“Semantics.” In the rearview mirror, he saw her try to fold her arms across her chest but was thwarted by the cuff attached to his brother. “Why are the hot ones always jerks?”
He snorted out a laugh. He was going to take a WAG that she hadn’t meant to say that out loud either. But from the red on her face, he was betting there was no Wild Assed Guesses needed to know it for certain, she was mad at herself for saying it out loud.
She thinks I’m hot.
Now, who’s the one acting like they are five?
Oh, shut up.
Thank fuck his internal voice was just that… internal. Because if Remi or Levi heard him saying that shit, they’dnever let him live it down. He wasn’t in the mood to play language chess with his men, thank you very much.
“Gun, there’s a checkpoint ahead,” Remi piped up from behind him. “You might wanna go in the back way.”
“Yeah.” They had lived at the compound here in La Spezia for years, and he could count on one hand how many police checkpoints there had been over that time. While they had a decent relationship with the police in this town, he didn’t want to test how strong it was by being pulled over for transporting a woman in handcuffs. Wasn’t it typical that a checkpoint would be here today of all days? Annoying, but typical.
He continued on straight and took a right at the lights. By the time he was halfway down the street, he hit the button which would alert the house that he was coming in. When he made it to the garage doors, they were already opening for him. He drove his SUV into the underground parking lot, which housed all their tactical vehicles, and parked in the spot reserved for him.
He stepped out of the vehicle and waited for the other guys to park and the garage door to close before he leaned back in and nodded to Remi. “Uncuff her.”
“Yes, Boss.”
He could tell his brother was pissed with him. Maybe he had been a little heavy-handed, he could admit that, even if it only was to himself. As he walked around the back of the car, he could see Jorja rubbing at the wrist which had been confined for the ride, but ignored the pang of regret. If she hadn’t been so unreasonable, he wouldn’t have had to resort to such measures. He opened the back door and helped her out.
The second both of her feet were on the ground, Jorja kicked him in the shin and took off running. The move stunned him so much it took a hot second for his reflexes to kick in and he took off after her. The other bastards juststood around and fucking laughed at him. Even Zombie didn’t move from Talon’s side.
Jorja screamed a piercing scream which rattled his eardrum as he scooped her into his arms. She lashed out with her hands, her nails catching on his cheek. “Let me go. Let me go.”
He winced as she clawed at his face. “I’m not going to hurt you, damn it.”
“Let. Me. Go!”
Jesus, there was something seriously fucked up with his dick. This shit should not be turning him on. “Stop that.” He banded one arm around her waist and managed to trap her arms under the other to save his face more damage, yet she still kept kicking at his knees with her heels. “Settle down, hellcat, we only need the information you have. Nothing more. Nothing less. I swear I’m not going to hurt you. None of us will.”
If anyone told you it was easy to carry a struggling woman across a parking lot and into an elevator, they were lying. He had no clue how serial killers did this shit all the time. Gunnar decided this had to be the reason why most of them had months between kills. “I swear I won’t hurt you. I just need that intel.”
“You could have just freaking asked for it.”
He winced when her heel glanced off his still recovering wound. It took more effort than he wanted to admit for him to force his leg not to buckle under the pressure. He leaned against the back of the elevator. “There is no way out of here,” he warned Jorja as the doors slid closed behind Remi. Levi hit the button to take them upstairs.
“Sounds like kidnapping to me, asshole.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“Add it to the list of shit which pisses you off about me.”
“I don’t have enough paper for that list,” she shot back. “Idon’t think a stationary shop would have enough paper for it either.”
When she was bitching at him, she wasn’t kicking him. He’d take it. When the elevator came to a stop at the ground floor, he followed the others out into the corridor behind the main staircase of the communal space in their house and turned toward his office.
“I need her in the war-room.” Remi’s voice stopped him in his tracks. Gunnar turned carefully, not daring to attempt to swivel on one foot. He’d drop her if he tried, and there wasn’t a chance in hell he was giving this hellcat an inch, never mind a mile. “Are you sure you want this hellcat near your precious computers, Remi? Because she might do damage.”
“Just you wait until I’m on my feet,” she threatened. “The only damage I’ll be doing to is your fucking balls.”
Hellcat suits her.
Yes, it did suit her. That he seemed to piss her off was a bonus. He resolved to call her that name as many times as possible just to watch the sparks which flashed in her eyes.
“She won’t damage my computers,” Remi replied over his shoulder as he led the way to the war-room. “Anyone who can hack enough to get into the places her phone shows respects computers enough not to hurt them.”
