All this talk of bullets is making my eye twitch.
“I need to talk to Cam.”
“Can’t do that,” she singsongs.
“Do you remember when I generously offered you this gig? I specifically told you that you’d work forallof us, not just your favorite.”
“Do you have a concussion too? Camden King is hardly my favorite!”
I flinch from a spasm near my broken ribs as I try to stop myself from laughing.
Jade is full of shit.
She has no clue what’s coming for her.Cam’s going to spin her head around ten times before she realizes what’s happening, and I hope I’m lucky enough to have a front-row seat when it happens.How can someone this smart be so clueless when it comes to men?
She continues to crack a wad of gum she’s been chewing on, trying to act like a hard-ass, but I know her. The little spitfire has probably been in this hospital since they wheeled me in here, giving the nurses and doctors hell all day and night worrying about my care.
“Oh, look at this.” Her phone flashes. “You’re in luck. It’s the king himself.”
Jade jumps from the chair, standing by my bed, and holds her cell to my head.
“I can hold it,” I argue, not wanting to be treated like an invalid.
She pulls the phone back.
“You want to talk to him or not?”
“When Elizabeth gets here, I’m going to sic her on you for treating me like this.”
“Ooh, I’m shaking in my boots.”
Jade returns the cell back to my face.
“King.” I greet him by one of my many nicknames for him.
“Rome. You good in there? Heard you might have seen the white light at the end of the tunnel last night.”
Damn, does everybody know I almost died?
“Other than I feel like I’ve been run over by a Mack truck, I’m good. I guess God wasn’t ready for me yet.”
“I guess not, homie. Did Jade tell you Elizabeth and Knox are safe?”
“They aren’t safe until I’ve got eyes on them.”
“Understood.”
“So are they Bratva?” I get straight to the point of this call.
“They’re from the Popov family in Maryland. The woman’s name is Irina and she is from the bloodline. Her son isn’t in the family business because he’s an idiot. They set him up out here with a few rentals to keep him out of the way, but Philly Bratva keeps an eye out to make sure he doesn’t get into any real trouble.”
“How did they know how to find me?”
“They frightened the girl. They threatened to kill her family in Utah and roughed her up a little, but she’s okay. She didn’t tell them much. But enough that they were able to put a tail on you. We put the girl on a plane back to Oregon, but to her credit, she tried to warn Elizabeth that the Russians were coming for you yesterday, but I guess she didn’t get the message.”
I don’t give a damn about some sort of missed warning. All I care about now is that Elizabeth and Knox are safe and stay safe. I will regret for the rest of my miserable life if something happens to them because of my missteps, especially because of how angry Elizabeth and I were with each other when she left. I said goodbye to my boy, but I should have never let her get on that train without telling her that I loved her. I will never do that shit again. I’ve learned my lesson.
“I promised that bitch a reckoning for shooting me and threatening my family. Just keep her on ice for me. I’m going to handle her personally when I get out of here.”
