Page 53 of Ghost Among Lies

"Sloane and I will need the plane, so for the time being, you'll use a safe house until we're done with the Astors. Nyx will meet you there with Sasha while Hayes gets to work."

"What about you two? You'll need a cleanup crew as well."

Sloane tipped a small smile my way. "Don't worry, Hawk will provide one. They won't be as good as you, but they will get the job done."

That was my fear. Hawk had great cleaners on their payroll, but now that I was back in Sloane's life, I wanted to be the one ensuring she was safe, and there was no trace she committed a crime.

"Give us a minute." I grabbed Sloane's hand and walked us into the next room. As soon as we were alone, I sling-shotted her around so her back was against the wall, and I was crowding her space. "I need you to promise me you're going to be careful."

She brought her hand up and cradled my cheek. Her eyes softened in a way I hadn't seen since we were teenagers. "I promise I'll be careful. Anita and I aren't reckless. Actually, now that I think about it, I should be asking you to promise me since you're paired with Nyx. She likes to go off the reservation when the opportunity presents itself."

"I'll be fine. I'll clean up any mess she makes. You're the one who has to rely on someone who isn't me."

Sloane smiled. "This isn't my first rodeo. I trust Hawk to have our back and to send someone in who's competent. You have to trust them as well. But I can promise you after this, you'll be the only cleaner we use."

I brought our foreheads together. Her promise would have to be enough for now. If this relationship was going to work, I needed to trust that she could handle herself. And considering she did a pretty good job of it up until now, I needed to worry less.

I wouldn't stop worrying completely but I could do less.

Hopefully.

"I love you, and I'll see you soon. Don't let Nyx give you too much of a hard time. Busting balls is her love language, but sometimes, she takes it too far."

I smirked. "I can handle her, and I love you too." I brushed my lips across hers. I kept it light even though I much preferred to claim her. I wanted there to be no question who she belonged to.

"Sloane, we need to move," Anita barked from the other room and broke up our moment.

I followed a smirking Sloane back to the entryway. I gave her one last kiss and was prepared to watch her walk away until the sweetest little boy came running into the hall hollering. "Wait!"

Sloane turned around and got down on one knee just in time for Benny to smack into her and nearly topple her over. It was a good thing Sloane had great reflexes. "Are you leaving already?"

"Just for a little while. I have something to take care of at work, but I promise I'll be back, and when I am, we can take some time to get to know each other. How does that sound?"

"Pinky promise?" There was so much hope in those two little words. "Ms. Cassie always says it's bad luck to break a pinky promise."

Sloane held up her pinky. "Ms. Cassie's right. I pinky promise I'll be back."

There was no way the moment didn't tug on everyone's heartstrings. Sloane and I weren't the only ones invested in how the situation turned out.

Eventually, Anita and Sloane left. Once Lilith, Cassie, and Benny were settled in, Nyx and I slipped out as well. We had more time until we could hit our target, and apparently, Nyx was going to spend that time annoying the shit out of me.

I was going to regret saying I could handle her.

"Do you ever shut up?" I finally had enough. We were going on ten hours together, and the fact that I hadn't strangled her yet was a miracle.

The first eight weren't horrible. We were tasked with getting the safe house together with supplies since we would be bringing Cassie, Benny, and Sasha here while we waited for Sloane and Anita to return.

Then I suggested some downtime because sleep would be sparse once things got rolling. Depending on how much of a mess Nyx made, my job could take a couple hours or several. Either way, I preferred to nap when the opportunity arose.

But now, we were waiting in the vehicle for the go-ahead to enter the Robinsons’ home––they were the couple tasked with keeping Sasha from her mother––and Nyx was driving me up the wall.

"Not usually. I've been told in the past by men that shoving their cock down my throat is the best way to keep me from talking."

"Jesus fucking Christ." I rubbed my temples. "That's a visual I didn't need right now."

"No one said you had to picture it. I was just stating a fact. You're the one who had to go and make it weird."

I sputtered. "Me?" I pointed to myself. "I made it weird?" Then I turned my finger around on her. "You're the one who's spent the last two hours saying the most random shit to get a rise out of me. Well, congratulations. You found the right button."