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“Anything else?” Blake asks.
“Nothing.” I say and when no one objections, Blake says, “More soon,” and hangs up.
I stand and walk away from the crew, entering the kitchen to lean on the island, chin low.
“You okay?”
I glance up to find Adam on the other side of the island. “I was deep undercover. I lived it with Waters or I died.”
“You think anyone here is naïve enough not to know that?”
“It changes how you look at a person, seeing what they can do.”
“We all have our dirty laundry, man. You know that.”
“Right,” I say, but there is nothing right about where I let Waters drag me. I push off the island. “I’m going to get some shut-eye.” I head toward the door and once I’m in my room alone, I sit down on the edge of the bed. The devil, the King Devil, is in the details, my details, and he means to drag me to hell with him. I should have killed him while I had the chance. At least two witnesses would still be alive.Chapter TenADRIAN
I’m up at 5 AM and dressed in gray sweats and a basic navy T-shirt, ready for a run. I exit my room and find the house quiet outside of Lucifer monitoring the security feed at the dining room table. “Coffee’s ready,” he says. “Savage covered me last night. He just went to catch some z’s.”
I nod and keep walking, entering the kitchen on a path to the back door only to find Adam, looking as ready for a run as I am, leaning on the counter with a cup in his hand. He sets it down and straightens. “You’re running,” he says. “I’m running.”
“I’m in,” Savage says, appearing in the kitchen as well.
“No,” I say. “The three of us are going to draw way too much attention. Both of you go to bed.”
“Fuck,” Savage grumbles, scrubbing a jaw sporting a two-day stubble. “Right.” He eyes Adam. “He’s right. We’re all so flipping hot and handsome, everyone will notice. And I’m as tired as an eighty-year-old grandma who baked a cake.”
Adam grabs his cup. “I slept. You go sleep, Savage.”
Savage, looking weary, doesn’t argue. He rotates and I call after him, preparing him for what I know is coming, what’s been weighing on me all night long. “You’ll have to kill Deleon to beat him, Savage. You get him first or he’ll get you.”
He half turns and winks. “I’m always first. And now to bed. I do my best killing with at least four hours.” Savage disappears into the other room.
I eye Adam and his SEAL Team Six moral compass of gold. “Got anything to say about that?”
“Yeah,” he says. “We running or not?”
In other words, we’ll talk about our contrasting morals when it comes to murdering assholes later. Right now, this is his way of being here for me. And considering he’s more of a silent type than a lecturing type, which works for me.
I give him a nod and we step outside into the sixty-something muggy morning, a perfect time to finish my workout before Pri heads out for hers. And she will. There is no question in my mind that Pri will take her ritual run this morning even if she most likely went to bed spooked and saying she wouldn’t. It’s a control thing, a need to feel as if the enemy can’t take what is yours and familiar. The way a runner might use running to steady herself, to convince herself she’s strong enough and brave enough to keep fighting a big bad wolf. I just hope like hell I can convince her I’m not the wolf.
Forty-five minutes later, Adam and I complete our run and we’re out of sight, but present when Pri exits her house for her run. I feel this punch in my chest at the sight of her that I don’t understand. Forcing my gaze from her long legs, I glance at Adam. “I need to be at the coffee shop when she gets there.”
“I’ll cover her,” he says. “I’ve got her back. And yours. Go. Sweep her path forward. I’ll follow her.”
I nod, and take off, my mission to clear her a safe path.
By the time she’s done with her run, I’ve left her with Adam’s protection, and I’m in the coffee shop with my MacBook in front of me, sipping a coffee. And just as I expected, she walks in the door. And holy hell, I saw her running, but right now, seeing her here now, in pink shorts, her long athletic legs as bare as her make-up free face, she’s so fucking beautiful. Obviously, I have a thing for her legs, but damn it, what is it with me and this woman? I’ve known my share of beauties, but none of them kept me awake at night thinking about them the way Pri does. None of them linger on my lips the way she does. I tell myself it’s about the case, it has to be about the case. We’re connected in a common cause. We’re connected by the King Devil and there is no way that ends well.
