“What’s wrong with them?” he asked, almost to himself, sounding confused.
That was interesting.
He saw it too.
They were deteriorating fast.
He pushed off the ropes and turned his back to me.
A woman detached herself from the wall and came toward me.
Biddy.
Her hair was messy around her shoulders. Mascara smudged. It looked like someone had a wild night.
“You don’t look as scared as you should be, cheerleader bitch.” She sneered.
“I’m not scared,” I replied, keeping my face blank.
Her eyes flicked to Red, then Bubba. “They ain’t right. Did you see anything while y’all were on the road?” She turned her attention to me and asked reluctantly.
“Maybe.” I was trying to decide how this could best fit into my plans.
A cough ripped through the crowd. Someone snapped for the guy to shut the fuck up. Things were going bad fast.
The air felt tight and too hot.
Then the side door opened.
I didn’t look up immediately because I was still finalizing everything in my head.
I felt him first.
The noise shifted around him. Subtle, yet instinctive. Like men unconsciously stepping out of the way of something stronger.
I’d felt this before, in another warehouse just a few days ago.
When I finally lifted my gaze?—
There he was.
Floodlights carved him from shadow—broad shoulders, black hair, green eyes, shoulders held back in arrogance like he already knew how this would end. His jaw was set, and his eyes were on me.
There was blood on his knuckles that I wasn’t surprised in the least to see.
He looked dangerous.
And so very much alive.
God help me, he looked unfairly handsome standing under that light like he’d been built specifically for this kind of world.
For a split second, the noise dulled.
Those green eyes looked at me like nothing else in the world existed. Like I was the only fixed point in a room full of variables.
Heat flickered low in my stomach; unfortunate, inconvenient, but undeniable.
This was a warehouse full of armed men, several of whom were on the verge of becoming those things we’d seen yesterday. And all I could think was:Mine.
