“Which is why I’m being nice. Seriously, go. Maybe I’ll message you again sometime.” Because clearly, I won’t be hooking up tonight. Goddamn amateur fucking criminal cockblock.
But then, a part of me is excited by this. Danger stimulates me. What can I say? As different as my life is in some ways, it also feels painfully the same—school, sex, drugs, video games, parties. We take care of shit we need to do for the organization, kill or hurt people, and sometimes we do it for ourselves, like when we took care of the guys who hurt Ollie and the one who tried to hurt Ash. Being on this side of it is unexpected, and though a lot of shit is changing around me, and I’m trying to figure out what to make of that, this feels new in a different way.
“Yeah…yeah, okay,” José says. “If you’re sure.”
I nod, and he gives me my keys. He walks away, stops, looks at me, then keeps going, getting into his car and pulling away.
It doesn’t take Tiernan long to get here. The second he parks, Cillian is the first one out of the car.
“What the fuck happened?” He rushes over and kneels beside me. “Jesus, you’re shivering.”
“It’s cold as fuck,” I reply, but hadn’t realized I was trembling until he mentioned it.
He tugs off his coat and wraps it around me. It’s clear my head is fucked up because I let him. I wouldn’t with anyone else—well, my bunny, maybe—and I wouldn’t if I didn’t feel like my brain was two seconds away from exploding.
“What happened?” Tiernan asks, Dean beside him, arms crossed as they both look down at me.
“Came here to fuck. Was walking toward the room, heard someone behind me, turned around, and he had a gun in my face. The guy was a little taller than me, skinnier, white, blue eyes. He had a mask and gloves, so that’s all I saw. He took my gun, and I gave him my money.”
Cillian pushes something against my head to stop the bleeding, and I realize he took off the hoodie he had on under his coat and is using it on me.
“Organized?” Cillian asks. “Did he know who you are?”
“Nah. Probably a desperate motherfucker who needed cash. It was kinda fun to play with him. He didn’t expect someone who wasn’t afraid of him and who threatened to kill him. Took him off his game. I probably could have fought back, but…” I shrug. “Like I said, it was fun. Now I get to go hunting.”
“Christ, Ror.” Tiernan runs his hand through his hair.
“There’s a camera.” Dean points to the far side of the building. “Not sure if it got anything at this angle. Is there one on the other side?” He turns to look, then curses, telling me all I need to know.
“Come on,” Tiernan says. “Let’s pay Axel a visit.” Axel owns The Dove. The only reason he’s allowed to keep this place up and running is because we let him. If he wants to let people use his establishment to sell sex or as a place to hide out, then he has to pay us a monthly…permission fee, let’s call it.
Cil helps pull me to my feet.
I toss his hoodie back, not caring about the dried blood on my head. I’m slightly dizzy, but I do a good job of hiding it as we make our way down what looks like a long-ass strip mall but is really room after room. The hotel office is at the end. Dean pulls the door open, and the four of us saunter inside.
The woman at the front desk looks about forty, and she’s got dark hair. She’s popping gum, her eyes going wide when she sees us.
“Where’s Axel?” Tiernan asks. “And don’t tell us he’s not here or he’s busy. We talk to him, or this place goes boom.”
She visibly swallows, then picks up her cell and makes a call. “Tiernan is here. He says it’s urgent.” She ends the call, then points toward the back. “He’s there.”
We head behind the counter and down the hallway, Cillian right at my side. Tiernan goes first, opening the office door without knocking.
Axel is about fifty, covered in tattoos, with long hair and permanent cigarette smell. He takes one look at me and says, “I can’t control what happens here.”
“Then you don’t belong in charge.” Tiernan pulls his gun out smoothly, aiming it at Axel. “I kill you, take over, clean this place up, and pull in more profit. That sound like a good deal to you?”
Axel’s arms immediately go into the air. “That’s not what I’m sayin’! I’m sorry that happened, but I didn’t know. I’ll fix it, though. Whatever it is, I’ll fix it.”
“That’s what I thought.” Tiernan lowers his weapon but doesn’t put it away.
“We need to see security footage,” Cil tells him.
Axel winces. “Only one of ’em’s workin’. I can show you that, though. I’ve been meaning to fix the other, but—”
“Shut up,” Tiernan cuts him off. “We didn’t ask you tospeak. Pull up the footage.”
Axel rolls his chair over to the computers on the far wall and pulls up the feed, but I can tell from the live on the screen now that the angle is wrong and they won’t be able to see whoever jumped me. My mugger might not be an expert, but he was smart about this.
