I’m not worth that.
“I’ll keep you safe, all of you. Do you trust me?”
This answer comes easily, and I’m nodding even before I really process his question.
He’s proved to me that I can trust him not only with my safety but with Addy’s already. I know this is his job, and he’s good at it.
There isn’t anyone else I’d want to protect me.
Owing people is dangerous.
Money, possessions, even just a favor.
I hate it, which is why I’m not in the business of asking for help if I can avoid it.
Unfortunately, I can no longer avoid it.
“So this‘person’can help us?” Des does air quotes, and the look on his face tells me he isn’t going to believe a word I say.
That’s fine. He doesn’t have to believe me, but I’ve never had him fail before, so I doubt he will start now.
We sit in the lounge where Alex often hides away. His office is through the doors, and I almost suggest we move in there, but that’s just my own paranoia talking.
There’s nobody in this house I don’t trust.
I click his name and put it on speaker before tossing my phone on the table.
Kat looks at me, her brows scrunched together, and when she looks down at the phone, it’s as if she worried it might jump up and bite her.
Fuck, I hope not.
There’s always a chance with those in the underground, but I’ve never gotten that feeling from him before. Everything I’ve ever heard is that he and his gang do good… or as good as a gang can.
I’m seconds from hanging up and telling them to forget it when the ringing stops. I let out a breath of relief and almost choke on it when, instead of a voicemail message, a woman answers.
“Hello?”
“Oh, um. Hello, Ms. Kane?” I didn’t think he was married. Isn’t that what being in that life means? Never getting close to anyone?
What do I know, though?
Her laughter is loud and sharp, bouncing around the high walls of the room, and if Des was skeptical before, well, that makes two of us now.
I don’t interrupt her, not only because I have no idea what to say, but because something tells me she’s not someone I want to get on the wrong side of. Maybe it’s because she’s answering his phone or the slight manic hitch in her laugh, I can’t be sure, but I’m grateful nobody else does either.
“Ew, fuck no,” she says with a laugh, sounding out of breath. “If I were going to take a last name, it would definitely be a better one. Maybe Blackstone or Hawkins. Oh, maybe even Sharp.”
None of these names means a thing to me, but clearly they do to whoever else is around her because they cause a commotion.
Someone lets out a loud whoop at the mention of Blackstone, and she giggles when she says Hawkins, but Sharp has someone else finally speaking up.
“I think Sharp and Gray are out, Demon. The last thing you need is a tie to the police.”
“Aw, so no Ross?” It’s impossible to miss her pouting even if we can’t see her, and I watch as Kat covers her face in an attemptto hide her giggle, but she fails, and it leaves Des looking at her with that dopey-ass grin she brings out of him.
The moment is broken when the line fills with coughing.
“Fuck, Jake, get it together.” I hear the hits, and I know someone is slamming this Jake guy back, which only seems to make our mystery female dissolve all over again.
