Page 54 of Cruel Salvation

“You won’t hear it?”

He paused, watching her expression and waiting for her to flip at his overbearing comment. “I don’t want you hurt, Naz, and those thoughts hurt you. I’m not trying to be an alpha asshole.”

“I know, and I know you care.” She twined her fingers with his and kissed his knuckles. “Let’s go shake down Simon.”

He grinned as she headed toward the area where Simon was being detained. “I love it when you go all gangsta on me.”

“Gangsta?” Her laugh was light and filled all the empty spaces in his chest.

“Yeah, you know. All cool and down with the kids, saying shit like shakedown.”

“Shakedown isn’t gangsta and you even saying ‘cool and down with the kids’ just proves how uncool you are. Our poor peanut has an uncool dad already, and he isn’t even born yet.”

“Hey, that’s rude.”

“But true, baby.”

“Fine, you can be the cool one, I’ll be the strict parent.”

At that comment, Naz tipped her head back and laughed. “Oh, you’re hilarious. You so won’t be the strict parent. You’ll be like putty.”

“I can be hard.”

“Oh, I know.” Her hand cupped his dick, and he groaned as they stopped outside the door.

“Fuck, Naz.”

“Maybe later, baby.”

Her smile was all tease as she punched in the code and winked. When she turned to the door, her entire demeanour had slipped back into the ice-cold operator he knew her to be and he knew the banter they’d just shared had stopped her from spinning out and blaming herself for the most recent attack.

Damon stepped in behind her, schooling his features as Simon looked up at them.

“Okay, Simon, time to stop dicking around and give us something useful. If you want our help, you need to get in the boat and row with us.”

Damon had to bite the inside of his lip to stop the proud smile at the way she handled things. Naz was a force of fucking nature and he loved it.

“I told you…”

Naz raised her hand. “No, stop. I don’t want your sob story. I want something that will help me.”

“Has something happened?”

“Why do you think that?”

“You coming in here like this. Something is different.”

“Two people at the centre were murdered.”

Simon’s face paled and he looked at Naz in clear distress. “Who and how?”

“A soldier named Tim Cooper went crazy and, in his rage, killed Kathleen and Gerald.”

“Oh my God, no. Kathleen was sweet. She always made tiffin when she knew the kids were coming to see me.”

“Listen, Simon, we know Andrea Peston is the person behind this and, after today’s attacks, we don’t have a clue who is next on her list.”

“But I don’t know anything.”