Hero and Mason had shown up on their bikes next, Zack and Kane not far behind them in another car.
“You sure you’re fine?” Rook asked as they got closer to me.
“For the millionth time, yes, I’m fine.”
He shook his head, glancing at me once before he stopped to face her. “Great, then tell me what the hell you were doing here?”
Now it was her turn to look at me. “I was here to learn more about Anderson. One of our informants thought he had more on him and I didn’t want to bother any of you in case it was useless information.”
My eyes narrowed. What a perfect little liar.
“We can talk about why that pisses me off later. How is Aiden here to call us if you were alone?”
I raised an eyebrow at her, but she seemed speechless.
“I’m taking my bodyguard role seriously lately,” I said, the casual tone not matching the way I felt. “I’ve been trying to stay on top of her and her antics, and while I didn’t come out with her tonight, I was trying to stay close. I got lucky tonight. Not lucky enough, but I got here as fast as I could.”
Rook’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded. “I want to agree with the not fast enough, but she’s here and alive so it will have to do tonight.”
“Rook, don’t even act like Aiden was slow about it,” Evie said. Pride filled my chest—I loved when she stood up for me. “He came and finished the guy off.”
“And don’t even act like I won’t put someone on your ass every second of the day. We’ve already had threats, Evie, and you think meeting random fucking people in garages is a good choice?”
“No, but the only way to stop the threats is to figure out who is sending them. I can’t sit behind a computer all the time.”
“No, but you can also have someone go with you anytime you need to go investigate. That’s not even a suggestion—that’s a fucking command—because there is no way I am losing you to this asshole who is trying to scare us.”
Evie glared up at him, but I knew there would be no comeback. She would never fight Rook about safety. After they lost their parents, they only had each other. It was the main reason she didn’t fight Rook about having me watch over her.
Hero swung off his bike, nearly hitting Harper, who sat behind him. Harper slid to the side, swinging off seconds after him.
“She’s going to make me wreck. I’m done riding with her.”
“I didn’t make you almost wreck,” Harper shot back, handson her hips. “You were trying to show off with your dumb tricks, and I reacted like any sane person would—by not dying.”
“Aww, you can ride with me, baby,” Mason said with a grin. “I’m a better rider. Nothing you could do could make me wreck.”
“Good fucking luck. I swear she’s a damn curse.”
I shook my head. Ever since Hero had met Harper and she hit him with a bat by accident, he swears he’s always getting hurt around her. The track record wasn’t exactly in her favor because Herowasalways getting hurt when she was around, but I was beginning to think it was Hero being a little more distracted when she was around, more than Harper being some type of curse.
“Maybe that’s the universe trying to tell you that you’re an ass,” Harper said, a grin spreading across her face as she crossed her arms and stepped away from him.
“Or maybe you’re cursed and trying to kill me.”
Harper shrugged, bringing out her most innocent smile. “When you say it like that, it’s not that far-fetched.”
“Can you two knock it off? We are kind of in the middle of something.” I waved to the body.
Hero glanced over at me, rolling his eyes and pulling an apron from his pocket.
“An apron? Seriously?” I asked. “Are we baking or cleaning up a body?”
“I’m good at both, so whichever you prefer, but yes, an apron, I like this shirt,” Hero said, looking down at a black button-up shirt and black jeans. “That and I have to go out after this and would like to not be covered in blood this time. Are you gonna stand there all night staring, or are we gonna wrap this body up and get out of here?”
I sighed, grabbing the roll of plastic from Mason.
“Definitely the body one.” Mason grabbed one side of the plastic, laying it out. “Because that’sobviouslywhat I’ve been dreaming of doing tonight—wrapping up a corpse.”
