He laughed. “Probably,” he mused. “Never bothered to get diagnosed.” Leaning in, he skimmed his nose along my jaw to my ear, andfuck me to hell, I couldn’t stop that shiver that rolled down my spine. Here I was, being held at gunpoint and more than likely about to fucking die, and I wasgetting turned on by the son of a bitch.
“I think we should play a game—something like…” He leaned back to look at me again, those dark eyes glinting in the moonlight. “You can be Jerry, and I’ll be Tom. A little game of cat and mouse.” He tapped the steel on my cheek gently, almost akin to a caress. “But just a warning, mouse, I’m not as stupid as Tom was in the show.” Stepping back, he tucked his gun away, then jerked his chin in the direction of the woods behind him. “Go on now. Your time to die isn’t tonight.”
I swallowed thickly, terrified to turn my back on him. But when he ushered me along, I somehow managed to make my feet move. I was several feet away from him, the darkness of the woods shrouding me, when he softly called, “I’ll be seeing you around, mouse. More than likely when you least expect it.”
Fuck.
Chapter Three
Alfonzo
Kicking my boots up onto my desk, I sipped at my coffee and watched for the umpteenth time as Maksim slowly made his way to the edge of the tree line. By the time Niran had clocked him on the security feed, his watch having been triggered by one of the sensors alerting him that someone was on the property, I was already in those woods tracking Maksim.
He was young—maybe late twenties. Almost fifteen years younger than me. And there was something in those bright blue eyes that told me he didn’t have much experience under his belt. That much had already been obvious by the way he’d come right into the devil’s lair in an attempt to get his hands on me—or put me down, who knew—but looking into those eyes had told me all I needed to know.
He wasn’t equipped to do this kind of job. And even if he was, he didn’twantto. He’d truly been terrified when he’d turned around and spotted me standing behind him, barely any space between the two of us. He’d been prepared to die right then.
Too bad for him, I liked to play with my food a bit before I ate. He wasn’t dying that fucking easily.
But still… one question remained, playing on repeat through my head.
Why had Anatoly Balakin, an incredibly smart man—damn near a genius—sent someone so inexperienced after me? Something else was at play, and I wasn’t surewhatexactly. And not knowing was setting me on edge. And I didn’t do well when I wasn’t comfortable with something. I tended to… lash out.
A knock sounded on my door, and that was all the warning I got before it was pushed open. I slowly rolled my head around to look at Niran, not even bothering to hide what was playing on my computer screen. Niran glanced at it, grunted, then looked back at me. “Rico will be pissed if he finds out you let him get away.”
I snorted. “I always get the job done, Niran. Besides, he told me to take him out. He didn’t make any other specifics than that.”
Niran rolled his eyes. “Well, I’ve been on the lookout for him for you since it’s been almost a week since he’s been spotted again. Whatever you said to that boy spooked him.” My lips quirked upward just the tiniest bit. I liked the sound of me spooking him.
Boo, mother fucker.
“He’s out running errands.” I glanced at my watch. It was damn near nine in the evening. What kind of errands could he be running? Seeming to understand where my brain had gone, Niran clarified, “Groceries.” He jerked his chin toward my phone that I’d put on silent earlier and set aside since I didn’t want to be bothered by it. “I sent the name and address to your phone.”
I hummed and dropped my boots to the floor. After setting my coffee aside, I leaned forward and grabbed my phone to read the address Niran had sent me. It was about an hour away. He’d probably be done by the time I got there. But I could track him down easily enough.
“I’m going to head out. Keep me updated on his whereabouts,” I ordered, heading for the door.
Niran gripped my arm. I shrugged his touch off, gritting my teeth. I was in one of those moods where being touched was fucking overstimulating and grated on my damn nerves. Niran quickly dropped his hand, though he didn’t look the least bit apologetic. To be honest, I didn’t think the man was capable of feeling sorry or regretful. But then again, I couldn’t either.
Rico sure knew how to pick us.
“You going to take him out this time?”
I hummed and shook my head. “Nah. Just want to play with him a bit more.”
Niran sighed, annoyed that I wasn’t doing my job. “Alfonzo…”
I snickered and dipped into the hallway, heading for the garage. “Keep me posted, Niran. If you don’t, I’m gonna tattle tale to Rico that you’re preventing me from doing my job.”
His glare was hot on my back. “You’re a fucking dick, Alfonzo. Anyone ever told you that?” he called after me.
“Almost daily,” I retorted, then pushed into the garage.
Bento was just getting back with Anurak. Anurak waved at me with a warm smile, then disappeared into the house, shouting, “Papi!” as he went. No doubt, Rico would be quitting workimmediately to cater to his husband. It was how his life went now. Anurak was priority and all his other responsibilities could fuck right off when his husband wanted his attention.
Bento shut the back door of the SUV with his hip, his arms laden with shopping bags. I snickered. “Let me guess… a day of shopping with Ace?” Ace was a member of the Ghost Born MC and was Anurak’s… boyfriend. The dynamic was a bit weird to me. Riconevertouched Ace, and Ace’s husband, Gunner, never touched Anurak. But Anurak and Ace? They were best friends and boyfriends.
Bento grunted. “Yep. But Anurak didn’t buy nearly as much as Ace, so I can be grateful for that.”
