.
With Siana.
Even as I started to run out of the room, I heard a scream.
Her scream.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Siana
I figured the guys wanted to discuss illegal stuff that they didn’t want me to hear.
It didn’t even cross my mind to be offended by that.
Not with the pounding like an unskilled high school marching band going on behind my eyes.
I just wanted coffee.
And to see if I still had some spare ibuprofen in my purse somewhere.
Maybe grab some more water just to make sure the headache wasn’t because of that, even though both Eddie and Alaric had forced me to drink fluids.
I was just happy Kylo was okay. I didn’t really need to be involved with the stuff about the bad guys. I was perfectly comfortable admitting that that business didn’t and shouldn’t involve me.
Though as I grabbed a tray in the cafeteria to stick all my coffees in—theirs black, mine with extra cream and sugar because that was the only way I could choke it down, I couldn’t help but wonder how Alaric and Kylo would try to handle the situation.
I had a feeling they wouldn’t want to involve the police.
I was swiping my card to pay when a thought rammed into my head like a freight train.
Did Alaric plan to kill them?
Then, not long after that: Has Alaric killed people?
Those were the kinds of things a woman should know about a man before she got involved with them, right?
Then again, I was rational enough to understand that there were situations that might call for it. Times of life and death. Where it was you or the other guy.
I couldn’t blame Alaric for choosing himself. Or his loved ones.
And I really couldn’t see him murdering someone just randomly.
I could live with someone who had taken a life because of danger or love.
I mean, I was relatively sure that I could take someone’s life if they so much as tried to kick my dog.
I sat for a moment, knowing the guys likely needed a bit to talk about things, sipping my coffee, then finding and taking the medicine that would hopefully take my headache away.
Across the cafeteria, a set of grandparents were trying to get an energetic toddler with a Big Brother t-shirt to eat his lunch.
It was the first time in my life I understood the concept of a “uterus explosion” or even “baby fever.” Before, kids had always been, you know, nice from a distance. The same way a luxury car or a mansion was nice from a distance. Interesting to think about, but totally outside the realm of possibilities for your life.