by Tate James
“Done,” Zed replied, squeezing Lucas’s shoulder again. “I’ll order from Massimo’s on the way home and cancel our meetings for tonight. Dare can drive your car.”
Nodding my agreement to all of that, I climbed out of Lucas’s lap and offered him a hand up. He just gave Zed a watery smile, though, nodding to the cherry-red Mustang in the driveway.
“My car, huh?”
Zed rolled his eyes but didn’t deny it as he headed back down the driveway to the Ferrari.
Lucas wrapped his fingers around mine, letting me pull him up to his feet and lead him over to the car. He hesitated as I opened the door, his eyes going to the coroner pulling out from the curb and a teary-eyed Claudette wringing her hands near the road.
“I’ve got it, Lucas,” I assured him. “Just give me two minutes, okay?” I gave him a gentle push to get in the passenger seat, seeing the signs of shock all over him. The sooner we got him home, the better.
He gave a numb sort of nod and didn’t protest as I closed his door. Hating that I needed to leave him for even a minute, I hurried back across the front lawn to where Claudette was still staring after the van.
She snapped back to focus as I approached, though, sniffing away her tears and straightening her shoulders.
“Hades, sir,” she croaked. “I’m so sorry about all of this. I had no idea—“
I shook my head, cutting her off. “I’m not blaming you, Claudette. I met Sandra; I fully believe she would have figured out a way even if you were watching her around the clock.” Raking my fingers through my hair, I gave a frustrated sigh. “Selfish bitch that she was.”
Claudette’s brows shot right up, and I bit my tongue.
“Where’s Big Sal?” I asked, changing the subject.
The nurse nodded to the house. “Inside. He’s taking it hard. He and Sandra had grown close recently.”
I’d figured as much. So had Lucas. Still, I didn’t have the time or energy to comfort a man in my employment when a man I loved had just lost his mother.
“I take it you can handle all the paperwork, Claudette?”
She nodded swiftly.
“Good,” I muttered. “Send a copy of everything to my office when it’s done. Then ask Big Sal to have this place cleaned out and closed up. Lucas won’t be coming back here.”
Claudette bobbed her head. “Yes, sir. Understood.”
Casting another long look at the house, I padded over to the Mustang, my feet sinking into the damp grass. When I’d gotten his call, I hadn’t paused to get dressed, leaving the house in my men’s sleep shirt and cutoff sweatpants. No bra, no shoes. Hell, even Zed had barely tugged on a pair of sweats over his boxers.
“Hey, you,” I whispered once I was inside the car. Lucas was just staring blankly up at his mom’s house. His uncle’s house. “Want to talk about it?”
He shook his head, and I respected that. I knew all too well how it felt, not wanting to verbalize all those dark, painful thoughts.
So I kept my mouth shut and backed out of the driveway, heading toward home.
We’d been driving for maybe five minutes when he shifted in his seat, turning to look at me with sad eyes.
“Do you ever think about how many secrets just go to the grave? Like... how many mysteries we’re forced to simply live with, no fucking answers, because the last person who knew never told anyone?” His voice was cold. Bitter. I totally understood.
I nodded. “All the damn time.”
He said nothing back to that, just turned to look out his window again, lost in his melancholy thoughts for the rest of the drive home. It made me wonder, though, what secrets Sandra had still been holding onto, what pain she’d been so desperate to run from that she’d rather leave her only son than deal with it. As mad as I was at her for hurting Lucas, I could also kind of relate.
The lights were all on when we pulled back into the garage, and Zed’s Ferrari was already in its usual spot, having beaten us back. Lucas and I got out, and he found my hand with his as we made our way into the house.
Zed was in the kitchen mixing a cocktail for me. For Lucas, he handed over a freshly rolled joint with a flash of a smile. “Stole it out of Cass’s room,” he confessed. “That grumpy bastard gets the best shit from the Reapers.”
Lucas arched a weak smile in return, accepting the gift. “Thanks, bro,” he muttered, then wandered out to our usual spot in the courtyard to light it up.
Zed gave me a long look as he slid my Sazerac over the counter to me. “Despite the pretty face, that kid is tough as nails. He’ll be okay.”
I nodded, giving a heavy sigh. “I feel useless. Nothing I have to say about Sandra right now is kind.”
He gave a one-shouldered shrug, pouring himself a neat whiskey. “Because we have no experience with good parents. Lucas still loved his mom... and that’s not something either of us, or Cass for that matter, can relate to. Our parents were all better off dead.”
If that wasn’t the truth... “What do you wanna do about Veronica, anyway? We can kill her if you want.”
Yes, I was aware the inappropriateness of suggesting matricide when Lucas was grieving his mother’s suicide. But he was outside slouched into a lounge chair blowing weed smoke up into the night sky. And Zed’s mother could still cause problems.
Zed drummed his fingers on the counter, seriously considering it. Then he shook his head. “Nah, not yet. She lacks the spine to take any real swipes at us, and now that her ‘big win’ on your arrest fell apart, she’ll have a hard time getting anyone to take her seriously.”
“Alright,” I agreed, sipping my Sazerac. “The offer is there if you change your mind.”
Zed flashed me a grin, shaking his head. “You’re adorable. Come on, let’s take care of the sad Gumdrop. You can’t kill anyone to make him feel better; you can only be there for him.”
I knew that, but it didn’t stop me from itching to go shed some blood in Lucas’s name. Except there was no one to punish for Sandra’s death. No one to take responsibility. And that sucked.
Lucas glanced up at me with hooded eyes as I approached, then draped his arm around my shoulders when I sat down beside him. Wordlessly, he handed me the joint, and I took a deep inhale before passing it back.
Zed joined us, and we sat in silence a few minutes sharing the joint. Then his phone beeped to announce our pizzas had arrived from Massimo’s, and he went to collect them from the front gate.
“Hey, babe?” Lucas murmured when we finished the joint.
“Mm?” I replied, slouching deeper into his embrace.
His arms tightened around me, pulling me into his lap and turning me to face him. “Distract me. Give me something else to think about. Right now all I can focus on is what a selfish bitch my mom turned out to be, and I hate thinking those things about her.”
I bit my lip, nodding. “You wanna talk about the next name on my list? How we’re gonna kill him? Or...” I quirked a brow and skated, my fingers across the firm muscles of his abdomen, just above his jeans.
Lucas gave me a lazy, high sort of smile. “Death and sex. Your favorite pastimes, huh?”
I shrugged because he wasn’t wrong.
He seemed to consider it for a moment. “Can I ask for both? Is that too greedy?”
“No such thing, Lucas,” I told him sternly, my fingers working the button of his jeans open. I had a pleasant, relaxed buzz going, and if Lucas had asked me to take him to the moon, I probably would have been on the phone to Elon Musk. “Next on our list is harder to get to,” I informed him as I dragged his zipper down.
“Yeah?” he murmured, slouching back into the cushions and tugging on the hem of my shirt, asking me to take it off.
I whipped it over my head, leaving me naked to the waist, seeing as I hadn’t stopped to put a bra on earlier. Lucas hissed out a breath as his warm hands cupped my breasts, his thumbs rolling my peaked nipples.
“Uh-huh,” I confirmed with a breathy moan, “he knows we’re coming for him, so
oner or later. He’s doubled his personal security since I came back to town.”
“Well, this just got more interesting,” Zed commented, dropping the pizza boxes down on the table and giving me a long look.
I grinned back at him. “Lucas needs distracting, Zeddy. Give him a slice of pizza and tell him what we’re thinking for the next name on the list.”
Grinning, Zed dropped back into his seat and flipped open the top pizza box. He handed a hot, cheesy slice to Lucas as I wiggled off his lap and sank to my knees in front of the couch.
“Best distractions around,” Zed muttered, watching with hungry eyes as I palmed Lucas’s cock and ran my tongue around the tip. “Pizza, death, and sex.”
Lucas gave a relaxed chuckle, then groaned as I closed my lips around his dick. “Fuck yeah. Alright, tell me the plan, and make it bloody.”
If I wasn’t already head over heels for this man, that’d do it.
47
Cass arrived home shortly after Lucas had passed out. The combination of weed, pizza, blow job, and tragedy had hit him hard, and his eyes had drooped closed less than a minute after he came.
Zed and I were happy to let him sleep while we talked in low voices, but Cass scowled at us both and picked Lucas up in a fireman’s carry to take him up to bed.
He returned back down to us a few minutes later, a fresh blunt between his fingers and an accusing glare at Zed.
“What?” Zed asked before Cass could say anything. “It wasn’t for me; it was for Gumdrop.”
I nodded, keeping my face as serious as possible. “It absolutely was.”
Cass rolled his eyes, then sat down and pulled me into his lap. “Sorry it took me so long to see your message,” he rumbled to Zed. “Fucking kid had taken my phone to play games while I was sanding woodwork.”
Zed must have filled him in after we’d left Lucas’s mom’s house. I’d been in too much of a panic when we’d gotten the call from Lucas.
“How is he?” Cass asked, jerking his head up in the direction of the bedrooms.
“Hell of a lot better now,” Zed chuckled. “Amazing what a good blow job will do for a grieving man.”
Cass arched a brow at me, and I just grinned. It was the least I could offer, considering how shitty I was at platitudes and emotional support.
“We also discussed our plans for the next three names,” I added. “All three of them are a whole lot harder to get access to, and two of them will make a big splash when the media catches wind. They need to be perfect.”
He gave a thoughtful hum around the joint resting gently between his lips. Lush, kissable lips. As much as I’d like to blame my high for how horny I was, it really had nothing to do with it—and everything to do with how addictive my men were.
“Keep looking at me like that, Red,” Cass growled, “and I’ll want an encore performance featuring my cock in your mouth.”
I gave a throaty laugh. “Like that’s supposed to be a threat. Sounds more like a promise...”
He gave a sultry smile in return, and his fingers dipped below the waistband of my shorts when he shifted me on his lap. “Well, hold that thought, beautiful. I have a lead that might help on one of the names.”
My brows twitched in curiosity. “Yeah? You found an access route?” Because I knew who was next and I knew how I wanted to kill him, and that was what Zed had detailed for Lucas as I’d sucked his dick earlier. But we didn’t currently know how to get to the man.
Cass took another drag, his dark gaze teasing. “Sure do,” he murmured. Then he shifted his gaze across to Zed. “Do you remember that annoying shit whose little brother was harassing Madison Kate?”
Zed frowned for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I know the one. What about him?”
“He wants in with the Reapers. Since the Wraiths were eradicated, he’s got no protection. And he rejected Chase’s recruitment drive, for whatever reason, but now he’s feeling exposed. Wants a new daddy.”
I snickered, remembering when Lucas had called him Daddy Cass. Suddenly that was way funnier than it had been back then, and I laughed harder.
“Ignore her,” Zed said with a wide grin. “She’s high and horny. Guarantee she just heard daddy and thought about you spanking her.”
I squirmed, and Cass’s arm around my waist tightened.
“Is that right?” Cass murmured, his fingers dipping lower under my waistband.
The smile wouldn’t budge off my face. Goddamn weed high. “No,” I lied. Rather unconvincingly, I might add.
“So, Officer What’s-his-face can get us access to our mark?” Zed redirected the conversation back on track.
Cass was such a good multitasker, though. He returned his attention to Zed but slipped his fingers into my panties as he replied. “Yup, I think he can. All we need is one weak link, and the whole chain is broken, right?” He kissed my shoulder. “Angel, you’re soaking.”
I groaned, writhing against his fingers. “I’m well fucking aware of that, Captain Obvious.”
He gave a husky laugh, biting my shoulder gently. “Go wake Gumdrop up. Let him take care of this.” His fingers stroked my throbbing clit, and I moaned. “Remind him that just because his mom is gone doesn’t mean he’s alone. He’s got family, still. He’s got us.”
“Fucking hell, Saint.” I cupped his face with my hands and kissed him deeply. “You’re just a big pussy cat, huh?” I grinned, teasing, but also painfully in love. I kissed him again, then climbed out of his lap with a small wobble.
Zed smirked. “You need me to carry you, boss?”
I extended my middle finger. “Bite me, De Rosa.”
“Before, during, or after that spanking you want from Daddy Cass?” Zed was way too amused. “Because I’m cool with any of those options. How about you, Grumpy?”
Cass flashed a toothy grin and flexed his hand. “Any time, Angel.”
Snappy comebacks eluded me because I was already picturing that scenario—with Lucas added into the mix—in my mind. Oh yeah, I was into that. I just hummed to myself and made my way upstairs to Lucas’s room.
He cracked one eye open, giving me a slow smile as I stripped out of my clothes and slid under his blankets. “How’d we get up here?” he mumbled. “Did I fall asleep again?”
I chuckled. He did have a habit of falling asleep out in the courtyard. “Yeah, Cass tucked you in.”
“Mm.” His warm hands found my naked body and pulled me close. “Suddenly I’m not so sleepy.”
Grinning, I tugged at his clothes. “Good. Me neither.”
We were both lying our asses off and passed out cold still tangled up in each other's sweaty, naked bodies less than twenty minutes later.
The deep sleep of sex and weed only lasted so long, though. Lucas woke up multiple times that night, cold sweat coating his skin and his pulse racing fast. Shitty nightmares plagued him, and there was nothing I could do to stop them. All I could offer was the comfort of my presence when he snapped out of each dream.
He finally seemed to rest easy just before morning, but I was too wired to sleep. So I just lay there with Lucas’s cheek on my chest, his arms and legs wrapped around me like I was his favorite stuffed animal. I lay there, stroking his hair and plotting. It was my new happy place.
Zed quietly slipped into the room with a mug of coffee in hand around midmorning, meeting my eyes as I raised my finger to my lips. He gave a nod of understanding and waited silently as I extracted myself from the Lucas-squid and threw a T-shirt over my head.
“Mine?” I whispered, taking the coffee from him before we were even out of the room.
He grinned and closed Lucas’s bedroom door softly. “Of course. How is he doing?”
I wrinkled my nose, taking a long sip of the fresh coffee. “As you’d expect, I guess. Or better? I have no clue what the standard is on grief. I’ve never lost anyone I truly loved.” My own mother had been the closest, and I was so young I barely remembered her.
Zed shot me a hard look, then pinned me
to the wall and kissed me hard enough to spill my coffee. Not that I cared much. Locking lips with him woke me up better than any caffeinated drink.
“I fucking hope you never do, either,” he told me in a rough voice when he released me. Then he grimaced at the coffee soaking into his carpet. “Head downstairs; Cass has news. I’d better clean this up before it sets in.”
“Your fault,” I teased, sipping what was left of my coffee.
Zed smirked. “Worth it.”
Laughing, I left him there and made my way down to find Cass in the kitchen. He sat at the island finishing off his breakfast and looked up at me with a sleepy, rumpled smile when I hugged his waist.
“Red, you look tired. Lucas keep you up all night?” His eyes were sharper than casual interest, and I heard the thread of jealousy, despite him having sent me to Lucas last night.
I tilted my face to kiss him, then swapped my empty coffee for his half full one. “Not like that. He was having a rough sleep.”
Cass grimaced sympathetically. “We’ve all been there,” he muttered. “Zed tell you the news?”
I slid onto the stool beside him, shivering when the cold seat met my bare ass. “He didn’t. Just told me to come find you. What have you got?”
“I’ve got our access route sorted,” he told me with a sly smile. “Officer Dickhead came through. He’s on protection detail tonight at the Sullivan Hotel downtown.”
My lips parted in surprise. “Tonight?”
Cass nodded. “Apparently our mark has a standing Tuesday-night appointment with a competitor of yours.”
More shock. “Swinging Dicks?” I guessed. Cass nodded again, and I laughed. “No way. Seriously? Shit... I wouldn’t have picked him as the Swinging Dicks type. So, what are we thinking? Switch out the escort?”
He reached out to tuck some wild copper hair behind my ear. “Yep. Our officer looks the other way, and our fake prostitute walks straight into the hotel room unchecked.”
The scenario ran through my mind over and over as I mentally tweaked the details to make it work. Then I shook my head. “It can’t be you or Zed; you’re too well known. Lucas, too. They’ve seen him with me too often now. We will need someone else... someone who can just leave the door unlocked for us and walk away without a second glance before the blood starts spilling.” I tapped my chin thoughtfully.