Page 57 of Lethal Attraction

New Guy’s surprise quickly fades to boiling rage as his face sets and his scuffed jaw twinges. “Brooks knew better than to send only one person after you.”

“Oh, yeah?” I tilt my head with amusement playing across my features as I drop the body at my feet with a wet slap. “And I’m going to send each of your nuts to him in a nicely wrapped gift box so he can suck them in his spare time.”

The man’s eyes narrow before the corner of his mouth twitches. “Your friends seem nice. Would be a shame if they didn’t make it out of here alive.”

Red.

I see fucking red.

If they saw me with Reed and his friends, then that means the last guy is still out there, monitoring. It’s time to go and get them as far away from here as possible.

The only person ever allowed to hurt Reed is me. And I’m going to keep it that way.

I shove my knee up, quickly retrieving the nail file from my boot before pointing it at the chest of my victim. “Wish I could say the same for you. Your head would look so adorable mounted over my fireplace.”

I charge him, going for an obvious move that makes him lift his hands in defense before I drop to the floor and slide between his legs. I use my momentum to kick up, successfully smashing his family jewels before I hook my ankle around his and take his legs out from under him. He falls forward so sharply that he doesn’t have the chance to catch himself before his nose crunches against the tiles with a sickening sound.

“Ouch,” I hiss, pulling my lips over my teeth as I sit up beside him.

There’s only a split second of pain on his part before he rolls, extracts his gun from its holster, and aims at my face.

I stab him. With the nail file. In the meat of where his thumb meets the rest of his hand.

His eye twitches with the pain as the gun falls to the floor. I’ll give him credit because he doesn’t make a single sound as he glares at me with blood dripping down his face.

“You might want to get that checked out!” I shout as I scramble away, closing the bathroom door behind me. My arms swing at my sides as my spine straightens, and I burst out of the connecting hallway. My eyes ping off every surface until I find Reed back at our table with Taryn and Emma.

“There you are,” Emma says as I near them.

I grab Reed’s elbow, hoisting him up as I spot the last guy across the bar. “Time to go.”

“What’s wrong?” My date whispers with concern as our final friend notices me and rises from his booth.

“I need you to trust me right now,” I urge Reed, all playfulness leaching from my face. My hand tightens around his thick bicep in a plea.

There’s a knee-jerk reaction from him—concern morphs into question, but he doesn’t push me as he motions for Emma and Taryn to follow us. They grab their coats and I practically push them outside.

“What’s going on?” Taryn asks, throwing a glance back at me.

I pin her with all the seriousness I can muster, channeling my inner Rowan as I guide them towards my car. “I’ll explain later. We’re taking my car.”

Emma frowns. “But what about—”

“Later,” Reed says as he presses a hand to the small of my back. “We’ll come back for our vehicles in the morning.”

He glances down at me, and I see an array of emotions in him that I’m not fully prepared for. He has no idea why I’m rushing them away from our nice night out, but he’s trusting me. And I think that’s the most insane part of this.

He trusts me.

Fuck, I could kiss him right now.

Okay, maybe a little making out once I successfully bury these fuckers alive without exposing my secret. Easy peasy, right?

“I’m right over here,” I lead them to my car, which is parked on the opposite side of the lot. As we move, I keep an eye on the door of the bar, my heart leaping when it swings open and our friends step out into the night with every intention of ruining the good mood.

Reed notices my reaction, of course he does, and turns to follow my gaze. “Do you know them?”

The assassins stalk closer, and my buddy from the bathroom yanks the nail file out of his hand before tossing it to the gravel.