Atticus stepped forward. “Not quite yet. What happens next is this: you’re going to tell me all the painstaking details of this exchange, and then you can die. Got it?”
“Whatever,” she muttered.
Ever turned to Arsen, his hands landing on his chest, voice pleading. “I want to go home now. Can we go home now?”
Arsen nodded, kissing his head. “Yeah,besenok. We can go home.”
“We go in at dawn,” Jericho said, earning a groan from the boys.
“Aw, man. I got off work at three a.m. I’m not going to be raid ready in an hour,” Levi complained.
“The exchange is being made tomorrow afternoon. We have to go before then or we run the risk of not rescuing them in time.”
Atticus rolled his eyes. “And it’s the only way to assurewedon’t get surprised. According to Cherry, these idiots are out there right now getting drunk and partying. That means most of them will be sleeping or unconscious at dawn, and even if there’s a guard, they won’t be on their game. With this many targets, we have to think logically.”
Levi huffed. “I don’t wanna think logically. I want to have one day where I can sleep more than an hour,” he whined dramatically.
“You don’t have to go,” Ever said softly from where he sat smooshed between Levi and Arsen on the couch. “You can sleep. I’m sure the others can do it.” Ever looked at the others with wide eyes. “Right?”
They all smirked as Levi’s face fell. “What? No. No, it’s cool. I was…I was just saying. It’s all fine. I’m good,” he finished in a barely-there mumble.
Ever gave him a huge smile, then hugged Levi’s arm. Arsen watched as his grumpy, tatted friend flushed red to the tips of his ears, staring at the floor. Arsen almost felt bad for him. He didn’t know when or how, but Ever had won Levi over and then some. He was borderline obsessed. He might be worried if Ever showed anything but brotherly affection towards Levi. But he never did. He only saw Arsen.
“We go in shock and awe style, catch them off guard, and start shooting immediately,” Jericho said. “Target acquired. Target eliminated. No second-guessing. No hesitation. We know they’re armed. And stupid. You’ll have vests thanks to Atticus, but that’s not going to protect your head.”
“But…I thought we needed to make this look like a cartel killing?” Nico asked.
“That’s our job,” Asa said. “You drop ‘em, we’ll ugly ‘em up. Make ‘em look real gruesome for the crime scene photos. Don’t you worry.”
Ever stared at Asa hard. “You really like what you do, huh?”
Arsen’s stomach churned. Some small part of him worried that, after what they’d done to Cherry yesterday and what they planned on doing to others in only a few hours, this was too much for Ever. He was too soft, too sweet. He wasn’t meant for a world of blood and guts. Maybe he’d leave now that he’d seen who Arsen really was.
“It’s my passion,” Asa teased, not even a little ashamed.
Felix rolled his eyes, looking at his husband. “Can you shut him up before he scares the baby?”
But before Avi could even think to say anything, Ever sighed. “I wish I had a passion,” he said wistfully, blushing when the others laughed. “What?”
Arsen’s heart swelled. Ever was a constant surprise, as sweet and pure and angelic as the day he’d found him, but he was also somewhat feral, prone to biting, swearing, and was horny almost around the clock. It was like Arsen had cooked him up in a lab. He was perfect.
“You’re just very cute,besenok,” Arsen assured him, giving all of them a glare that told them not to laugh at his boyfriend, even if Arsen kind of wanted to laugh, too.
Ever put so much pressure on himself to go from captive to productive member of society, as if that was an easy thing for any of them to do, much less him. When this was finally settled, Arsen was going to sit down with Ever and Jericho and make a plan for Ever’s future. It was clear he wouldn’t feel settled until he was working towards some kind of goal, even if Arsen thought his only goal should be healing. Maybe a plan was what he needed to start that process?
“You have your whole life to figure that out,” Jericho promised. “In the meantime, let’s get back to the plan. Thomas thinks you guys taking out the cops is too much heat”—a bunch of groans sounded, but Jericho shut them up with a single arched brow—“on such short notice. He’s sending Adam and whichever Mulvaney is free to take them out as we speak. They have the money and the resources to make it look like they were never there. Besides, it’s easier to divide and conquer.”
“I hope they send August,” Seven said. “Imagine what he’d do to those bodies…and he won’t even wait until they’re dead.”
“To be fair, we’re only waiting until they’re dead so you guys can play, too,” Avi said, then looked at Ever. “I think chipmunk has had enough of the blood and guts for now.”
“He won’t be there so it doesn’t matter,” Arsen said.
Ever’s gaze snapped to his. “What? No way. I’m going.”
Arsen’s mouth fell open, and he stared at Ever for a full thirty seconds before he realized he wasn’t verbalizing any of the words bouncing around in his head. He couldn’t help it, though. His heart hammered against his ribcage hard enough to steal his breath. “Absolutely not. There are too many things that can go wrong. You could get shot, you could get taken again. No. No way. I won’t allow it.”
Nico snickered. “You won’t allow it? Okay.”
