He stopped abruptly, making me sigh with relief until I realized Rett didn’t stop because I asked him to. He stopped because there were guns pointed at him on the other side.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
Kieran
You ever read about Pavlov’s dogs? You know, the scientist who conditioned dogs to drool every time a bell rang?
I was kinda like them. Conditioned to a sound. But it wasn’t a bell, and it wasn’t to drool.
It was to the sound of a gun being cocked. The second the light yet ominously distinct click cut through whatever the hell else was going on, I went on instant defense.
Except this time it wasn’t to defend myself but someone else.
I moved fast, pushing Haz behind me while whipping out my gun, flipping off the safety, and taking aim.
“Wait!” Haz cried, trying to lunge around me. “Don’t shoot!”
It was utterly preposterous that he thought I wasn’t about to put a bullet in every asshole preparing to raid this place. I mean, technically, we talked about this. Shooting people was literally my job.
Among other ways of disposal.
Clearly, he had no respect for my job because the little hazard attempted to dive between my legs. It was as though he didn’t even try to be safe. Luckily, he got tangled in my coat and it blocked him.Inspector Gadget has nothing on me.
“Rett,” Haz called, and I realized he was worried about his friend who was literally in the line of fire from both sides. Usually, collateral damage didn’t bother me. Hell, if you were in my way, you deserved what you got. But shooting my baby doll’s only friend was probably areallybad idea.
“Rett, come here,” I said evenly without lowering my gun.
Nearby, Ghost shifted, but I kept on the four men standing at the threshold of the store, all of them with guns.
Rett stepped back.
“Don’t move,” a man in the center demanded. I recognized him from the shower at the gym.
Rett froze, hands shooting up like he was surrendering. He was shaking so much that I could see his fingers tremble from feet away. It was true I still suspected him of being a drug addict, and I also questioned if he was good enough to be a friend to Haz. But seeing him standing there in the line of fire, his thin body quaking, did not give me any sort of satisfaction.
“He doesn’t have anything to do with this,” I said.
“The fact that you don’t want him to get shot says otherwise,” a familiar voice cooed.
The men parted, and Grimaldi stepped through, crossing the threshold into the Neon Reef. I was surprised he even fit through the door with the amount of superiority swelling his head. He was dressed head to toe in black, and the arrogance on his face shifted into gleaming malice as he pulled out a gun and jammed it so hard into Rett’s temple that he cried out.
Ghost made an inhuman sound, and my shoulders tensed. I didn’t know his connection to Rett, but that sound told me it was deep enough to sever the leash he kept on his temper.
Grimaldi’s attention flashed to Ghost, and a smile crept across the lower half of his face. “Tell you what. Let’s make a trade.” Grimaldi looked at me. “This one for the one you shield.”
A stricken sound ripped out of Haz, and he bolted around me.
“No!” Rett yelled as I dragged Hazard back, my grip so tight there would likely be bruises.Better bruises than bullet holes.
“Is that a no?” Grimaldi mused. “All you have to do is push him over here. You’ll be twelve million richer.”
“I already told you to fuck off,” I snarled, finger twitching on the trigger. Fuck, I was not accustomed to this. Standing still. Usually, I went all in, guns blazing, without an ounce of hesitation. I was a man of action, but I was hesitating because Hazard and Rett were caught in the crossfire. The adrenaline buzzing through my veins screamed,Go!But my heart was screaming to wait.
Grimaldi nodded. “You did, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why you would turn down so much money for such a simple job. Why you would break into my home.” The smug son of a bitch preened as if he were a genius. “Imagine my surprise when I learned the reason is you are fuckingmymark.”
His?Oh, fuck this.“Rett, move!” I bellowed.
