Page 67 of Mile High Heist

“Why?” I whispered, hating myself for playing into the game. “Why would he want me?”

Kuro stepped forward, looking every bit the snake that he was. “Are you ready for that secret now?”

No, my heart whispered.

Once I knew, there would be no going back.

Maybe it was already too late.

“Tell me,” I rasped.

He smiled. “What do you know of The Duchess?”

19

JAX

We found the cargo hold in record time, but that presented a new problem. Of course it fucking did. It wouldn’t be my life if I could just walk up to the door and open it. There had to be lions guarding the gate.

“Big guy on the left. Ponytail,” I muttered to Madoc. “Smaller dude on the right. Ugly blue suit.”

They were Vipers sitting guard, making sure nobody ruined their little escape plan.

Madoc said nothing, but I knew he was listening. Knowing him, he’d already clocked them and planned their deaths in his mind. There was some comfort in that, even though I probably depended on him too much.

It was easy to forget that Madoc was human. I was reminded of it by the bruises on his face, the split in his lip that he licked every few minutes.

I’d been tempted to do something stupid, like tackle him, ever since I learned how close he’d been to that bitch and her venomous ring. But Madoc and I didn’t do that. We didn’t talk about feelings. Not unless one of us was shot, and even then, I suspected Madoc only tolerated it.

I told myself one of these days I’d sack up and just do it. Bear hug him until he gave in.

But I’d crossed that line before. And we hadn’t talked about it since.

We definitely didn’t have time to talk about it now.

“I’ll take ponytail,” I said, pretending to reach up and fiddle with the overhead. “He deserves to be killed for that dead fucking raccoon he calls hair.”

Madoc smirked and reached into his pocket. I glanced between us quickly, watching him take out what appeared to be a snapped pen.

“You’ve had that the whole time?” I asked him, frowning.

“I’m never without my knives.”

“Why didn’t you use it to stab that vicious bitch in the cockpit?”

Madoc gave me his usual blank look that made me wonder if we were all just fleshy apes to him. “We weren’t evenly matched,” he said after a minute.

“So?”

“It’s not fun if they don’t believe they have a chance.”

I supposed in Madoc-logic that made sense. It was even honorable in a way.

Me? I would’ve jammed it through her skull the moment she laid a hand on him.

“Ready?” I asked him.

“Don’t ask stupid questions.”