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“Holy…” She covered her mouth, but when she caught Castillo watching us, she pulled it together. “Fine, sell me, so I can make their life a fucking hell.”
“Excellent.” I waved for Alejandro to look after her then made my way across the room to Chili.
“Should I be worried?” he breathed as I got close.
“I was going to ask you the same thing.” I raised a brow at him.
“After you left yesterday, I had a visitor.”
“Oh?” I jerked my head to look at him.
“I did. One of Castillo’s men wanted to extend an invite to tonight’s event.”
“Oh, did he, now?” I glared in Castillo’s direction. Chili was my buyer. I’d found and sourced him, and we’d worked together for years. In our world, that meant something. You didn’t mess with buyers and sellers. There was an unwritten but well-defined law for it.
“I’m not sure if it was a coincidence that he showed up the same day as you did, or he wanted to let me know that he knew you would be here. Nonetheless, I accepted the invite. I’m just keeping a low profile.”
I shook my head at a sudden realization that my control could slip away on this entire thing.
“Let’s just get through this.” I ran a hand through my hair. I looked over at Lexi, who still had her eyes glued on me. I also noticed that Grim Gates hadn’t taken his eyes off Lexi. I didn’t like the way I felt protective of her, so I gave myself a shake and kept my distance.
“She’s an attractive woman,” Chili said, more as a concern than an observation.
“Yeah,” I looked away, “I’m afraid she is.”
Ty
“Live or die. The elements are always against us, whether or not you see it, feel it, or sense it. It doesn’t matter. It can creep up on you if you aren’t on your toes. Death waits for you where you least expect it. Our playing field shows no mercy, and as your leader, neither will I.” Cole fought to keep his voice strong, to talk us through this exercise. Our muscles screamed to shut down and lock in place. “Black, are you with me?” Cole shouted.
“Where else would I be?” Black shouted back, his voice strained with the effort.
“Keith?”
“Yeah.”
“Lopez?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Irons?”
“I think,” Mike yelled through a clenched jaw. He ran a hand over his bald head and blinked hard a few times to clear the water from his eyes. The wind blew ripples across the water and lapped at our exposed skin, and our blood ran cold as we fought the elements.
Cole continued to check in. “Moore?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Beckett?”
“I’m just glad I can see what’s under me.” I threw a choppy chuckle at Moore when I caught his eye. He knew exactly what I referred to. This was immensely better than the dark water we used to hide in.
“It was a hell of a lot warmer, though.” Moore’s teeth chattered as he spoke.
“I almost feel bad for sipping hot coffee.” Ivy grinned at Mia as they both basked in their enjoyment at our discomfort. Mia kept a close eye on us to make sure she could step in if needed. Steam from the barrels filled with hot water taunted us. They were so close by on the bank, but this was a test and not one I was willing to fail.
“Laugh it up, ladies,” I shook my head at Mark then shot a tight grin at Ivy, “but I’m coming for you, sweetheart, to get warmed up.” Ivy’s mouth dropped for a hair of a second, surprised that I so openly showed affection to her in front of the others. I didn’t care. She was mine, and they all knew it, anyway. Besides, just having her this close helped heat up my insides.
“I can outrun you.” She winked, and I heated a little more at the thought of how fun that would be.
