“Well, if you decide to pass out and take Haz down with you, I’ll let you lie there in your own blood,” Kieran told him.
Rett gasped. “What is wrong with you?”
“I’m starting to think he might have low blood sugar,” I explained to Rett.
“I do not,” Kieran snapped.
“Fine. He’s just an ass,” I amended.
His eyes narrowed. I must be into toxic men because I swear a lick of desire shot right down to my balls. Ignoring it, I plucked the keys from Kieran’s fingers. “I’ll be quick.”
I raced to the door, which I didn’t need to open because, well, it was shattered. The bell dangled off the frame crookedly, and a foot was partially inside.
Leaning forward, I took in the dead man lying on the sidewalk.
“Uhhh…” I turned to Kieran. He wasn’t far behind, his arm around Ghost’s waist as the three stepped around another body. A quick sweep of the store and I realized just how trashed this place was.
I wassogetting fired.
“What are we going to do about all the bodies?” I asked.
“Should we call the police?” Rett asked.
“No,” Kieran and Ghost declared at the same time.
“We can’t just leave them here…” I worried. “And how will I close up the store? There’s no door to lock, and I think the closed sign blew away!”
Kieran shook his head. “You’re worried about locking the door?”
Duh. “Of course,”
“This isn’t even your store,” he barked.
Killing people must make him grumpy. Which, fair.
“Our babies are here,” I explained even though I shouldn’t have to remind him of such things. “We can’t just leave them out in the open. Someone might steal them.”
Ghost made a sound and glanced at Kieran. “That’s what you get for having kids.”
“They aren’t my kids!” Kieran bellowed.
I gasped. “How can you say that? You just named one of them!” To Ghost and Rett, I asked, “Does this make me a single father?”
“For the love of God,” Kieran muttered. Actually, it kinda sounded like he was praying.
“Are you religious?” I wondered. I just assumed he wasn’t, given his career. I guess that was very judgmental of me.
“Go get the car!” he said, pointing at the door.
Geez.I stepped over the dead body and waved at someone walking down the sidewalk across the street. They were staring. “It looks worse than it is!” I called and rushed down the block to Kieran’s black SUV.
It was really nice and had running boards that slid out when you unlocked the doors. I used it to climb in and then took a moment to adjust the seat so I could reach the pedals. I couldn’t seem to figure out how to raise the seat to make it higher, so I just straightened as tall as I could and turned on the engine. The second I hit the gas, the engine revved and the SUV lurched forward. Alarmed, I slammed on the break, making the tires squeal.
Oops.
These pedals were way more reactive than my Toyota. I had to practically stomp on them to get them to respond. Clearly, not these, so I slowly drove to the front of the Neon Reef. Did I mention this car was much larger than what I was used to? Somehow, the front tire drove up over the curb and onto the sidewalk.
Oops.
