“Could I be an absolute brat and ask you to bring back coffee for me?”
The tension in my shoulders relaxes. “You’re my brat and I’m happy to spoil you. Cream and sugar?”
“Until you can’t taste the coffee anymore.”
Unable to hold back, I kiss the tip of his nose, then his plush mouth. “You got it.”
I leave my room feeling lighter than I have in ages. Maybe ever. I don’t know how Cashmere does that to me, but I’m not gonna fight it.
When I enter the dining room, Whisper, Nimble, and Wraith are already there. Carnage, Shadow, Ghost, and Phantom show up seconds later. My eyes gravitate to our leader, and I study his face, looking for signs of stress, but he’s hard to read. He always has been. The only time he looks remotely happy and expressive is when Bellamy is around.
I take a seat next to Wraith and lean forward, resting my elbows on the table.
Shadow inhales deeply, then slowly exhales, twisting his neck back and forth. “Last night, Specter inadvertently exposed a cancer growing in this community.”
My brow crinkles as Shadow’s gaze moves to me.
“He found his target at a known drug house, but what we didn’t know then is that there’s a huge drug ring that has been slowly eating up territory.”
“Why the fuck do we care?” Carnage asks.
Shadow’s jaw ticks. “If you’d let me get to that.”
Carnage holds his hands up and bows his head in apology.
“We have a friend, someone we’ve worked with before, who has a vested interest in making sure the leader of this drug ring is taken out. Law enforcement calls him Houdini because he escapes every charge and sentence he’s ever gotten throughinsane methods. They thought he’d moved west, but it turns out he’s been here for months, rebuilding.”
“They found out because of the body I left?” I ask.
Specter nods. “Yeah, but that’s a good thing. They didn’t know and they weren’t looking.”
I nod. “Okay. What’s the plan? What about the kids?”
“The kids have been taken care of. There were three girls in the house. For now, I’m gonna put Whisper on surveillance, but this one will be a team effort. We need to take out the whole crew. Be ready.”
Shadow talks about some other business, but Cashmere’s stalker keeps needling my brain. He’s been too quiet. You don’t make an aggressive attack like that and then just give up. No fucking way.
“Can I ask a question?”
Everyone turns to me and Shadow nods, gesturing for me to continue.
“Cashmere is here because he was attacked by a stalker.” I frown. “But we’re pretty sure it wasn’t just some rando with no boundaries. It felt personal to him.”
Carnage cracks his knuckles. “What do you know about him?”
“Nothing yet. I’m concerned because he’s disappeared, but he was willing to hurt Cashmere. He tried to kidnap him. Guys like that don’t just fade away, but he hasn’t made a move since.”
“Do you think you might’ve scared him off?” Ghost asks. “I wouldn’t fuck with you.”
“Maybe, but I can’t be with Cashmere twenty-four seven. I guess I’m asking for ideas on how to find him.”
“There’s only one way, and you know what it is,” Shadow says.
My jaw clenches. “Too dangerous. I don’t want to use Cashmere as bait.”
“You’d bait him into the guppy pond where a bunch ofsharks are waiting, man,” Wraith says, clapping my shoulder. “He wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“What are you really asking?” Shadow knows me way too well.
