“To kill my father.”
His expression tightens. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
I hug myself. “What about after the ball? Do I go home with Gabriel?”
“I won’t let that happen. If we can’t find the evidence to get his ass arrested, we’ll provide a distraction.”
“What distraction?”
“A wealthy campaign donor who’ll demand his presence in another city. Gabriel will need to fly out after the ball to make that meeting”
“What if he wants me to go?”
“I can always go ahead and kill him,” he offers.
“Is this where I object?” I ask weakly.
He cups my face again. “We’ll drug him and put him on a plane. He won’t remember telling you to stay behind. We’ll pull the plan together. We got this. You and me and a hell of a team.”
I ball my fist on his chest. “Don’t hide things from me again, Rick Savage.”
“I wasn’t hiding things. You heard a question that I was asked. You didn’t hear my answer. I would have told them what I’ll tell them now. We tell you everything. I am not hiding things from you. I won’t hide things from you. You have my word.” He strokes my cheek. “And I won’t call you Candy unless I’m ripping your panties off and making you scream for me, not at me.”
“That would be smart,” I assure him, and somehow we laugh, but it fades quickly into the uncertainty of the battle before us that leaves me antsy to do something helpful, to do something that makes a difference. I twist out of Rick’s arms and march into the hotel room, walk through the dining room where Adam, Smith, and Adrian are all working. I don’t stop there. I go to the bar, grab the mini vodkas the hotel has stocked in the fridge. When I would return to the dining room, I find Rick in my path.
I grab his hand and shove one of the vodka bottles in it. “Drink. Remember where you put the evidence that ends Gabriel and gets him out of our lives.”
“Vodka makes me forget, baby.”
“I’ll make you remember. Think about Gabriel touching me. Think about him kissing me. Think about—”
“Don’t say another fucking word.”
“Drink the vodka, Rick.”
He cups my head and kisses me, before opening the bottle and downing the vodka.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Savage
I drink the vodka because, for whatever reason, it makes Candace feel like she has control. I don’t, however, tell her just how much vodka it takes to make me forget. I don’t plan to be drinking that much ever again. I don’t plan to forget any moment I have with her for the rest of our lives. Fortunately, once we’re at the table, and Asher returns from his room, we begin working through my list of jobs I did for Tag. This stirs Candace’s obsession with looking through the photos she’d taken in her father’s office that might somehow relate in some way.
The day flies by quickly, with a collage of photos and names going up on the wall, bags of chips and cans of sodas, cluttering our workspace.
Asher doesn’t hide out in his room to coordinate the extraction now that Candace is in the know. He stays with us and tells us all as he works through the Iraq extraction. It’s about half-past yet another pizza, otherwise know as nine at night, before Asher finally confirms that an extraction is doable.
“Per Blake, Walker is funding the full extraction,” he informs us. “I talked to our man on the ground and he’s got a team in place. We’re working through the logistics, but Blake thinks we need to make his landing spot New York City, where our team can protect him.”
“Thank Blake for me please,” Candace says, and then looks around the table. “Thank you all. I know this isn’t a job you’re being paid for you. You’re doing this because Rick is your friend.”
“He’s our brother,” Adam corrects, meeting my stare. “And you know it.” He glances at Candace. “Which makes you a sister.”
“Thank you, Adam,” she says.
For once, I don’t have a jab to take and I’m not looking for one, either.
“Brothers from another mother,” I reply, giving Adam, and the whole lot of these assholes looks of silent appreciation before I squeeze Candace’s leg and add, “And you can thank Blake in person when we go to New York next week.”
“Next week?” she queries.
“Yes. Next week. Because one way or the other, we leave after the ball.”
“But Gabriel—”
“Will be gone, one way or the other. If he’s not arrested, we’ll keep him busy. And you need to see your father.”
“I do,” she whispers. “I do need to see him.”
I kiss her hand. “And you will. We’ll be there when he arrives.”
Her eyes water and she kisses my hand now before she stands up. “I need to freshen up.”