AllFreeNovel
Share Us
QUIN
HE’S A CRIMINAL. He’s a criminal. Are we shocked? I glanced at Colt and his muscles and his sexy tattoos and the death lingering in his eyes. No, we are not even a teensy-weensy bit shocked. Am I married to a mobster? Wait, we’re not legally married. I?—
“Princess, breathe,” he said, giving me a squeeze. I shivered because the warehouse was chilly inside, which I was sure wasn’t helping out our neighborhood clothing police. I hoped his ass was numb from the wooden chair. He looked a lot less high and mighty stripped down. His ribs stuck out and he was way too skinny. His suit had been doing him a lot of favors.
Colt left his arm around me, and I probably shouldn’t feel safer that way, but I did. He rubbed his hand up and down my arm and dropped a sweet kiss on my cheek. A warm puff of air tickled across my skin, and I shivered, which made him hug me even closer.
Royal came over with my pink messenger bag and the stuff from the perfume shop, and my heart leaped. I held out my hand, but Colt took my belongings from Royal, then slid the strap of my bag over my shoulder. He held the perfume while I situated the bag until it was comfortable.
“I’m so happy this stuff wasn’t lost forever. Thank you!” I smiled up at Colt, then gave Royal a wave since he’d rescued my things.
Royal shrugged, waggling his bold eyebrows. “I had to fish them out of a dumpster behind the shop.”
Anger zipped through me and I glared at Mr. Allard. Not only was he a bigot who wouldn’t let me shop in his store, he’d trashed my things. “What a grade-A piece of hot garbage,” I murmured.
Royal grinned.
“What’s his first name?” I glanced between Royal and Colt, but neither one of them seemed to know.
“One second.” Royal held up a finger. With a skip in his step, he went over to the guy, then belted him in the stomach. Colt startled, almost as if he realized he could do the same thing, then went over, snatched the bag off Mr. Allard’s head, and punched him square in the nose. There was a sickening crunch of bones. I would’ve thought this type of thing would be awful to watch, but I couldn’t think of a better person to see it happen to.
“What’s your first name, dickhead?” Royal asked with a bright smile.
“John,” he shouted with a sob.
“You’re an asshole, John,” I called over.
Colt punched him again, and I didn’t feel even the tiniest bit of remorse, and then he strolled back to me as Royal took over beating Mr. Allard.
“What’s in your bag, Princess?” Colt asked, staring down at it like he was excited to know. Lifting a shoulder, I pulled out a pretty bottle of perfume with white flowers on the cap. I popped the top and spritzed myself with the floral scent, and Colt growled.
“Oh, that’s good.” He buried his face against my neck, giving me a teasing little kiss. “What do you want me to do to him?” Colt asked, shooting a death glare at good old John.
My cock plumped and I gasped.
Colt brushed his thumb over my lips, and I couldn’t help but notice the blood on his bruised knuckles.
“Are you a bad guy?” I murmured.
He raised his dark eyebrows and didn’t say a word, and then we both glanced at John as Royal belted him again in the gut, and Mr. Allard started coughing.
Colt grunted. “Never to you.” He slid his arms around me and pulled me in for a hug, and while I rested my cheek on his chest, I listened to his heart thud soothingly under my ear. Colt shifted against me, and I thought maybe Colt had nodded at Royal because he punched John’s jaw, his chest, and then walked around and slammed his fist into his rib cage. I flinched each time John cried out.
Should I be upset by this?
Colt was a criminal, I knew it, but what Mom did was damned close to fraud. She was calculating. She married men and took them for a wild ride without seat belts. She gleefully burned through all their cash. And I’d been more than happy to let her do it once I’d realized what was happening. I’d been about fifteen when I’d figured out we were only a murder away from being on a podcast with creepy music—and I wasn’t sure if she would take out a husband or someone would end up killing us.
Colt could’ve done it. A chill ran down my spine.
No, I wasn’t an angel, but I didn’t think I was the same kind of bad guy Colt happened to be, either.
“Stop,” I murmured. “I can’t kill anyone.”
“Royal,” Colt called, shaking his head.
He backed off, raising his hands in the air, and whistled while he strolled a few feet away. This clearly wasn’t bothering Royal, but there was blood dripping from John’s mouth and he was crying.
“You won’t kill anyone,” Colt said soothingly, rubbing a hand up and down my back. “You don’t need to lift a finger. I’m your husband and I do the dirty jobs.”
