Fecking Carson.With difficulty, I held my tongue. Carson was a gnarly bastard. He enjoyed inflicting pain.
King continued. “I’ll expect you to either help or move aside. Is that clear?”
“Understood.” He couldn’t see me grinding my teeth over the word, but I struggled to keep my tone even. Unperturbed. “But it’s my hit and I’ll take care of it.”
King disconnected with a chuckle and I returned the phone to my pocket. “Jaysus,” I muttered, and lit another cigarette. This was one of the first times I’d ever wrestled with a command. If I did as King had ordered and backed off, I didn’t have the slightest doubt Emery Bishop would be dead tomorrow. I wasn’t certain why, but it didn’t feel right. There was something off about this entire thing.
It was more than the fact she was a woman. And it wasn’t that I was hot for her. I wasn’t so hard up for a woman that a pretty face would send me spinning. It was something to do with the shadows under her eyes, and the fear she tried to conceal in their depths. I wanted to know her, know who or what had made her afraid. After everything that had happened with my sister, a woman afraid unsettled me.
It wasn’t a guilty man’s fear. Wasn’t fear of discovery, fear of reprisal. It was a different sort of apprehension. I was still trying to figure it out when she and Shiloh walked through the doors, a couple of plastic bags in hand. Emery looked up, scanned the lot, and her eyes snagged on mine. Shiloh’s followed a second later, and a smile broke out across her face. She said something to Emery and started my way, tugging on her arm.
“Brodie! What are you up to? Long time no see.”
I waved my box of cigarettes and tucked them back in my pocket. “Just getting some smokes. Have you ditched that eejit Gunner yet?”
He wasn’t an idiot. I actually liked the man, and thoroughly respected his affection for his woman. But I liked to tease.
Shiloh’s cheeks turned a fetching pale pink and she laughed. “Better be careful. I’m going to tell him you’re flirting with me.”
“I’ll stop if you introduce me to this stunner,” I replied, making no secret of my interest in Emery, who observed silently from her place beside Shiloh. Shiloh tipped her chin, curious no doubt about my sudden flirtatious manner. In the months she’d known me, I hadn’t expressed an interest in any of the women around.
“This is Cotton, and she’s been my best friend for a lifetime, so I’m not certain I should introduce her to you,” Shiloh said, her smile taking some of the sting from the words.
I slapped a hand over my heart. “Fecking hell! Woman, you wound me.” I turned my teasing look on Emery. “Cotton is an unusual name.”
Shiloh grinned and gestured with her hand. “Cotton, this is Brodie. He helped keep me safe with that whole business last year.”
Emery’s face softened and she extended her hand. I looked at it askance before gently gripping. I wasn’t accustomed to shaking a woman’s hand. It was small and soft and although she had a good, firm grip, I felt like I would crush her fine bones with the faintest pressure. “Then I thank you,” she murmured, her voice low and husky and visceral in a way that sent blood rushing south with embarrassing haste. “And Cotton is a nickname.”
I continued to stare, knowing I was making an idiot of myself but unable to stop. She was so pretty close up like this, her skin pale and unblemished with a translucent quality that made her seem fragile and otherworldly. She was ex-military, though. I knew that frailty was an illusion. The target on her back, though, was my uppermost thought. The banked spark in her green eyes could be snuffed out altogether within the next day or so. Depending on when Carson arrived, she could be dead tomorrow, unless I did something to intervene.
But what?
Emery was staring at my bike, her regard a visible caress of its vintage lines.
“Like bikes?” I asked, straightening from my lean against the machine.
Her cheeks flushed. “A little, yeah. This one’s beautiful. May I?” She gestured and at the dip of my chin stepped in to run her hand across the leather seat. My skin prickled in response and I tugged my attention to Shiloh, who was speaking.
“Didn’t you date some guy in Texas that rode a motorcycle?”
“I did.” Her lips turned up at the corners. “We had some fun times.”
I cleared my throat. “Want a ride?” She looked at me sharply and I realized how that must have sounded. “I don’t mean...I’m not offering...shite.” I raked my hand into my hair, dislodging the knot piled in the back. Shiloh was laughing outright. “You just really seem to like motorcycles.” I was so out of practice it was ridiculous. I was thirty-two years old and hadn’t frequented a bar for a hook-up in what felt like a century. When I needed sex there were women who worked for King who knew exactly what I needed. I didn’t have to work for it, didn’t have to chase it.
Emery stepped back beside Shiloh. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.” She looked at her friend, the message clear.Get me out of here.“Don’t we need to get back and do some cooking?”
Instead of taking the hint, Shiloh turned to me. “What are you up to tonight, Brodie?”
Probably stalking your friend.“Nothing. Just plan on relaxin’ a bit before my next job.”
“Come and eat with us! Gunner’s going to grill.”
“Grill? It’s cold as the north side of a witch’s tit.”
Cotton made a choking sound, and I realized the crass comment had humored her, causing a smile to break across her face. “I told her the same thing, just not in so many words.”
Shiloh scoffed. “Gunner’s a man, Brodie. He can handle a little chill if it means pleasing his woman with a steak.”
“Is that right? You’ve surely got him whipped.”
“That’s right, I do. And he loves it. Sammy and Twiggy are going to be there, too.”
“Huh. Well, I guess he can prepare a steak for me, then, and I’ll bring the Guinness. What time?”
We agreed upon a time and the women sauntered back to Shiloh’s truck. As she climbed in, I saw Emery look in my direction one last time, watching me watch her. I tipped my chin to her and pulled my helmet back over my head. I’d have to be careful until it was time to meet for supper. I planned on continuing to keep an eye on Emery Bishop, and she was too observant for her own good.
