“Exactly,” Menace says. “So now I’m going after him. But I need him paranoid and his guard to drop. That’s where you two come in.”
Lucian wings up a brow. “What do you need from us? You want backup?” The feral grin that crosses his face makes me laugh. Lucian loves his killing.
Menace’s lip twitches. “Not yet. Right now, I want you two to write a hit piece on him. Dig into his background and uncover any dirt you can on him. If I know his type, he’ll have had the women sign NDAs so they can’t press charges against him and probably throw an obscene amount of money at them.”
I cackle, thinking that just a few weeks ago, Lucian and I were thinking the same thing. I mention it and Menace cracks a grin. “Guess he’s a shitbag on everyone’s radar.”
“We have some connections that can get me into files like that, easy peasy,” Lucian says and I nod. We both have people that we can slip a few hundred dollars and about a pound of weed to find all the things we need them to.
It pays to have good people in low places.
They’re probably not as good as Menace’s people, but they haven’t let us down yet.
“When can I expect you to have it published?” Menace asks and Lucian points to me. While we’re both journalists, Lucian works for a reputable news station, farming stories and giving them to show editors for broadcast. The kind of piece Menace is asking for would be more my wheelhouse.
My editor likes expose pieces, he loves the salaciousness of a juicy story, and he’s never backed down from getting word of wrongdoing into the world. It might not always pay off but he stands on business, so this story is mine.
Grinning, I rub my hands together like a cartoon villain. “I might get a raise, bringing two stories to Clifton in a month. He’ll love me for how many papers he’ll sell.” Print is a dying form, and most people just go online to get their news. We’ve been slowly transitioning, but Clifton is hanging on to print for as long as possible. Hell, we might have to pry physical copies from his cold dead hands.
Menace kisses me on my forehead. “I’m sure he’ll be pleased with you. Now, here’s all I know about Beningfield.”
He tells us everything he’s been able to dig up on Beningfield over the past year and a half he’s been looking into him. I can tell by the look on Menace’s face that he’s blaming himself for those women getting hurt, even though no one is to blame but Beningfield.
After he tells us about his business dealings, Menace walks us through the security around his home. “It’s hard to get into his place and he always has security around him. I’m good, butI don’t want to risk shooting at him with a high-powered rifle only to find out he has bulletproof glass. Then he’ll double his security and only make it harder for me to kill him in another way.”
Lucian smiles that angelic smile of his that has both men and women falling at his feet to do his bidding. “Don’t worry about that. When we’re ready to pull the trigger on this thing, I can get us in if you can’t get to him.”
I grin and throw a pillow at him. “I bet you can.”
“After your piece comes out, we can move in,” Menace says to me. “We’ll have to make his death look like a suicide so no one is caught in the crosshairs, least of all the women he’s hurt.”
I huff and cross my arms over my chest. “I really wanted to use an axe on this guy. If anyone deserves it, it’s him.”
“Aww,” Menace says, pulling me close and kissing my forehead. “I promise I’ll let you chop the head off the next abusive asshole, okay?”
“Fine. I’m gonna hold you to that.” Menace gives me one last kiss, then sits up. “I should be going.”
“What? Why?” I ask, feeling needy.
“So you can talk to your friend. You’ve been gone for ten days. I’m sure there’s some stuff you’ll want to catch up on.”
I sigh because he’s right. I want to spend every minute with Menace, but I missed Lucian. I also want to fill him in on what we did and gush about being in love.
“Okay,” I say, standing when he does. “Let me walk you to the door.”
When we get to the door, I wrap my arms around Menace’s neck and pull him down for a deep kiss. He groans in my mouth, placing his hand on the small of my back and melding our bodies together.
“Just stay,” I say when we break the kiss. “We got interrupted on the plane,” I pout.
Laughing, Menace kisses my nose and flicks the deadbolt. “Tomorrow. For tonight, go talk to your friend. I know you missed him.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Text me when you get home. Love you.”
His smile is so bright, like just hearing the words makes his heart soar. “Love you too, little psycho.”
He leaves and I press my back to the door, still not believing that I belong to Menace Grant.
“Come back here,” Lucian calls from the living room. “I want to hear all about your trip.”
