“Obviously we’re leaving Halo,” he says, walking out the door.
I lose sight of Herrin over his shoulder, and I pull back, glancing up at him.
“You don’t want to see that. You’re too soft. I don’t need anything out of that. I just wanted to show you I’m scarier than your father, so you’re safe with me,” the insanely crazy romantic tells me with so much sincerity.
He pushes closer to me, pressing me to the heated wall outside.
His forehead presses to mine, and I watch as his eyes close and he exhales harshly.
“You ever get another gun pointed at you, and I swear I will fucking lose my motherfucking mind and drop any-fucking-body around. That was your one and only get-out-of-jail-free card, got it? Next time, I don’t care who I shoot. The sole goal will be your survival, since you can’t take care of that much—”
I drag him down by his neck, and his lips hit mine hard again, kissing me hungrily, arms closing around me as my tears steadily leak out. Fucking hell, I had no idea just how much I wanted to be with this crazy asshole until…he…came for me.
“Despite appearances, I’m actually a fucking catch,” he murmurs against my lips.
I hiccup out a laugh, and then grimace because this is an extremely inappropriate time to be laughing.
He seems to catch that, and he kisses me softer, before grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the warehouse.
My father is going to die today. It’s a little hollow to realize…I don’t even care.
Chapter 35
RUSH
“Stay here. I forgot something inside,” I tell her, seeing that look in her eyes.
Yeah, she’s completely mine now. Still not worth the fucking gamble.
“You owe me one,” Sarah says from the shadows the second I step inside.
I move toward her in the dusty accountant’s office under the stairs, watching as she sits cross-legged on the desk.
“I figured as much. Don’t get me killed,” I tell her, handing her the card where I’ve written my new number. “You’re the only one who gets that.”
She flashes her grin at first, because she loves feeling special, but it flees quickly.
“Wait, no one else gets your number? She doesn’t have a phone, does she?”
“Don’t judge. I’ll get her a phone. She can decide what she wants to do,” I tell her, already knowing she don’t want no part of this shit.
I’m fucking good with that.
“Are you going to let her have friends?”
“We have a lot to catch up on still. She’ll never see the outside world again,” I deadpan, only partially kidding. Sort of. Mostly. Probably…
“You’re a scary man,” Sarah states flatly.
“Pot to the kettle,” I grumble as I walk on in, spotting Maya. “If you need to cash in on the favor I owe you—”
“I got manhandled. No one told me this was happening. That’s the freaking favor you could have repaid,” she snaps, shuddering as she fans herself. “I had a panic attack, you insensitive fuck!”
“Like Axle would ever let anything happen to you,” I state with a roll of my eyes. “Everyone works out their own agendas. You’re the top of his,” I remind her, sickened by how obsessed those two are with each other.
I mean, have some self-respect and not be all over each other all the time.
Some people.
“That actually makes me feel better,” she says on a slow exhale, covering her heart as she sighs.
Axle walks in, glaring over at me. “Why didn’t you leave them behind when you suspected they’d be here?” he grinds out.
“Because if we’d left them behind, it’d have been obvious we knew something was up, simply because I don’t let her out of my sight for that long,” I remind him with a shrug.
He looks like he wants to kill me.
“How did you hide what a maniac you really are so well?” Axle demands, hands on his hips like he’s been driven to the point of needing the answer to this question.
“I don’t think it was very well hidden. His eyes are really cold. Eve and I talk about how scary he is all the time,” Maya tells him so seriously, as though she’s somehow helping me…
“What?” I ask her incredulously. “I’m scary to you?”
She leans against Axle, and gives me a nod.
She’s fucking with me. I hate it when people fuck with me.
“Crazy bitch,” I mutter under my breath as I turn and walk toward Drex as he finishes saying whatever it is he wants to say to Herrin.
“I just came back to tell your dad I’ll be marrying his daughter. Consider this me paying my respects to the man I hated enough to become twice as cunning and lethal so I could marry his motherfucking daughter. Guess this really is the land where dreams come true,” I quip, seconds before I kick him right across the face, catching him off guard.