Renner hasn’t looked away, and he gives me a slow nod. “I’ll accept that, for now. Be aware that the last time she was hurt, they didn’t find the body.”
“Chad?” I ask, letting him know I know. But no sooner have I said it, I realize it’s not the right answer. Dario said he was a vegetable, not that his body was missing.
“That wasn’t the last time,” Renner corrects. There’s no emotion in his voice, like I’ve just got my Tuesdays mixed up, not that we’re talking about people disappearing. “She doesn’t know about this one, so don’t mention anything, m’kay?”
Okay.
Genesis’s past flames are coming out of the woodwork all over, and then disappearing one by one.
I wonder how many there’ve been, and have to ease up my grip before I shatter my coffee cup.
“Understood,” I grind out.
So death threats from multiple people for how Itreat Genesis.
If they’re that protective of her, it tells me how they’ll react if they find out I’m FBI: a bullet in the head, and Kurt dropping my body off at a nearby incinerator.
I can’t afford any mistakes, but now I’m wondering if Genesis already is one.
Twelve
Raven
Thursday afternoon, Kurt calls me. It’s so rare that he does anything other than text that I wonder if it’s a pocket call.
“Hey.” I walk out into the garden as I answer. “I’ll be there tomorrow.”
“I know. Not calling about that. Where are you?”
“At my parents’ house. Taking some… me time.”
“Huh, okay.” A pause long enough to register the anomaly that is, and I half expect him to comment. Instead, he hits me with something harder. “What do you think of Declan?”
It takes me a second to process the question, and another to draw a breath after my body tightens so hard I forget how to breathe.
“Genesis?” Kurt prods. “Still there?”
“Uh, yeah. Just finding somewhere quiet to talk.” I clear my throat. “Declan, huh? What exactly are you asking?”
“Do you trust him?”
Do Itrusthim? What a question.
“To do what?” I ask cautiously. I trust him to walk out without caring or a backward glance. Does that count?
“On a job, would you know he had your back?” Kurt presses. “Would you ride with him?”
I hesitate, trying to put my feelings aside. Getting my game head on. It’s harder than it should be.
He supported me on the last job when Kawasaki was trying to get me to come and help him. I was never going to do that, but Declan didn’t know.
He had my back in the bar fight—the second one, anyway. He just watched the first. Then grabbed my arm and asked me if I fucked the way I fought.
Then fucked me, got disappointed, and left. So I guess that question was answered.
“I don’t know, Kurt,” I say at last. “I just don’t know.”
“Fair, I suppose.”
