“I can get you some money,” Liam told Kyzer. “You know I’m good for it. Twelve grand.”
Twelve fucking grand?! What the holy hell?! Clearly Liam and I thought in very different terms.
Kyzer thought on the offer for a moment. “Fifty. I’m sure you’re good for that too.”
“Done,” Liam said. “But that’s all you get.”
“Not so fast. You know I’m gonna want a little more than money. I miss Little Liam… Then again,LittleLiamisn’t exactly an apt term for that thing, is it?”
Kyzer winked at him, and a fire roared within me, pushing me to my feet. The guy seemed all right, not like a fucking bastard, but damn if I didn’t want to kick his fucking ass for pressing Liam to mess around with him.
Liam’s gaze shot right to me as he raised his hand. “It’s okay. Calm down.” He directed his attention back to Kyzer. “I’m not giving you that.”
“He’s kind of seeing this one,” Kyle chimed in, indicating me.
Kyzer’s eyes lit up. “Oh, really?”
“Thanks, Kyle,” Liam said through his teeth.
“Hey, what’s your name, kid?”
“Uh-uh,” Liam said. “You only know what you need to know for what we’re here for. That’s how this works.”
Kyzer kept looking at me, studying me.
“He’s cute.” He said that as though he wasn’t that impressed. “You like ’em young, don’t you? Maybe the three of us can get something going on?”
Liam’s face flushed red, making me feel less alone in my jealous rage. “He’s hot as fuck, and that’s not happening. So you get your money and a get-out-of-jail-free card for the dirty. Got it?”
“Ooh, I love it when you’re bossy, Liam,” he said with a wicked smirk.
“Oh…my…God,” Tara said, obviously as exasperated as I was. “What happened to just torturing intel out of people? Can we cut off fingers or something?”
Kyle and Mick, who had spent most of his time taking notes on his laptop, couldn’t stifle their grins. Although, I wondered how serious she was about her threat, and if I was about to witness a dismemberment that would leave me emotionally scarred for the rest of my life.
“At this point, I think there’s another appendage I need to remove if that’s all he’s willing to think with,” Liam added.
“Hey, hey, Liam! You’ve had good times with this. Great times, in fact.” He turned to me and winked. That hot rage was quickly becoming an inferno with my intensifying jealousy. “You know what I mean, don’t ya, kid?”
Liam reared his fist back and launched a punch, striking Kyzer across the face.
“I recommend youdon’ttalk to my boyfriend like that.”
Boyfriend? Holy shit.
My cheeks warmed at the word, but unlike before, it sure as fuck wasn’t from jealousy.
Was he just saying that to get Kyzer to shut the fuck up? Or was that what he meant? Goddamn all the lies and deceiving that came with this job. It was fucking with my head…because I really wanted him to mean it.
Kyzer recovered from the blow and turned back to Liam, a smidgen of blood sliding down his bottom lip. “Not even a kiss for old times’ sake? Kidding, kidding! Don’t fucking hit me again, okay?”
Tara rose to her feet and headed toward the chair. “I can’t deal with all this small talk. I’m getting at least a thumb.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I’ll talk! I’ll fucking talk!”
“Hey, be nice, guys,” Kyle said. “Kyzer, you can play with me all you want if you give us what we’re looking for.”
Kyzer took a breath, clearly relieved Tara’s threat hadn’t been realized. “See? One reasonable man among you all. Thank you, Kyle. A little hospitality gets you intelandlaid, is all I’m saying.” He licked the blood off his bottom lip. “Now, I don’t know anything about any hits against you guys, but what I do know about the Blackmore Clan is that they’ve been gearing up for the Lorigan Trials.”
“The fuck?” Liam asked, evidently knowing exactly what Kyzer was referring to.
I checked the others’ expressions. No one else seemed confused by the name.
“They’ve been on for the past few years again, and there’s an auction coming up in town. Blackmore will be there.”
“You have the details?” Liam pressed.
“Plenty of ’em.”
