Chapter Twenty-Nine
Tomas
The cab of the car is too quiet for my taste as Alex loads her gun, cocking it loudly and then checking to make sure the safety is on before tucking it into her jeans. “I don’t understand how they got her.”
“She was supposed to be safe with Cynthia,” I say while gripping the gear shift. “How the fuck they managed to find her is beyond me.”
“Eyes and ears everywhere, Tommy.”
I glance at her, feeling the concern and tension in her gaze. When I turn back to the road, I see the headlights illuminating the road ahead, two striking pools of light creating a magnificent beam. “I know, doll.”
“She’s going to be okay. I don’t think he’s going to hurt her.”
“How do you know that?”
She sighs shakily. “I don’t. I’m just saying that.”
“You know I don’t like it when you lie to me.”
“It wasn’t a lie. Just…” She trails off while playing with the fabric of her jeans. “I’m sorry, Tommy. I’m worried too. I want to support you.”
I reach across the center console and grab her hand, squeezing it so hard that I’m sure she’s about to complain. But she doesn’t. She squeezes back instead.
And it helps.
“You’re supporting me by being here,” I tell her. “I hate that I dragged your sister into this mess.”
“It’s okay. They weren’t hurt.”
I shake my head. “No, but it was my stupid fucking idea.”
“Your stupid fucking idea was better than sending your sister out of the state where you can’t reach her as quickly.”
Like always, she has a point. It’s a fair point, one I relish as I hit Capital City limits and slow the car down on the exit ramp. Skyscraping buildings and glittering lights splatter the windshield as I maneuver down all the familiar streets leading to one of the hotels where I used to party.
“Why here?” I ask, though I’m sure Alex knows it’s rhetorical. “I don’t want to be here.”
“Maybe he thinks he can tempt you.”
I shake my head. “It doesn’t make sense. Why would he come after Adelaide if he wanted the henchmen dead? Didn’t Parker kill them?”
The parking garage attached to Capital City Suites has a few parking spaces to spare. I park near the elevator, hoping to make a quick getaway as soon as we’ve got Adelaide safe.
Alex shudders. “Yeah, I watched him do it.”
“And they’re dead?”
“As dead as you can get, Tommy.”
I nod as I turn off the vehicle and step into the cool night air, my tongue curling over my lower lip to play with the piercing that’s no longer there. Alex stands before me with concern in her eyes as she adjusts the collar of my shirt. “I miss that lip ring.”
“I thought you would like me without it.”
“I miss biting it.”
A medley of emotions burns in my chest as I clutch her waist and bury my face into her neck. “If we weren’t on a mission…”
“Later.”