Page 63 of Brooks

“Are you pouting?” I laughed.

Even in the dim moonlight, I couldn’t deny how good-looking he was. I had to admit, I was a little disappointed that his promise of helping me forget seeing Sefa – or Ashaki as it were – making out with whom I thought were her father and brother, had been interrupted.

“Men don’t pout, Doll.”

“It sure looks like you are.”

“Why don’t you just announce to the entire neighborhood we’re here?”

I pinched my lips together in an effort not to laugh at his obvious attempt to deflect. He was totally pouting because he wasn’t getting his way and I wasn’t going to stay by his side like he wanted.

He walked a few steps ahead of me and my mind went straight into the gutter. He had a great ass. It was firm, and I remembered how his muscles had flexed under my hands as I held on while he was on top of me thrusting deep. I had to have been the craziest woman alive. There I was, walking down a dark street with the possibility of death looming over my head, and all I could think about was how I hoped I’d get to have more sex with Brooks.

It’s good to know I had my priorities in order.

Not.

Chapter 26

I watched as Tatiana disappeared into the shadows and wondered if there would ever be a time she’d do as I asked. My step faltered mid-stride as a very uncomfortable question hit me, would there even be a next time? Would she continue to work for Z Corps after this mission or would she… be on her way? Surely she wouldn’t go back to working for Leon Brown. The douchebag was up to something.

Who gave the order to have the firing pin removed from her weapon, making it completely inoperable, remained to be seen. Maybe the whole kill order was bogus and he was testing her loyalty to him. It was a plausible scenario; tell her there was a mission shift, it was top secret, and send her out with the intention of actually having her kill Sefa. It was dangerous and stupid but not beyond the realm of possibility for an asshole like him. Or was he trying to get her killed?

All the fine hairs on my neck stood on end and dread coated my gut. Fuck.

Before I could turn, the barrel of a gun was pointed to the back of my head.

“I would’ve thought the stupid bitch learned her lesson,” a thick Middle-Eastern accent spoke from behind me. “The prince doesn’t like people—”

The sound of suppressed gunfire took me by surprise. A millisecond after I realized I hadn’t been the one hit, I swung toward the sound and saw Tatiana still had her weapon aimed at the dead man on the ground.

I yanked my phone out and took a photo of what was left of the man’s face. It was debatable if Garrett or Tex would be able to run a facial recognition trace, but I’d rather I had something to give them. I patted the man down, took his phone, and as I was straightening, I noticed a tattoo.

“Fuck.”

“What?”

“He’s Omni,” I said, pointing at the peacock feather tattoo.

“How do you know?”

Not having the time for a lengthy explanation, I gave her the basics. “We had trouble back in the states. All the men who worked Omni had the same peacock feather tattoo. Let’s roll before we have company.” I picked up the gun with two fingers, trying to preserve any fingerprints we could pull.

Without a word she followed me back to the car down the street. Even with a silencer on her sidearm, I’m sure we’d woken a Nazari or at least a few of their neighbors. Contrary to what most people thought, a suppressor did not silence the sound of gunfire. It merely stifled it—barely.

“What the hell was that?” she asked once we’d gotten into the car. “How the hell did he know where we were?”

“Good fucking question. Call Declan, would’ya?”

She pulled her phone out, and after dialing, lifted it to her face. A few seconds ticked by before she ended the call. “No answer.”

“Dammit.”

I slammed the gas pedal to the floor. We made it back to the area the condo was in half the time it should’ve taken.

“That van’s new,” Tatiana said.

“New how?”