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Luca rolls his lips, obviously thinking the same thing I am. “The fights.”
Mikey’s hands land on Luca’s shoulders, grin firmly in place. “You guys have a new nickname.”
Luca pinches the bridge of his nose but I’m starting to feel their bemusement.
“Apparently we have a new nickname,” Luca huffs.
Mikey and Ronan trade grins. “We’re thinking about changing the shops’ name. Bleeding Roses Ink has a nice ring to it.”
I lose my battle to my laughter at that.
Luca throws me a glare. “Do you realize how insufferable Scar is going to be when she realizes this?”
That only makes me laugh harder. Especially now that I know how this whole thing started. All the more reason to brand ourselves as hers.
“So who else has gotten it?” I ask.
“Holden, Ian, and Ty all plan on coming in this week.”
“Damn,” I murmur.
My phone rings, cutting off my thought before I respond. I answer as soon as I see it’s Scar.
“Baby girl.” She hesitates before saying hey back and I know she’s aware I’m less than happy right now.
She didn’t necessarily do anything wrong, but none of us are ever going to like her running missions alone. Even if we’ve decided we can trust Rachel and Alec, they don’t count. They aren’t one of us. Don’t train with us. Haven’t ever worked with us in that regard. It was a risky move to go into a plan so under prepared with a team she’s never worked with before.
However, it isn’t something I want to discuss with her over the phone. Especially not when I realize she’s calling for some interference. I grab my laptop out of my backpack and get to work on what she needs. Something in her voice sounds off as she talks to me, but I don’t question it.
The sooner I get this done for her, the faster she can finish this and get back home. It doesn’t take much effort to get into the CCTV and loop some footage that will hide her presence, but it does take more than a minute. She stays on the line and I can hear some chatter, but not loud enough for me to make out.
“Alright. All good to go, baby girl,” I tell her. She thanks me and hangs up, just as the others walk into the shop.
“What was that about?” Luca asks.
The others also have curious expressions on their faces so I tell them about my call with Scar and what she wanted.
Declan and Kade trade looks. “Are they just getting there?”
I hadn’t thought to ask her, but now that they mention it, it does seem strange. We knew that she was going to hit traffic and it would take longer than their run would, but for them to not already be there when the others are not only done, but here?
“I didn’t ask and she didn’t say,” I answer.
“Can you watch the security feed?” Luca asks, staring down at my laptop.
It doesn’t work like that though. I looped the footage which means the cameras won’t be recording anything new. “I could watch before she called me, but that’s it and it only covers the entrances and common areas.” I think about the way she sounded, I rub the back of my neck with my hand.
We aren’t known for being the calmest bunch, especially when it comes to our girl. Should I tell them that she sounded off? That there’s an itch between my shoulder blades telling me something is wrong. Maybe not catastrophically wrong, but definitely not right.
“No need,” Mikey interjects just as I’m pulling up the security feed. “She texted me where they dropped the car,” he pauses as he checks his phone. “They’ve been there for at least fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.”
As one we all turn to Kade, he has the most experience working at her side. “Why would she call for interference after already finishing the job?” Ryder asks. Kade chews on his lip as he runs through the possibilities in his mind, systematically crossing each one off the list.
While he thinks, I observe Ryder. I heard about the crash he experienced. I can only guess that Scar was using this run as a boost in his confidence as well as training to not rely on her. From the looks of it, it worked.
There’s not a single sign of an adrenaline crash from him. He’s a little more amped up than normal, but only as if he had a good amount of coffee. Not like he’s been doing lines for three days straight.
“Mother fucker,” Kade curses, drawing me out of my thoughts.
