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Asher hums his acknowledgement. “Any real work on the house wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. They’ve been keeping real quiet since they got here.” He turns off the highway and into a residential area. “There’s a wall that encloses the back part of his property line. That’s how Elle, my friend,” he stops to explain but Scarlett waves him on. “I’m familiar with who Elle King is.”
His brows furrow as he turns to look at her. “That’s how she and the others got in last time. Climbed over the wall and walked right through the back patio. The doors weren’t even closed the last time.”
Kade leans up and sticks his head between the two front seats, assessing Asher. “And how did you get in?”
Asher pulls the van into an underground parking lot of an impressive building and pulls into a designated space next to an elevator.
“I went through the front door,” he answers with a cocky grin as he shuts off the van and jumps out of the seat.
As we all climb out, Kade gives him an appraising look. “You’re not so bad for a kid.”
I roll my lips as I watch Asher’s eyes narrow yet again at the word choice. This time though, he doesn’t hold back. “Call me a kid again and I’ll choke you with your intestines.”
The threat only makes the dopey grin on Kade’s face grow wider.
Scarlett beams at him. “Aww, you’re adorable,” she praises. And though it should sound condescending, it somehow doesn’t feel that way. Asher drops his glare as a blush rises on his cheeks, making Scarlett smile again.
Ryder nudges Noah, scoffing. “They really are twins. I’ve seen her do that.”
She turns to flip him off. “I didn’t choke him with his intestines,” she defends, looking to Asher. “Play with a guy's intestines one time and all of a sudden you’re a psychopath.” The corner of his lips twitch as he leads us into the private elevator that takes us to the top floor.
“It’s definitely happened more than one time,” Kade whispers as the doors open to lead us straight into the penthouse.
She rolls her eyes and follows Asher to where we can get serious and actually plan this mission out. He checks his watch again and looks straight to Scarlett and says, “Elle and her friend, Linc, will be here any minute now. She’ll want to know what the plan is. Having to clean up after the Italians has made her even less trusting of others in her town.”
Scarlett rolls her lips and I know she’s holding back from calling him adorable again. “Don’t worry about the cleanup. We’ve got that covered.” The elevator door opens again and Tyler leads in Rachel, Joe, and Holden. Rachel detaches from the guys and moves to Scarlett’s side, her earlier jitters clearly returning.
Asher observes her. “How do you feel about explosives? I might know a guy who could take care of it.”
Of course he does. They’ve got their whole own little crew down here.
Scarlett shrugs. “Why not? Less work for us.”
“I keep liking him more and more,” Kade faux whispers to Ryder.
As the two begin to insult each other back and forth, Rachel creeps closer to Scarlett’s side. The adrenaline of what’s to come is getting to her, but based on the grief in her eyes, I think she’s missing Alec more than ever.
The air is knocked from my lungs as I picture what her last moments with Alec must have looked like. They were all together, no doubt razzing each other just like we all are now. I’m not the only one who notices as Scarlett reaches out and grips her hand in hers and squeezes. Asher clocks the action, but doesn’t comment on it. Thank fuck. I’m not sure how Rachel would react if he did.
Before anything gets out of hand, Asher pulls out the blueprints of the mansion we’ll be visiting shortly. Scarlett and he start to scour over it, noting down the height of the wall, number of doors and windows.
Scarlett looks down at Rachel’s feet and smirks. “Gonna have to ditch the heels for once.”
Rachel hesitates for only a second before pushing the sadness away and scoffs. “You really think I couldn’t scale that wall in my Louboutins?”
“I mean, do you want to?” She raises her brow in question and I have to agree with her on this one.
“Probably not,” Rachel concedes. “But I definitely could.”
“I like her,” a new voice says as a girl with blonde hair walks into the room. She must be about the same age as Asher and I assume this must be the Elle King they mentioned in the car. Behind her is another kid. Does everyone in this town have light features? His hair isn’t as blonde as Asher’s or Elle’s, but it’s not brown either. Sharp green eyes are partially hidden behind his glasses, but I can see the intellect in them as his heavy gaze weighs on each one of us. Never thought we would find such an interesting group of kids here.
Both women turn towards the newcomer and appraise her silently, sharing an intrigued look. Scarlett drops her gaze to the knife openly strapped on Elle’s thigh. She nods, a small smile playing on her lips. “I like your knife,” she says in greeting.
Elle takes a moment, studying Scarlett back, before she responds slowly, “You can’t go anywhere in this town unarmed.” It’s less of an explanation and more of a warning as she looks for Scarlett’s weapons and comes up empty.
Scarlett clicks her tongue. “You can’t goanywhereunarmed,” she corrects, lifting the sleeve of her jacket to show the blade strapped to her bicep.
Asher looks back and forth between the two of them. “Don’t worry, Hells Bells, she’s got more weapons hidden on her than even you do.” His tone makes it clear how much he appreciates that fact. It’s hard not to roll my eyes at the mini psychos. Who would have guessed we’d find a matching set to our crazy here?
