Notes:
Sorry this chapter is late. My male cat developed a UTI and apparently they can be fatal, so I had to take him to the emergency vet and then carefully watch him use the litter box for the next several days to make sure things were “coming out okay.”
Milo
Ray picks up on the first ring. “Talk to me.”
“I keep running into competition, Ray. What do I need to know?”
We’re speeding away from the cabin as fast as I dare. Lucky for me, I suppose, that Florida has the worst drivers I’ve ever seen. Erratic behavior behind the wheel isn’t necessarily the giveaway it might be elsewhere. Still, the last thing I need is anyone asking questions.
Not while I’ve got a recently bandaged bullet wound and a suspicious hole in my pant leg.
There’s a rustling sound on Ray’s end of the phone. “There’s definitely another contract out on your guy…”
My guy.
“…all I’ve been able to find out so far.”
“Oh yeah? That’s great. Thanks Ray, I really appreciate that useful information. Here’s the thing, though.” The edges of the phone are biting into my hand. “I alreadyknewthat because after I took care of a guy outside his apartment, two guys showed up at our alleged safe house and tried to kill us. Do you have anything that’s actually useful right now?”
Beside me, Rowan flinches at the rising rage in my voice. I force myself to take a breath. For all the good it does.
Ray only grunts. “Someone’s cranky.”
I glance over to the passenger seat, where Rowan is trying to make his enormous body as small as possible. He’s curled in on himself, his arms wrapped in a protective hug, his eyes staring blankly at the road. None of his usual sass in sight.
He’s been visibly shaky since we left the cabin.
Honestly, I’m worried. And I don’t like having to worry.
Damn right I’m fucking cranky.
While Rowan and I ate dinner together after we fucked, an unfamiliar panic seized me. I couldn’t kill him.
Maybe it was never an option. I made the decision when I chose to kill the man attacking him in that hotel room. When I let him get away without really trying to stop him.
But now? Now, I’m fucked.
There’s no undoing how badly I’ve screwed this job. Or how stupid it is that my brain shouted at me to protect him in the aftermath at the cabin. Stupid or not, I’m unwilling to sacrifice him to a rich asshole’s whims.
I know what my services command. Whoever paid for not one but at least two hits on him is a wealthy son of a bitch. Rowan may not know how he got on someone’s bad side, but whoever it is, they’re not fucking around.
My fingers twitch with the urge to reach out and touch him. To, I don’t know, comfort him or something. Except comfort isn’t my strong suit and I’ve already got one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the phone.
I’m not putting it on speaker for this conversation. Rowan’s upset enough.
“At least they weren’t trying to kill you,” Ray offers unhelpfully.
“Come on, Ray. Really?”
“Milo, you and I share an ex. I know what you’re like. Half the men you’ve fucked out there are probably looking for arepeat, and the other half definitely want you dead. It’s not only possible, it’s likely.”
“Not in this case.” I get serious.
“No. There’s definitely a second contract.” He’s quiet for a minute and so am I. It’s dark, we’re on a lonely stretch of rural road, and the directions Jalen gave me for where we’re going sounded sketchy.
The place you’re looking for looks like a big-ass haunted house,he said.Guess beggars can’t insist on not sharing accommodations with a poltergeist. Is that how it goes?
