The men advanced on Dan and Carlos, and Adam took off running toward them.
He reached the edge of the parking lot and dropped the rest of the way, landing in a crash, and catching enough of a break to cause a distraction so Dan and Carlos could make cover. Running through the carnage, Adam slid over the hood of one of the backup cars and fell into position beside Dan and Carlos.
“Setup,” Dan said, his voice muffled behind the mask.
“Yep, got that,” Adam said.
Even pinned behind the car, the three of them made good work of the backup men. Taking them down with ease and practiced skill. With two-thirds of the men down, Adam sat back into cover to rest.
“Why hasn’t he left yet?” Carlos said, sinking to Adam’s side.
Adam chanced a look over the hood, seeing T.B. standing outside and frowning at all the fallen men. He looked like he very much wanted to join the fight. “No fucking clue.”
A rain of gunfire forced them back into the fight, each of them shooting in different directions.
T.B. had left the car and was standing at the hood, watching with folded arms and still looking very confused as to why the thieves weren’t dead yet. And he’d left the doors of the Camaro wide open.
Oh, this was too fucking good. Seriously. Why should he need a plan? You couldn’t plan for this shit.
“Guys, you got this?” Adam asked, staring at the Camaro.
Dan followed his line of sight and saw the opening T.B. had just left them. Smirking, Dan said, “Oh yeah, we do. Make a break for it, I’ll cover you.”
Dan did, in fact, lay down cover fire and Adam took that opportunity to bolt straight from their hiding place and dive into the driver’s seat of T.B.’s car, slamming the door shut and revving the engine. He circled the lot in donuts, thankful for the tinted windows, but laughing his head off as he burned rubber.
When he felt satisfied he’d caused as much carnage as possible, he broke away with speed, taking the entire shipment of cocaine with him.
He was still laughing when he checked his rear-view mirror and saw that T.B. had commandeered one of the other vehicles, spinning and drifting and catching up to Adam in no time.
His smile dropped.
Oh fuck, going up against T.B. in a race? Maybe he hadn’t completely thought this through.
* * *
Paul and Mercedes sat shielded in Paul’s white van as the sun began to rise over the city. Across the road from the Neptune Club, they waited for Tia to finish her shift. They couldn’t risk going in, not when Dorian still owned the joint. The best chance they had would be to catch her on her way out.
“Any of these?” Paul asked as more girls bolted from the sidewalk to their cars.
“Not yet,” Mercedes said. The girls ran to their cars with their keys in their hand. Shameful, really, because Dorian should have been protecting them. Sure, she wanted to protect Dan, Paul, and Carlos, but that more than extended to Tia. And now that she had the chance to do something about it, she wouldn’t miss the chance.
“You sure she’ll be here?”
“Eventually,” Mercedes said. “We have to wait. We can’t come back another time.”
“Your future-husband won’t let you out more than one day a week?”
“If we’re successful here, he won’t have to be my future-husband.”
When she looked back at her friend, he was staring at her again with wide, guilty eyes. But fuck, she really didn’t need to hear it. He knewexactlywhy she had agreed to marry Dorian Blake, and she wished he would stop dwelling on it. The past was the past and she couldn’t change it now. She could only move ahead.
“Are you doing okay?” Paul said.
Damn, here it came.
“Plotting with your ex to murder your fiancé, I just thought you’d have more feelings about it,” Paul shrugged.
“Adam being back has no effect over me,” she replied, so casually it was as if she meant it. No, she did mean it. Dammit, she did.
