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Okay, I’ll give it to the guy. That part really did suck.
“And I’m back out. Sorry, Bosslady,” Ryder apologizes. I snort, because honestly, same. I’ve been tempted to add more metal because it really does make everything more sensitive for me and Scar, but the recovery is bullshit.
“I’ve been studying the chip Declan pulled from Jade,” Noah interrupts before things get too out of hand. With the look in Scar’s eyes I can tell they were about to. “I’ve been able to replicate it so we can actually embed these directly into our skin. No piercings needed.”
Declan cocks his head to the side as he considers it for a moment. “That has my vote,” he says.
Scar pushes out her bottom lip in a pout. “I was looking forward to seeing some new metal. It didn’t have to be your dicks.” All three guys waiver and I burst out laughing.
“You know this is a better plan,” I chastise her. Piercings can always be taken out, even if we purposely pierced places that would most likely be overlooked. This is more full-proof. Her bratty ass knows it too.
Her pout stays firmly planted on her lips though as she grumbles back at me that it just isn't the same. I grab her and pull her to my chest. “Don’t worry, Ladybug. I’ll keep mine in even if you don’t need to use it to track me anymore.” I look up to give the guys a smug look. “We all already know I make you come the hardest anyways.”
She spins around and slaps my chest, but she isn’t fooling anyone. Especially not me.
Noah chews on his lip and I can tell he’s debating the pros and cons of getting pierced just for her now. She definitely holds that power over all of us. It doesn’t change the fact that Noah’s idea not only works better but we don’t really have the time to be messing around with piercings right now.
Every day is full of plotting, searching for Ciar, tracking Romano’s movements, training, and preparing to close down Steel Roses and building Poison.
Declan narrows his eyes at my taunt. “While some of us don’t need the help from a piece of metal to make our girl feel good,” he jabs back. He doesn’t give me a chance to argue before continuing. “Anyways, I can insert the chips from home. Little invasion, minimal recovery. It’s the best option.”
“Fine,” Scar huffs as she pulls out of my arms. Leaving me as the one pouting now. She looks down at her phone. “Do we have everything we need?”
“Not quite, but almost,” Noah answers her.
“Okay, the video was sent to Romano?” she clarifies. Noah nods and she follows up with another question. “Response?”
“None, but we know we will get one,” Luca answers as he walks into the room.
“Okay, I need to call Charlene to check on the kids and Jade. ”
She walks out of the room, already putting her phone to her ear. I guess it’s a surprise she’s even waited this long without checking in on them.
“How do we think Romano is going to retaliate?” Ryder asks.
No one has an answer for him. It’s impossible to be sure. But Scar was right, there’s no way he’s going to take it lying down.
“William seemed certain that he would make a big move to show his strength,” Luca says after several moments of heavy silence.
“Do we think this was enough to push him into that?” Declan questions. “Or just enough to push him into trying to hit us back harder?”
Again, none of us can say for sure. We sit in tense silence as the possibilities hang over us. All of us lost in our own thoughts as to what might be coming next. Too scared to speak any of them into reality.
Scar walks back into the room to find us all sitting there quietly. She scoffs, but there’s no real heat behind it. I can tell immediately she knows exactly what we are all contemplating. The joking atmosphere has completely evaporated.
“Romano is still in his cocky ass phase. I don’t think even what we accomplished last night will push him into realizing we are stronger than him. I think he’s going to make a point to seem undaunted. He’s going to keep hitting us though. I think we just have to wait and see how he chooses to do that.” Scar looks at her nails, refusing to meet any of our eyes. “We need to be careful about where we’re seen now.”
There it is. Her only acknowledgment about Steel Roses. She’s been avoiding talking about it ever since we first talked about shutting it down. She may have agreed, but she’s kept us all from pulling the trigger on it. The best we’ve got is that she has agreed to not go there anymore. No more meetings, no more performances, not even going to work or get lost in the crowd.
“What’s the plan for training this week?” Ryder’s attempt to change the subject is less than subtle, but successful in making Scar’s lips twitch. He could tell exactly what she didn’t want to get brought up. The rest of us trade looks but Luca discreetly shakes his head. He’s not going to push it. Not for now anyways. We will just have to increase security there and hope that’s enough for the time being.
“We are sticking to pretty much the same routine. Jade and Britt will be running the tunnels, lord knows they need to practice.” Everyone snorts in agreement. They’ve been doing the routes that Scar has mapped out for them for several weeks now, ever since the break in with Ciar, but they still manage to get lost at least once a week. Usually two or three times. Considering they only run four times a week, it’s definitely a problem.
“Jade needs to keep practicing with weapons. I’ll probably have all of us go to the range at least once this week. I wonder if Britt has ever shot a gun before? We also need to find time to go check out the progress on clearing out the damage from Romano’s attack and meet with the contractor about building Poison.”
“No rest for the wicked?” I tease her.
She snorts in amusement. “I guess not.”
