I heard her shifting around and I prayed with all of my might that they came at me. After all, I was the one sitting against the wall that faced the door in the first place. Maybe they’d zone in on me and forget all about the fact that Chloe was in the other room. My eyes darted around, searching for hallways and exits. I laid my eyes on my gun on the floor that I hadn’t snatched up. Fucking hell. Of course, I’d leave it laying out there.
I scrambled to get to it and I holstered the gun on my hip.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Chloe hissed.
I shook my head quickly. “They’re going to know what happened the second they see these bodies. We’re sitting ducks.”
She peeked her head around the corner as the engine turned off. “Got any bright ideas, then?”
And that was when the front door burst open. “I think I have a few ideas of my own, yes.”
I didn’t recognize his voice or his face, but the way he stood and the way his men followed him around like drugged-up puppy dogs told me who had just entered. Chloe rushed to me, gripping my leather jacket from behind and pressing herself to my back. I wrapped my arms back around her. I cloaked her with my body, hoping that I could provide enough shielding to keep her out of harm’s way.
However, the second she slid something smooth and cold between my jeans and my back, I thanked my lucky fucking stars that I had fallen for a woman so god damn intelligent.
You found glass. Way to go, Chlo.
The man with the slicked-back black hair and olive skin donned a suit a size and a half too large for him. He looked like a fucking bank broker or some shit. Like an asshat on Wall Street that had just made his first million. When he smiled, his teeth glistened in the measly amount of light filtering through the shattered windows around us. He didn’t even try to hide the two guns he had on both of his hips.
And as he stood in front of us, the putrid smell of his aftershave made me wrinkle my nose.
“What’s your name, son?”
I shook my head. “Don’t call me ‘son.’”
He slid off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves. “West, correct?”
I stared him down while he rubbed his hands together.
“Didn’t your mother ever teach you that it’s impolite to stare?” he asked.
“What the hell do you want?” I asked.
He slid his hands into his pockets. “Well, that’s pretty simple, isn’t it? Pretty…obvious?”
He tried peeking around behind me, but I moved with his gaze while Chloe clung to my leather jacket with both of her hands.
“I want the Lost Boys to no longer exist, of course,” Carlos said.
I snickered. “Good luck.”
He nodded. “Yes, yes. I suppose I need it. You guys have been a thorn in my side for much longer than I had anticipated. So, it seems the only way to stop all of this nonsense is to take you out, one by one.”
“West,” Chloe whispered.
“Every. Last. One of you,” Carlos warned as his eyes fell to Chloe’s shadow.
“Leave her out of this,” I growled, “or you’re going to regret it.”
He held his arms out. “And here I thought we were having a pleasant conversation.”
“You’ll never take out the club. We’re much too smart for that.”
Carlos barked with laughter. “Yes, well, your club has been very difficult to find. But now that I have you, I hope to get the information I seek.”
“And what information is that?”
“Don’t hurt him, please,” Chloe said.
