Up in Flames (Rosemary Beach 13)

If I did decide to go to Vegas, I wouldn’t hunt Gannon down. I’d just see if he would find me. That was sane. Wasn’t it?

“Deep thoughts?” Blaire asked, looking at me as I stepped into the house.

I could talk about this with her. It made sense to get her opinion. Or someone’s opinion. But I was worried that the opinion would be to leave him alone and move on, and I didn’t like that opinion.

Not even a little bit.

“It’s a guy,” I blurted out, surprising myself and Blaire, judging by her wide-eyed expression. We weren’t close. We had learned to coexist because we loved Rush and Nate. But as for being buddies, I never saw that happening. Some bridges were too burned up to rebuild.

“Then he must be special,” she replied, closing the door behind Nate and me. Nate let go of my hand and ran toward the kitchen, calling out that he’d get the milk.

“He is,” I confirmed.

Blaire nodded. “Good. It’s time you found special. You deserve it.”

Those words weren’t all-powerful or magical or anything. But I wondered if the bridge between us wasn’t as unsalvageable as I thought.

Major

He moved quickly.

The landlord stood at the door to my apartment with two cops, waiting while I packed my bags. It appeared I was being evicted for a number of reasons that were false, but there was no sense in arguing. This was Cope’s doing. Not the innocent landlord’s. I would have called Cope, but my phone service had also been terminated.

This wasn’t for me. I didn’t like Cope. I hated the motherfucker. I’d go my own way. They didn’t want me to work for them. Hell, I’d fucked up an easy job. If Nan hadn’t been so damn needy in the beginning, I would have been able to reel her in. The woman wanted me just to herself. I wasn’t a one-woman man. Never would be. Couldn’t get tied down when I wanted adventure.

There had to be plenty of operations like DeCarlo’s out there. Preferably one without a Cope in the mix. He ruined all the fun. Every ounce he squeezed. I doubted the man had been laid in ten damn years. DeCarlo needed to get his right-hand man a stripper to ease him up some. Release that tension that radiated off of him.

Picking up my one duffel bag, I gave my short-term home a nod and headed for the door. “Well, it was fun, folks. Don’t let all this Rosemary Beach excitement and danger become too much for y’all,” I quipped, as I walked out of the place with a smile. They were puppets, and they didn’t even know it.

I wasn’t a puppet, though. Not any longer. This gig blew. I needed something better. One with guns and shit. Not females who were too needy.

When I looked toward my truck, I saw an empty spot where it had once been parked. Shit. They’d taken my vehicle, too. What did they expect me to do, walk?

A familiar truck pulled into the drive, and I could see Captain behind the wheel. They’d called him and sent him to get me. Great. I guessed they figured he had to clean up his own mess. Me.

I walked over to the passenger side and climbed in.

“Hey, guess you’re the welcome wagon,” I said as I set my bag between us.

“They were going to send someone else. I offered to come. Told you this wasn’t something you’d like.” He had warned me a couple of times, but he felt I was hard-core enough to handle it and be a deadly weapon with my pretty face. Those were his words, not mine. Although I did like my face. He hadn’t been wrong to assume that.

“Can’t work with Cope,” I said.

“Cope is a master. You failed because you couldn’t stay focused on the job.”

Fine. He loved fucking Cope. Whatever. “Nan is a bitch. You try and stay focused on one woman who is a raging bitch.”

Captain glanced over at me. “She wasn’t a bitch to you last time I spoke with you. She was all about you. You pissed her off with your man-whore ways, and the bitch came out like it does in all women. So you failed.”

I didn’t feel like arguing. He was going to win. “This wasn’t the kind of job I signed up for,” I grumbled.

Captain laughed. “Hell yes, it was. You liked the idea of chasing a hot tail around. You thought it sounded like fun. You failed, Major. Admit that shit.”

Fine. I failed. I had to eat that and deal. “Doesn’t matter. I’d never be able to work with Cope. He’s a bastard.”

Captain nodded. “That he is. Never knew his dad and was kicked out on the streets at ten by his junkie mother. That’s all DeCarlo has told me about Cope. And that wasn’t until recently. Copes a mystery to everyone. He has no soul. Hes a god in this world, though. He can’t be killed. He can track like a motherfucker, and he is brilliant. Speaks ten different languages and taught himself how while living out of Dumpsters. He is the only real badass. You’ve made him an enemy. You shouldn’t have done that.”

Great. Now I had to worry about the genius multilingual psycho killing me. “If I disappear like he told me to, won’t that save me?”

Captain shrugged. “I don’t know. No one knows what Cope will do next. But stop pissing him off. DeCarlo is surprised he’s let you live this long. Now, I am done with this world. Only came to get you because I owed it to them. I got you into this world, and it was time to pull you out. They’ll find you and give you an ultimatum. Do whatever you must to live, and then walk away.”

That was his advice? Peachy. “Got it. Where do I go now?”

“Mexico,” Captain replied, then pulled over just outside the Rosemary Beach town limits. “Good luck.”