Wife For Him (Volkov Crime Family 3)

I reached out suddenly, not thinking about it. I put my hand on his shoulder and looked at him, not sure what I was thinking and not sure why I cared—it wasn’t like it mattered to me if he was angry with himself.

“I know that,” I said, voice soft.

He grunted and glanced at me, then tilted his head and gave me his gorgeous smirk, the one that pissed me off and drove me wild.

“Don’t worry, little dove. You’re in good hands.”

I pulled away and rolled my eyes. We lapsed into silence again, but this time the tension seemed to break, which felt like a win at least.

He stopped a few minutes later in front of a boring row home. Enrico and Aldrik came out moments later and hopped into the back. I turned back to give them a pleasant smile, and Enrico frowned in my face.

“Glad you’re tagging along,” Enrico said, although he didn’t look anywhere near glad. “Boss, we still on schedule?”

“We are indeed.” Reid put the car back into gear and began to drive.

I tried to ignore Reid’s two guys but they were impossible to miss. Aldrik kept shifting from side to side like he couldn’t get comfortable and Enrico’s scowl looked like it might melt the side of the car in half—and I wondered if they were angry about my presence, or if they were pissed off about the job we had to do. I wasn’t sure which was better though, since on the one hand they disliked me personally, and on the other we were going out on some bad mission that even Reid’s own guys didn’t want to do.

“Job’s simple,” Reid said, his voice soft, breaking the dense silence. “We’re picking up a package and dropping it off somewhere else, just like last time.”

“Minus the ambush,” I said.

“Hopefully.” Reid smiled a little. “Although I brought these two along just in case. They’re more than up for a fight.”

“Up for a fight?” Aldrik snorted. “I live for a damn fight. It’s in my blood.”

“Only thing in your blood is cocaine and STDs,” Enrico said.

“Asshole.” Aldrik glared at him. “The fuck you talking about?”

“Now, now,” Reid said like this was a regular occurrence. “We don’t need you two bitching at each other the whole ride.”

Aldrik fell into a sullen silence—while Enrico seemed strangely happier than he had been before.

Reid pulled out front of a nondescript house in the middle of Locust. It was a main street with lots of traffic, and the car was pulled over to the side, the hazards on, double parking by some poor Mini Cooper. Reid craned his neck, squinting up at a house with a black door, then looked at Enrico. “Get up there and knock.”

“What, you’re not doing it?”

“I brought you along to take care of this shit.”

Enrico rolled his eyes but got out and jogged up the stoop. I watched as he knocked, waited, and stepped back when the door opened. A man with short hair and a scruffy beard poked his head out, disappeared inside, then returned with a large duffel bag. It looked heavy and Enrico staggered as he took it from the guy and carried it back over to Reid’s car. He shoved the bag into the trunk then hopped into the back seat again.

I gaped at the men for a moment as Reid lazily pulled back out into traffic. Enrico carried a bag full of what I assumed were drugs, probably meth, or maybe crack or heroin or something very, very illegal, right in the middle of the day, with old women walking their dogs, men in their suits and ties hurrying along with their briefcases swinging in their hands, guys with tattoos on their legs riding their bikes—and cops on pretty much every corner. They did it in broad daylight without a care in the world.

“That’s it?” I asked as Reid swung the car south.

“That’s it,” he said. “Just like last time. It’s supposed to be pretty damn easy when things go right.”

“When things go wrong, they go really wrong,” Aldrik said. “Catastrophically wrong. Lots of gunshots. I guess you know that already.”

I frowned back at him but I felt Reid’s anger. “Would you shut up, asshole?” he snapped.

“Whatever, boss,” Aldrik grunted and looked out the window.

Enrico grinned huge and looked delighted. I got the sense that the only thing that made the tall man happy was to see his bald counterpart get yelled at or insulted. That probably didn’t make for a great working relationship.

Reid rubbed his face as he slowed at a stop sign then kept going. “I told you last time, I like to get out and make these runs, let the guys see my face. It’s hard to work for someone you never know or see, that’s just a name whispered in back alleys. I want them to know who I am—and know that I’m a real man that carries a real gun.”