“You don’t have to put yourself on the line for me,” I whisper.
Parker’s eye twitches and he glances over the car at someone. “I do though, you just don’t understand why yet.”
“Parker…”
He snaps his head back to me. “Just do as I say in there.”
“What are we doingin there?”
“That’s for us to know and you to stay ignorant of,” Hayden calls out. “Plausible deniability.”
“Not if I kill someone,” I argue.
Hayden winks at me as he passes by with serious swagger. “Well, if someone catches on to tonight, Parker will go down for the murder. That’s the deal.”
My heart catches in my chest. Again? I want to say something, want to… I don’t know what I fucking want to do, but I want to do something. But just as I’m working up the courage to utter a word, Parker walks away with a nod of his head toward the building. All of the guys, including my brother, pause in the shadow of the building. I follow close to Parker’s back, knowing without being told that he’ll guide me through the evening.
“I’m just pissed you get to kill someone before me,” Reid mumbles to my left.
I glance over at him with an apologetic grimace. “I think he’s only letting me do it because of Uncle Marc.”
Reid shrugs. “Still. I only got a taser.”
“Because I don’t trust you with a gun,” Dante retorts from in front of us.
Reid doesn’t even argue, which surprises me. He just places his hand on the taser in a holster on his hip. I glance down to the gun safely tucked in the holster against my chest. A queasy feeling threatens to overtake me, but I push it deep down.
“Parker and Dante are going to go in first to clear security,”Hayden says when Parker and Dante break formation to head inside.
Five minutes later, the door opens and Dante nods for us to come inside. Parker squats down beside an unconscious security guard. When he unfolds his long body to stand, I can’t help but stare. Parker is always beautiful, but he’s magnificent in his element. Which happens to be murder. Apparently, murder for pay is his element.
“Yeah, they’re all kind of hot when they’re working,” Reid says with a snort. “I cannot tell you how many times I’ve made Dante fuck me right after a mission.”
I wrinkle my nose in disgust. “Reid, please.”
Reid shoots me a look. “Don’t worry, Mason, you’ll get there too.”
“I’m just here to kill someone,” I lie, because that’s not all this is at all.
Reid snorts again, but this time loud enough to attract the attention of his minder. Dante shoots him a look and lifts a finger to his mouth in the universal sign for shush. But all Reid does is grin real wide, lift his hand, then slowly pretend to wind up his middle finger.
“Sit and spin,” Reid mouths before blowing Dante a kiss.
Dante basically seethes but goes back to tying the security guard’s hands.
“You antagonize him a lot,” I point out.
Reid winks. “He likes it.”
“If you have time to chat, you have time to help,” Hayden says as he walks by us.
Reid rolls his eyes but gestures for us to follow behind Hayden. The other boys fall in behind us as Hayden leads us down the dark hallway. Emergency lights come on as we walk, and the quiet hush of thedeserted warehouse makes me vaguely uncomfortable. The place looks empty; there’s no one here for me to kill.
“There are two more security guards before we reach the guy you get the honor of executing,” Hayden says to me over his shoulder. “Orders are to leave guards alive because they’re hired, not aware of what Mr. Hall is getting up to.”
“What is Mr. Hall guilty of?” I ask.
Hayden makes an annoyed sound. “I told you, plausible deniability. Plus, you really don’t want to know.”
