Vee’s grin was pure arrogance. “Please. I think I know how to scrub a crime scene, A. What do you take me for, an amateur?”
Roaring with laughter, Angelo carried me away without ever trying to set me down on my feet. Old bruises discolored the side of his face, but otherwise he seemed totally healthy. How had he managed to flip the guards to his side?
I was so fucking overwhelmed with emotions I buried my face in his neck and just let him carry me, literally stepping over bodies to get us to where Jace waited with a running vehicle. Only once we got there did Angelo set me on my feet, and Jace grabbed him in a tight hug of his own.
They exchanged a sweet moment of bromance, whispering gruff, manly endearments to one another, and my heart nearly fucking burst out of my chest to see their love rekindled.
The angry way Jace had lived his life for the past near decade was clearer than ever for me—along with his attitude when we’d returned to his life. We’d broken his heart, for sure, and that was a pain that never went away. But it was more than that… for all of us. We’d been living as half people, missing parts of ourselves and not even realizing how much impact that had on us until we were back together.
Together and able to truly be whole again.
“Let’s get out of here,” Jace said, releasing Angelo and nodding to me to get in the car.
“Where’s Rhett?” I asked, scanning the area to ensure all my boys were safe and well. I spotted him chatting to Grayson beside a burning drum and gave a small sigh of relief. “Okay. Good. Everyone’s accounted for, then.”
“Not quite,” Jace replied as we climbed into the car and set off. “Vee lost a few from her team, which isn’t ideal.”
Angelo grunted. “A few isn’t so bad. You see how many Wilson lost?”
Jace grinned, giving Angelo a quick fist bump. “What happened to your dad in all that, Angel?”
“Regretfully, I made the decision to let him go. Not before making a hell of a point that I waslettinghim go and could have killed him if I chose. But it’s never so easy… there’s all the—”
“Contingency plans,” I finished for him, leaning forward from the back seat. “Vee went over it all with us. The entire hierarchy system and the people your father has already set in place in the event of his death. You made the right choice… even if it feels anticlimactic.”
Angelo shifted in his seat to face me with a curious look on his face. Then he grabbed the back of my neck and crushed his mouth to mine in a searing kiss. I moaned, parting my lips and letting him dominate my mouth with his hungry tongue.
“Come on, guys, save it until we get home,” Jace complained, his hands gripping the steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip.
Angelo made a frustrated sound. “Fuck that, we’re hours away. Where’s this secure point Vee mentioned?”
Jace gave him a long look, then laughed softly. “Not far. Keep it in your pants until then, big boy.”
My breathing sped up with excitement, and I squirmed in my seat, making Jace shoot me a knowing look in the mirror. “You too, Bellerose. Angelo needs to be cleared for injuries. Don’t even fucking pretend you’re not limping, dickhead. I saw it.”
He was? Shit, now I felt like an asshole for not noticing. Especially since he’d been carrying me. That killed my overflowing arousal a little, and I forced myself to sit back in the seat while Jace drove us to Vee’s safe house. It was an unfinished mansion in a new development area near the docks. She’d set this up as a base of operations for this mission. It was currently being used as a mini-clinic, utilizing the enormous open space of the unfurnished living/dining/lounge area.
“Keep an eye on him,” Jace murmured as Angelo sat down on one of the makeshift beds that had been set up near the kitchen. “He’ll try to bullshit them, but it’s his knee that is hurting him.”
“From the bomb at Big Noise?” I asked, double-checking I understood. Angelo had spent a couple of weeks walking with a cane but had recovered enough to walk without it before we’d even left for Europe.
Jace nodded. “I’d guess so, unless it’s a new injury from the cargo ship. I need to go shower. I’ve got someone else’s blood on me, and I’d rather not.”
I blanched, gagging. “Good idea.”
Angelo was surprisingly well-behaved for the medic. He wasn’t too roughed up, and the bruises he did have were more than a week old, almost healed already. His knee was puffy and swollen, but ultimately, the medic just strapped it with tape and advised him to take it easy.
“Where’s Jace?” he asked when they were done. He stood and walked toward me, this time not trying to hide his limp, and I scowled.
“Went to shower upstairs,” I told him, nodding my head to the stairs. “Vee was smart enough to have the water turned on along with power. She’s good at this shit, you know?”
He smiled. “I know. Show me the way? I could definitely use a shower right now. Two weeks on a cargo ship took its toll, even if we did have cold showers.”
Jace was already out when we reached the upper-level master suite. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and was inspecting a nasty bruise on his shoulder in the mirror when we found him.
“You should get that checked out,” Angelo told him, already stripping out of his clothes without waiting for Jace to exit the bathroom. As badly as I craved seeing Angel naked, I needed to stay in my lane and respect the gravity of all that’d happened tonight. So I averted my eyes and retreated into the bedroom. Vee and Giana had been sleeping there, so a big mattress sat on the floor, neatly made up with a quilt and pillows as though it were a proper bed.
I yawned as I kicked off my boots, then reached for the myriad of Velcro tabs on my Kevlar vest. It washeavy,and my body ached from sitting with Gray on that roof so long. I wanted it off.
