“Back off, let me explain!”
Micro held up a hand and they paused.
“I’m waiting. You look like you were hit by a train.”
Lenore blew on her knuckles and faked taking a bow, or at least as best she could with those huge fucking arms holding her back.
“Why, thank you.”
“Wanna tell me what’s going on? We got the heads up from Lissa that you were under attack, and-”
“You fucker! You were chatting up another woman, while the one you brutalised was in the hospital?!”
Micro laughed, turning to hold up a hand in her direction.
“You wanna give him a minute to explain himself? If he hurt anyone, we’ll all take a piece of him, but if he was flirting with another brother’s old lady, he’s already dead anyway.”
“Old lady!” She screeched, a sound that was blissfully silenced by a large, meaty palm over her mouth, but he moved it a second later with a low curse.
“Biting’s for the fucking bedroom, woman.”
“Yeah, it is,”someone muttered, and a few scattered chuckles followed.
“Can I just fucking talk?”
They all stared at me, and fuck me, my stomach felt bruised from the inside out. I rested a palm against it as I tried to take a full deep breath, something I was realising I’d stopped doing since I got up.
“Think you cracked a fucking rib or something,” I grumbled, groaning as she smirked at me.
“Okay, here’s what happened, okay? Glory burned herself cooking, I rushed her here, and apparently Cujo over there thinks that means I’m an asshole.”
She lunged at me again, but the big guy held her back.
“Aw Cujo. He’s not wrong, sweetheart, you’re so fucking savage.”
“I swear, if they start making out, I’m out of here.”
“Nah, that’s Seb’s thing, not mine.”
Deadly silence fell, and I had no idea why. Who the fuck was Seb, and why did that immediately have Micro, Harley, and Rocket all on edge. Oh wait, Grease was making his way stealthily through the crowd, and his hand was tucked under his jacket. Did he bring that fucking golden gun I’d heard so much about? I was a little curious about it, but it wasn’t really the time for show and tell.
“Who’s Seb?” I asked warily, wondering how my night turned into a fucking circus sideshow.
“Our boss,” the big guy said, following it up with, “I’m Marco Cardini, and this is Lenore. We work for the-”
“Bennetts,” Micro finished grimly.Who?
“Jesus, how the fuck are those assholes involved in this?”
Lenore suddenly started laughing. “You’ve clearly met them before,” she said to Micro, who grimaced.
“Too many of us have now. What’s the connection here?”
And it was all a big coincidence apparently. The charity was something that Lenore worked for, along with big Marco, and a bunch of the other enforcers for these crime lord bosses of theirs. Bennetts. Didn’t sound so dangerous to me, but you know what? All I cared about was inside that building.
“I need to go check on her. Can we… is this done?”
Lenore glanced at Marco, and then gestured to the hospital entrance.
