Either way, we would be there, that was for sure.
I stood when Vee did, accepting her hug and then Giana’s before they left in the same rush as they’d arrived.
“What do you know about this, Rose?” Jace said as he eyed me closer. “You were the only one not surprised.”
I shrugged, managing not to laugh, even though I was amused. “Vee has fed me bits and pieces of information, but she appears to be saving the full plan for us to witness with her tonight. I honestly don’t care as long as her family and Tom get dealt with. They all tried to kill us, and they actually killed Florence. That shit needs some karmic justice.”
“It will be done,” Grayson rumbled again. “I’m going to sort some weapons for tonight. None of us will go in unarmed.” He turned to meet my gaze full on. “You should consider staying here, Prickles. We don’t know what danger might arise from this. Vee treats you like you grew up in our world, and you didn’t. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
Walking toward him, I wrapped my arms tightly around him, and he only hesitated a beat before he hugged me back just as hard. “I choose to be with you,” I whispered against his chest, “through danger and beyond. For me, there’s no safer place than being with my boys of Bellerose.” Sweet enough for a cavity, but it was the fucking truth. “Don’t cut me out of these darker parts of your life. I can deal with a lot, but I can’t deal with that.”
He released a huge gust of air as he continued to squeeze me half to death. “Fuck, okay, little Hedgehog. You can be there as long as you promise to stay close to me or Angelo. At all times.”
I let out a happy sound. “I promise! I’ll be careful and on my best behavior.” Pulling back, I had to fully crane my neck to see his face. “I get a gun though, right?”
Grayson laughed before bending himself nearly in half to kiss me. “Yes, baby. You get a gun.”
Fuck yeah! All my practice at his shooting field was turning me into a decent shot and amore than decentfuck, since that was always the second part of our training sessions.
The next few hours were spent with Grayson outfitting us all with vests, guns, and a few other weapons. I got mace and a taser, both of which were small enough to fit into my pocket. Backup weapons were apparently as important as your main piece.
Speaking of, he handed me a smaller Glock than I was used to, one much lighter than the weapons I’d been training in the field with. “So you can strap it to your thigh,” he told me, handing over the leather case with a belt attached to it. “Wear thick pants underneath because it can chaff until you get used to it.”
By the time we had to leave, everyone was dressed in black, decked out in weapons, and I wondered if I was in love with a rock band or a criminally inclined group of hot friends, preparing to steal all the money from the underground networks of Vegas casinos.
They had a dangerous vibe tonight, and I was into it. My kinks went much darker than I’d ever expected, and if we all survived—no, fuck that,whenwe all survived—I would be asking for them to keep their black clothes and Kevlar on for a few more hours.
And the guns. Especially the guns.
Maybe just naked and guns… Fuck, I needed to focus or I’d get us all killed.
We piled into Grayson’s armored SUV, and I ended up in between Rhett and Jace. Everyone was silent while the last of the setting sun sprinkled over us, and it felt like maybe winter was finally easing up.
I took that as a good omen for tonight. Evil never thrived as strongly in warmth and light. They were its natural enemy. Or some shit like that.
Rhett reached out and took my hand, and I held on tightly, the silence comfortable enough that no one felt the need to chat. If the boys were anything like me, we were all caught up in thoughts of what the next few hours would look like.
A murder party didn’t sound like the sort of party any of us wanted to attend, and the fact that we weren’t dressed fancily told me that no one expected to be there for long. We’d just be Vee’s backup, or witnesses, since she apparently really wanted to share this with us. It wasn’t like we were about to go mingle with the Altissimos.
It took about fifteen minutes for Grayson to pull up to a swanky marina located on the largest river system in this area. TheGrand Viper River.
There was a valet near the main gated entrance, but Grayson didn’t stop there, moving further along until we were out of sight from that gate. Finally, he broke the silence. “This is where Vee said to wait.”
We sat quietly, none of us daring to do anything more than breath and look out the window for danger. Vee and Giana popped out of the bushes a second later. I was surprised to see they were dressed in black too—hoodies and tight pants, definitely not party attire, though an excellent color palette to hide blood.
Grayson opened his door slowly, and Vee crooked her finger on her right hand while pressing her left index finger to her lips to indicate we should remain quiet.
Everyone exited the car and followed the pair around the side of the large boat yard, which was dark and shadowy outside of lanterns set up around a huge yacht docked a few hundred yards away. When we reached a set of bushes on the most eastern point of the docks, a shadowed figure stepped out.
Gray and Angelo reacted immediately, drawing their guns before we all recognized that slimy intruder: Tom.
“What the fuck are they doing here?” he snarled, and Vee responded with a hard crack across his face.
“Shut the fuck up and speak only when spoken to,” she said coldly. “You’re here to ensure that this plan is fulfilled; it doesn’t matter why anyone else is here.”
Tom shut the fuck up as suggested, but his furious gaze drillied into all of us, and the boys returned that glare with much scarier ones. It only took that dumb asshole five seconds to realize he was outgunned, so he stopped glaring and went back to peeking through the bushes, a skill he had clearly practiced many times in his life.
“I think our decoys worked,” he said to Vee, who dropped in next to him, a set of binoculars in hand. “Having the valet and steward to greet them and hand out initial drinks means they’ve all gotten on board.”
