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Or worse.
I had to remember that these people practiced methods of worse on a regular basis. There was a reason I’d been sent here, after all. I wasn’t government in the technical sense — probably because they didn't want an assassin in so many words on their books — but I was adjacent enough that I generally worked on the side of moral, for what the word was worth.
In this case, even I could see that the ring I’d infiltrated was very, very immoral, and there was only one thing to do for it.
I itched to pull out the knife I had concealed and jam it into someone’s throat. It would make me feel better after the pictures and videos I’d studied while learning about the group.
“Come on then.” Nick led me to the door, but he stopped and stared at me instead of punching in the passcode. “Well?”
I pulled up short and forced my expression into something confused. “What?”
“I need to search you for weapons.” The leer on his face told me he’d been waiting to say it, waiting to see my reaction. It was the only reason I schooled my features into something calm. “You understand, right?”
“Sure. I’m not stupid enough to bring anything with me, though. I’d rather get out of this alive if it’s all the same.” I kept my voice bored, impassive, and I hoped my bluff wasn’t going to blow up in my face. The last thing I needed was for him to find the knife, though I was pretty sure he wouldn’t. If I’d learned anything watching this place, it was the fact that Nick wasn’t actually thorough in any way that mattered.
He tilted his head and grinned, then gestured to the wall. “Hands on the door, Clay. And spread your legs.”
The surge of anger spiking in my chest was easily hidden as I walked to the door and pressed my hands to the cool metal. I just had to deal with it. After I did, I’d see what was on the other side — I’d get to who was on the other side, and I’d be able to wash my hands of this job.
Those hands would be full of cash, and I wouldn’t be angry that it was stained in blood — it was blood that I was more than happy to spill… starting with Nick, if I had any say in the matter.
I turned my head to the side and took a deep breath when I felt him step in behind me, still ignoring the instinct I had to whirl around and show him exactly where my blade was hidden.
My eyes slid closed as his hands lit on my ribs and started to feel along my stomach — I wasn’t stupid. He was just touching me because he could, and it made my skin crawl.
I didn’t realize there was another sensation at first — it burned along my nerves and made me feel like fire was licking at the edge of my senses. When I opened my eyes, I realized where it was coming from.
Jayce stood across the room at the car he’d been working on, but he wasn’t looking at the exposed metal. He was looking at me, and his blue stare scorched like the center of a flame. His gaze tracked where Nick slid his hands up across my chest and intentionally brushed my nipples — under the weight of his scrutiny, I couldn’t stop the way it made my face pull in distaste.
Tattooed knuckles clutched the hood of the car hard enough that I saw blood trail from his palm. There was no reason for him to react like that, unless he was deeply offended by seeing someone being taken advantage of.
If that was the case, he really was in the wrong building. The wrong business… and probably in the wrong neighborhood. Almost everyone I’d seen was involved in this particular crime ring.
When Nick slipped his hand down my hips and his palm grazed my cock, Jayce pushed himself from the car.
Either he didn’t see the way my eyes widened, or he intentionally ignored my head shaking back and forth in the slightest warning. He needed to back off. I didn’t need some white knight coming to save me. I didn’t need —
“First aid kit?” He held his palm up in front of Nick’s face, and my eyes tracked the blood that slid in a rivulet down the curve of his wrist to paint his tattoos crimson. Nick’s hands shot from my body and he took two quick steps back.
“Shit, Jayce.” I turned and almost laughed. Nick looked a little green around the gills. “You know I can’t fucking stand blood. Check the office.”
“It’s not in there,” he answered simply. His eyes flicked to me, and then back to Nick.
“Fuck, I —” Nick groaned and punched the numbers on the keypad. When the door swung open, he shoved me forward, then ducked in after me. It took me a second to realize he was grabbing a kit from the wall. This had obviously been a normal basement, once upon a time. It made sense that something like that would be there. He half threw, half thrust it at Jayce with another groan. “Clean that shit up. God, make sure it’s not on the car.”
Jayce clutched the case to his chest and nodded, and Nick turned to push me down the stairs without looking back.
He didn’t see the way the embarrassed smile on Jayce’s face faded the second he turned… and he didn’t see the cool winter that replaced it.
I did see the way he dropped the kit into the doorway before the heavy metal had a chance to swing shut.
I shook my head at him, my brows snapping together — I had no idea what he was planning, but it wasn’t anything I needed to deal with. I was about to unleash my irritation on everyone in that damn basement… and I didn’t need a mechanic messing that up.
The slow shrug of his shoulder told me he didn’t care about my silent warning.
The way he flung his hand, intentionally spattering blood across the floor, told me I was going to have a problem.
Chapter 2
