“Those men were going to hurt you guys, or me, right?” He nods. “And they probably hurt other people, too.” She turns in my arms to look up at me, her hands fisted in the front of my shirt as she asks, "Like the men you guys killed before prison, right? They had done bad things, so they deserved to die.”
I groan, my head dropping down beside hers as I whisper in her ear, “God, Wren. I love you so fucking much.” She gasps, and before she can respond, Elias annoyingly interrupts.
I don’t think he heard me, but he doesn’t seem done with this conversation either. “That’s why we have police, judges, and juries. It’s their job to catch the bad guys, convict them, and sentence them.”
Dex huffs out a laugh, asking, “You’re kidding, right?” Elias frowns at him, and he continues. “You should know better than most that the system is broken.”
Sly is quick to add on. "Rapists and murderers go free all the time because a piece of evidence gets mislabeled or acquired in a way that they can’t accept. You might be okay with letting them go free to hurt more people, but not all of us are.”
Elias’s frown deepens as his eyes bounce between us all. “What are you saying? Are you some sort of vigilante squad now?”
“Oh! We could have a name!” I say excitedly, liking the sound of that. “The Cape Crusaders!”
“I am not wearing a cape,”Jagger signs, and I see Dex deflate, clearly having liked my idea. Hmm, maybe the two of us could convince the others to wear costumes…
“What about… Wren’s Wicked Killers?”
“Be serious,” Sly says with a roll of his eyes. “You can’t use any of our names. We would need to be anonymous.”
“Right, right.” I bob my head as I try to think of another idea.
“You’re in on this, too?” Elias asks Sly with what sounds like exasperation.
“When this is over, we’ll need to make a living somehow.”
“And you think being what… contract killers, won’t be putting Wren in more danger?”
“She’ll always be safe with us,” Dex tells him with a shrug, as if it’s the simplest thing in the world.
Elias turns to Wren, who I’m still holding tightly to me as he asks, “And what about you? Is that what you want? To spend your life with them, tracking down bad guys andkilling them? You could do anything, you know. Once we’re free of Robert and Ivan, you could do anything you want. You could go to college or university, start your own business, whatever you want. I’ll help you, you just name it.”
“Well… considering I didn’t even know women could have jobs until a few weeks ago, I probably need to take some time to think about it.” She turns in my arms, mirroring our position from outside as she asks, “Would there be a spot on your team for me?”
“A spot? Wren, angel cake. There is no team without you. You’re our center.”
A large smile tilts her lips up, and she nods, biting her lip. “Your center. I like that.”
“Now that’s settled, I think there was mention of a party?” Dex asks, and I jump back from Wren and clap my hands excitedly.
“Yes! Dex, you find us drinks, order them if you have to.”
“Jagger, you’re on food.” The man nods and pulls out his phone.
“Sly, you’re on games,” I point at him, and he just gives an incredulous look that makes Wren and me laugh. “Just kidding, I’m on games, you’re on entertainment. Maybe a music playlist?”
He sighs like I gave him a terrible task, but quickly pulls out his phone and starts clicking away, making me smirk.
“What about me?” Elias asks hesitantly.
“You can relax, the party is for you.” He looks at me as if he doesn’t believe me, which just makes me give him my biggest smile. He looks at me like I’m crazy as he beckons for Wren to join him on the couch.
I watch them, making sure there’s at least a few inches between them. I might be planning to fill Elias withliquor to make him a little more tolerable, but it didn’t mean I wanted him touching my girl.
Maybe I’d get lucky, and he’d be an ugly drunk, spouting embarrassing things and puking on himself. That would beawesome.
“What are you planning?” Dex whispers.
“What makes you think I’m planning anything?” I ask innocently.
