Three Alpha Romeo

“Because you’ve never seen him use it,” Holden went on. He shook his head slowly. “I’ve seen him do surgery with that thing.”

Marcus’s lips went tight. He hesitated for a moment, then reached in and came back with another belt of bright red shotgun shells.

“Be surgical then,” he said, tossing the belt to Randall. “And impress me.”

I rolled my eyes and barked a short laugh. Randall looked almost wounded.

“What?”

“Geeking out about your weapons is cute and all,” I said smugly, “but the machismo levels are going off the charts.”

I stretched as they loaded up the truck again, reaching my arms toward the cold blue sky. We’d arrived only fifteen minutes ago. Holden was already here somehow, although there was no vehicle in sight.

“I still can’t believe the hotel you picked last night,” Holden practically snarled. “Biggest one. Heart of the city.” He shook his head. “Might as well have just hung a sign out front, telling Indigo to—”

“Relax,” Marcus jumped in hotly. “It all worked out.”

“I’ll relax when we’re no longer being hunted,” spat Holden. He turned to face his partner. “Are you sure you didn’t catch a tail?”

Randall shook his head. “We stayed in all night. I swear.”

Holden laughed. “You? Stayed in?” He laughed again. “All night? And how’d that go? What’d you do?”

Randall froze, looking suddenly like the cat that swallowed the canary. For a few long seconds, he didn’t say anything.

Don’t look at me… don’t look at me… don’t look at me…

Holden looked at me… then at Marcus… then back to me again. My pale skin betrayed me, and I turned two shades redder.

Awww, shit.

Realization dawned on Holden’s face. His expression twisted into a mixture of anger and disappointment. “Goddammit Randall…”

“Look,” I stepped in. “It’s not his fault. What happened, happened.”

“Really?” demanded Holden. “All of you?” He jerked a thumb at Marcus. “Even him?”

“Actually,” said Randall. “I’m pretty sure he might’ve been before us.”

Holden’s handsome mouth dropped open even further. He looked utterly astonished.

“Is it really all that surprising?” I shrugged. “It’s been a crazy couple of days, hasn’t it? We fell into a really weird circumstance, Marcus and I. And then three of us at the gym… well, we blew off some steam together as well.”

I had their attention now, all of them. It should’ve been intimidating, but for some reason it wasn’t.

“You weren’t complaining back then, were you?” I asked Holden. “When I was taking care of you both?”

He looked sheepish now. I also noticed his mouth had closed.

“I’m a big girl,” I said. “I know what I’m doing. And trust me, we’re all adults here. No one’s feelings are getting hurt. If anything, this evens the playing field. Brings us all closer together, as a team.”

I let my gaze linger on each of them now, wandering from Holden, to Randall, and then to Marcus. The big Ranger stood there with his legs planted, his arms folded. Neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

“We’re four people trying to assassinate the same dangerous prick who ruined our collective lives…” I finished with a flourish. “You think a little sex should seem strange at this point?”

Randall cleared his throat loudly.

“A little sex?” he grinned.