No one speaks right away.
Chace lets out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose like he’s trying to hold something together behind his eyes.
“Fuck.”
Sam exhales through his teeth, shifting in his seat. Logan doesn’t move at all—just watches Niko walk away, expression tight.
“So…” Sam starts carefully. “When he says he’s going on a hunt…”
Chace drops his hand, staring after Niko.
“He’s going on a fucking killing spree.”
“Right,” I say quietly, eyes still tracking Niko at the edge of the pool.
Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Coolio. Cool. Understood… Fucking Shadow Prince sounds like he should be in a fantasy novel with fairies and witches.
Still, thank fuck he didn’t say he was the boogeyman or I wouldn’t be able to look at him without thinking of John Wick.
He looks so much like Chace it’s almost disorienting. Same posture. Same stillness when everything else is moving. Just…older. Harder around the edges. Shorter hair, a different kind of weight to him.
My gaze drifts back to Chace.
A frown pulls at my brow before I can stop it.
Is that who Chace is shaping to be? The thought sits there longer than I like, unsettled.
“Is there no better plans we can come up with?” I say to Chace. He shrugs.
“Always plans and backups…My uncle is very…direct. Someone hides in a building? He knocks it down.”
“Ah, so Uncle Niko is the big bad wolf. Cool. Hell of a blow job. Blow jobber?”
“Trey…don’t get distracted.” Logan says.
“Police are a no go, right?” Sam asks.
“Right. This is all tied tightly to Chace…” Logan reasons.
“Yeah, that’s a hard no.” Chace grimaces.
“But it’s all so fucking public…is there no way of knowing what the lady, you said Galina, was after, right?” Sam queries.
“Not for sure, no…it’s why I wanted to get a meeting.” Sam is reaching out for a drink, when I see movement, small. About the size of a quarter.
“Sam…” I say, eyes going wide.
He looks at me expectantly. “What?”
“Spider.”
I say it like it’s a medical diagnosis, not a tiny eight-legged horror story.
Instantly, goosebumps climb the back of my neck.
Sam looks down just in time to see it crawling onto his hand.
He flinches so hard he nearly redecorates the patio with his entire body.
