Page 138 of Silent Damage

I want to ask what we are—if we’re still friends who fuck or something…more.

But I chicken out. “Is it too cool in here for you?” is what comes out of my mouth.

He nuzzles into my neck. “Nah, it’s perfect.”

“Okay, good.”

Jason, who usually thrashes around in his sleep, lies perfectly still for the rest of the night while he holds me.

Chapter 32

Jason

Abolt of lightning rips through the sky as rain pelts the windshield of the black van. Tobias sits in the front passenger seat, a Glock resting on his lap. His jaw clenches as the van drives the winding road leading to Rhett Parker’s 8,000-square-foot estate nestled deep in the forest of Cattleroy, a rustic town thirty minutes outside of Belmont.

Tobias and four HellCats, including myself, spent the day studying the blueprints of Rhett’s estate, mapping out the different ways to reach the vault in the basement and snatch the necklace.

The van stops about two hundred yards from the lakefront house, and Cash, the driver, looks out the windshield with night vision binoculars.

“There’s a guard posted at the front entrance,” he states flatly. “One at the side entrance, two on the balcony, and another patrolling the grounds.” He pans to his right and adjusts the binoculars. “The dock seems clear.”

“Looks like we’re swimming,” Dexter, the muscle of the operation, jokes.

“There’s a drop from the grounds to the beach,” Max adds (his expertise is picking locks). “If we hug the drop, we’ll be out of sight from the guards.”

Tobias turns to us and says, “Max is right. We can use the rain to our advantage. Visibility is poor, and the guards posted at the house won’t see us if we hug the cliff. I know the dock leads to a boathouse with access to the basement. It’s the most direct route to the vault.”

“What if guards are posted in the boathouse?” I work up the nerve to ask.

“They’ll be cornered, and we have silencers,” Tobias replies.

“The water is rough,” Cash chimes in, “and the beach is just a bunch of rocks and boulders. Rhett’s probably assuming whoever would try to break in that way would just get sucked into the lake.”

“Well, will we get sucked in by the lake?” Max asks.

Cash looks at him in the rearview mirror and shrugs. “Maybe.”

“It’s the best option at this point,” Tobias states brusquely. “We’re going in through the dock. Cash, radio me if you spot someone patrolling nearby and we’ll abort.”

“Will do, boss.”

Tobias turns to the three of us in the back. “Are we ready?”

Not by a long shot.

I nod, and the other two grunt in agreement.

Tobias grins. “Let’s do this,” he says.

We pull on our balaclavas and exit the van. Dexter leads us to the edge of the forest bordering the beach, using night-vision binoculars to make sure the coast is clear. When he gives us the signal, we race from the trees to the beach, crouching at the base of the six-foot drop to catch our bearings.

The forest dirt ends, and the rest of the path to the boathouse is a narrow beach with boulders that give way to the dock.

The lake is wild, waves pummeling us in rapid succession, but the four of us use our gloved hands to grip the rocks. Lightning cracks, and my body shudders in fear, making me lose my balance and nearly fall into the lake, but Max grabs my arms and pulls me up.

It takes forever to trek across the slippery rocks. Each time a wave crashes, we all stop and hold on to a boulder.

We finally reach the dock leading to a covered boathouse attached to the home. The four of us scale the wooden columns, and Dexter and I take the lead, our firearms drawn, as we enter the boathouse to find it empty.