“About earlier,” she started to say.
“Blackjack said you needed us?”
Turnpike’s voice cut across the yard and interrupted us. Heavy boots on concrete. Raptor’s lighter steps fell behind him.
Of course our conversation would be interrupted.
We stepped apart a hair, like we’d been discussing weather instead of the ways we were getting under each other’s skin.
Turnpike took one look at the space between us and arched a brow.
“Interrupting something?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Your future beautysleep.”
He snorted. “Funny. Prez said I was babysitting you two. Figured I’d better show up before you eloped.”
Raptor hovered just behind him. Young. Eager. Jaw tight enough to crack his teeth. This would be the first real war for him. You could smell his uncertainty.
“You ready, kid?” I asked him.
His chin jerked once. “Yes,” he said. Voice a little too loud. “I mean—yeah. I’m ready.”
“Relax,” Valkyrie said. “We’re just going to a club.”
“Owned by a Giorlando,” Turnpike added. “That’s like saying we’re just walking into a lion’s den with a steak jacket on.”
“Dante’s going to be pissed we’re even there,” I said. “Doesn’t want any of his guests to get spooked.”
Turnpike groaned. “Diamond in a bad mood? I can’t wait.”
Valkyrie let her hand fall from my arm, but the warmth of it stayed.
I grabbed my helmet off the peg by the door. The night smelled like oil, rain that hadn’t fallen yet, and the metallic edge of everything about to go to hell.
Turnpike swung his leg over his bike, Raptor fumbled his helmet on and corrected the strap twice before getting it right. Valkyrie moved with that easy confidence that made everything look intentional.
I met her eyes once more through the curve of my visor before I dropped it.
We didn’t say anything else.
Engines turned over. Thunder in the yard. The gategroaned as it rolled open, showing us a slice of city washed in bad neon and even worse intentions.
The strip glittered in the distance like it didn’t know it was about to be a battlefield.
I settled into the saddle, felt the familiar rumble under me, and breathed once.
“The night’s just getting started,” I muttered.
Then we rolled out to see what else it wanted to break.
Sixteen
Valkyrie
The Black Velvet didn’t look like a war zone from the outside.
It looked like money.
