Don't Play With Odin (Trouble For Hire Book 2)

by Cynthia Eden

  But the bullet had missed Odin.

  Steve laughed as he swung the gun back toward Maisey. “Just a warning shot. Wanted to see how scared he would be.”

  The shot had missed Odin’s head by about a foot. The bullet had thudded into the wall.

  Odin didn’t look scared. His blue eyes gleamed with an icy rage that promised retribution.

  Steve shoved the gun’s muzzle into Maisey’s side. He had one arm around her neck, and the other hand held the weapon.

  “Wasn’t a warning,” Odin said. His voice was gravelly. Cold. “You just can’t shoot for shit.”

  Steve’s hold tightened around her neck. “I’ll show you what I can do, you bastard!”

  Odin…laughed.

  Was that a normal thing for him? Did he laugh in the face of danger or something? She should know, for future reference.

  “Why is he doing that?” Heather demanded. She stalked close to Maisey. “Doesn’t your boyfriend get that you’re both about to die?”

  Maisey wet parched lips. “I don’t think he believes that will be the outcome.”

  “He should believe it. We’ve been steps ahead of you all along.” A smirk. “We got you here, didn’t we? Steve suspected your phone was being monitored. Told me that was like, PI 101 or something. So we just made sure that you traced us back here. We wanted you here. We got you here. And—”

  “And what?” Maisey cut in to demand. “You obviously don’t want me to just die here or I’d already be dead. You lured us here because this part of town is deserted at this time. Fine. Got it. But before you go patting yourself on the back too much, you should know that the cops are coming.”

  Heather shook her head. “No, they’re not.”

  “Uh, yes, they are,” Maisey fired right back. Had Odin just taken a step forward? She thought he had. She needed to keep talking and distract Heather and Steve. If she could keep their attention, then Odin could figure out a way to attack. A way that did not involve him getting shot. “We left Clay and told him to call the cops! They are on the way here now.”

  “Clay isn’t calling the cops. He can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Clay doesn’t have a landline. Steve knocked out his internet earlier, and when I was there, I managed to swipe his phone.”

  Maisey switched gears. “He can just get in his car and go for help.” From the corner of her eye, she saw Odin take another step. “Did you not consider that obvious move in your master plan?”

  Heather’s face hardened. “Why would he want to help you? You think he’s a killer. Your boyfriend attacked him. I took his phone as a precaution, but in the end, we both know Clay won’t do a damn thing for you.”

  “Granted…” Maisey lifted her hands and tugged on Steve’s arm. His hold on her neck was starting to hurt. “I did think he was a killer, but he’ll do the right thing.”

  “No, he won’t. People don’t do the right thing. I learned that working with Whitney. Seeing the cases she studied. Give them a chance, and anyone will screw you over.” Her chin notched up. “She was gonna screw me over. Me and Steve.”

  Odin’s hands had clenched into fists. “You killed her?”

  Heather’s head swung toward him.

  Dammit! Why was Odin drawing their attention? Maisey had planned to be the distraction.

  “I didn’t kill her,” Heather clarified with a slight shift of her shoulders. “We just left her to die. There’s a difference, you know.”

  “No. I don’t think there is.” His eyes glittered.

  Steve’s hold on Maisey’s neck tightened even more. “She saw me making a deal. She shouldn’t have even been in that bar, but she was. She saw me, and she was going to tell the dean at Dunson. I would have been kicked out of school. I would have lost everything I’d worked for!”

  “I couldn’t let that happen.” Now Heather’s stare flew toward Steve. “She wasn’t going to do that to him.”

  Right, okay, so…these two had faked the fight scene at the college. It had been a trick. They were a deadly duo, and they had to be stopped. Or else Maisey had the feeling that they would be leaving her to die soon, too…Her and Odin.

  “We waited until she was vulnerable.” Apparently, Heather was in the mood to confess all. A bad sign. “We hit her in the head, knocked her out. Then we made sure she vanished.”

  “How.” From Odin. Not a question. A demand.

  “Steve’s dad has a boat. We took her out, drove as far as we could, then dumped her over the side. She was just waking up,” Heather hurried to say. “So she was alive when we put her in the water. We didn’t kill her—”

  “You just left her to die,” Odin finished coldly. “Right. Heard you the first time.”

  Maisey’s stomach was in knots. “Is that supposed to make it better? That you didn’t kill her with your own hands? Because drowning isn’t better! It’s not like she just slips under the water and that’s all there is!” Rage poured through her. “How could you do that to her? How could you make her suffer like that?”

  “We didn’t.” From Steve. He seemed much more controlled than Heather. Cold. “Clay did. At least, that’s what you thought, isn’t it? And that’s what the cops will think, too.”

  Heather gave a jerky nod. “When I took his phone, I made sure to leave Whitney’s earrings at his place. Those will be part of the evidence we use to nail him for Whitney’s death. Later, we’ll plant evidence that ties him to you, too, Maisey.”

  Because they are going to leave me to die.

  “He’s the perfect fall guy,” Steve said. His body trembled the faintest bit against Maisey.

  He’s not as confident as he appears.

  “Heather found out about his past. Heard Whitney talking one day about how tragic it was. When we needed to take her out, I came up with the idea of just making sure she vanished, instead of having her body turn up.” Steve sounded quite proud of himself. “Knew that if anyone asked too many questions, we could point back to him.”

  And she’d asked questions.

  “When Clay got promoted to her job, it was even more perfect. Suddenly looked like he had a motive.”

  Yes, it had.

  “Didn’t think you’d get a freaking PI, though,” Heather muttered as she cut a glance toward Odin. “That screwed things up.”

  “So sorry,” Maisey choked out around Steve’s squeezing arm. “Didn’t mean to mess up your murder plan. My bad.”

  “Do you think this is some kind of joke?” Heather lunged toward her.

  Steve tightened his arm even more. Maisey couldn’t suck in a breath.

  “You’re hurting Maisey.” Odin’s voice was guttural. “Ease up on your grip. Now.”

  Steve’s hold jerked in automatic response. Jerked, then eased, just for a moment…

  The moment Maisey had been hoping would happen. She knew that Odin had given that order deliberately, and Maisey wasn’t going to waste a second. Odin had taught her how to get out of this exact hold. Granted, a gun had not been involved at the time, but she didn’t have an option.

  Can’t let them kill Odin. Can’t let them do this!

  Heather and Steve thought they could use her to control Odin. They were about to see how wrong they were. No one could control Odin.

  And no one controls me.

  She shoved back with her elbow. Dug it into Steve’s ribs as hard as she could even as she shoved her heel toward his ankle and kicked down hard.

  He screamed and let her go. A reflex. She surged away from him.

  “You bitch!” Steve yelled.

  Maisey saw the horror on Heather’s features and knew Steve was aiming his gun at her. “Don’t shoot her!” Heather yelled. “We’re supposed to dump them like we did—”

  Bam. The bullet exploded from the gun. Maisey froze, but she wasn’t hit. She whipped around and saw that Odin had slammed into Steve. The gun had been tossed toward the desk, and Odin was pounding his massive fist into Steve’s face. It only took tw
o blows before Steve crumbled and didn’t get up.

  Maisey jumped for the gun.

  “No!” Heather’s cry.

  Maisey scooped up the weapon and whirled to aim it at Heather. But Heather had run for the door…only to be blocked by Ramsey and Jinx.

  “What the fuck?” Ramsey glared at Steve’s prone form. “I know that little asshole. He got kicked out of my bar because he thought he could sell his shit drugs in my place.”

  Heather whimpered.

  Ramsey turned his stare back to her. “Who the hell are you?”

  “She’s the woman who killed Whitney,” Odin said as he strode toward Heather.

  Ramsey’s eyes blazed. He grabbed for Heather.

  “Don’t.” Maisey’s yell. “I’m the one with the gun, and I’m telling you all—stop. I want the cops here. I want Heather and Steve going to jail. I want this to end.” But she could see the killing rage in Ramsey’s eyes. “Whitney wouldn’t want you doing this,” she added desperately. “Ramsey, just…stop.”

  Ramsey didn’t see it, but Jinx had moved behind him. She could tell that Jinx was about to launch at the guy.

  “What did you do to her?” Ramsey snarled to Heather.

  “She was alive when I left her!” Heather cried out. “I swear, she was!”

  Alive, but sinking beneath the waves of the Gulf of Mexico.

  Ramsey wasn’t going to stop. Maisey could see it. And she—she couldn’t shoot him. Odin was too close. So was Jinx. What if she hit one of them?

  A wild cry broke from Ramsey as he surged at Heather.

  Jinx grabbed him from behind. Shoved into the nearest wall, and when Ramsey came up with his fists flying, Jinx pointed a gun at him. “Don’t.” Low. “I am not your enemy.”

  “You are now,” he vowed.

  In the distance, a siren shrieked. Either Clay had finally gotten somewhere so he could use a phone or someone had heard the gunshots and reported them to the police. Hell, maybe Jinx had called them.

  What she did know…it was almost over. Odin had just pulled cuffs out of a drawer, and he was slapping them around Heather’s wrists. Heather was crying, saying that it was all Steve’s fault. Steve was unconscious, and from the look of things, he’d probably be that way for a while.

  Odin glanced up at her. “I can take the gun.”

  “That would be great, thank you.” Her fingers were quivering so badly that she was afraid she might accidentally shoot someone.

  He took the gun from her trembling grip. “Baby? You okay?”

  He’d almost been shot in front of her. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  “You won’t. Not ever.”

  The siren’s call was growing louder. “I love you.”

  His eyes flashed. “I fucking love you, too.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Why do you get to be happy?” Ramsey was in the shadows. Away from the cops and the flashing lights and growing throng of reporters.

  It was gonna be another big story. Trouble for Hire had captured two killers. Jinx was currently handling the explanations. Smiling his easy grin. Twisting details just the slightest bit so that Ramsey was left out of the story.

  Maisey inclined her head as she listened to a cop. He knew she was telling him about Heather’s confession. Hell, Heather was confessing left and right to everyone. She liked to keep telling everyone that they hadn’t actually killed Whitney.

  As if that made it better.

  “You get to go off into the sunset with your lady. Have the whole picket-fence ending. The kids. Probably a freaking dog. You get all of that…” Ramsey turned toward him. “And I don’t even get Whitney’s body. I can’t even bury her.”

  There was fury in Ramsey’s voice. On his face. But there was also pain. It was the pain that got to Odin. “I’d be lost without Maisey.”

  Ramsey stiffened.

  “I’d be lost and I’d be furious, and I would want to destroy anyone who had ever hurt her.” He motioned toward Ramsey. “We aren’t so different, you and I.”

  “Yes, we are.” Ramsey turned away. “You get to sleep with your woman tonight. I’ll never see mine again.” He took two steps forward. Stopped. “Make sure Jinx stays the hell away from me.”

  “He was saving you from jail. If you’d killed Heather and Steve, you would have spent the rest of your life behind bars.”

  “Maybe. But I would have also felt one hell of a lot better.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  Ramsey looked back at him. “Why do you get to be happy?” he muttered again. Then he shuffled away.

  Odin exhaled. He didn’t know why he was lucky that night. He did know that he hadn’t been lying to Ramsey. He would be lost without Maisey. When he’d gone down those stairs and seen Steve with the gun to her head, his whole world had stopped. In that instant, he’d forgotten his training. His plans. He’d been helpless and terrified and willing to do anything in order to get that gun away from her.

  Maisey darted away from the cop. Her gaze swept the scene. Odin knew she was searching for him, and he hurriedly stepped from the shadows. Thunder rumbled in the distance. A storm was coming.

  When she glimpsed him, relief flooded across her delicate features. She ran toward him. He caught her. Pulled her close. Felt her warmth and softness.

  You get to sleep with your woman tonight. I’ll never see mine again.

  Ramsey’s words rang through his head. Odin held her tighter. Maisey was alive. Safe. He had her in his arms. He would be sleeping with her that night. That night and every other night that followed.

  He had no idea what he’d done to deserve her. He didn’t know why he got a happy ending. But he would never let anyone take that ending from him. He would never let anyone take Maisey.

  “I love you,” he said, and the words were natural. Easy. He didn’t stumble. Didn’t screw up and say something stupid. He just told her how he felt.

  Maisey was his world. He loved her.

  He loved her.

  ***

  There were explanations to give. Statements that had to be taken by the cops. Maisey spent more hours than she could count at the police station. Odin was by her side. Jinx was there, too, in an oddly helpful mood with the cops. Giving smooth replies to everything.

  She didn’t mention Ramsey. Neither did Odin or Jinx. Steve hadn’t seen him, as for Heather…

  Well, she’d been talking plenty so far. She’d confessed to attacking Whitney and leaving her to drown in the Gulf. She’d admitted that Steve was the one who’d tried to abduct Maisey at the college. That Steve had been the one to shove the storage shelves onto Maisey and Odin.

  According to Heather, everything had been Steve’s idea.

  Maisey wasn’t so certain of that. Heather was playing the traumatized, terrified victim now, but Maisey remembered how well the other woman had acted in the parking lot of Dunson College. How she’d pretended so effectively to be in a breakup. How she’d acted as a desperate lover at Clay’s house.

  Maisey thought that Heather had been fully involved in everything that had gone down. But the cops would be the ones to press the charges. The cops and the DA. The Coast Guard was doing sweeps in the Gulf, over the area where Heather had told them that she’d left Whitney.

  Not that those sweeps would do much good. Not at this point…

  Not after so long.

  We’ll probably never find her body. Maisey knew that, and it broke her heart.

  “You should go home. Get some rest.” Jinx stood in front of her. “I can get a cop to drop you off.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Odin and I have to tie up more loose ends, but the detective said you were clear to go.”

  Falling into bed seemed like a wonderful idea to Maisey, but she hated to leave Odin. Her gaze automatically searched for him.

  “Thank you,” Jinx said.

  Her attention jumped to him. “For what?”

  “Odin.”

  She shook her head, lost.
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  “You don’t know what he was like after those last few missions. How he pulled away. Shut down. He was hurt badly, and the darkness was pulling him under.”

  Maisey rose from the sagging chair. “I saw the scars on him.”

  “Those are the ones on the surface. The wounds I’m talking about are on the inside. He saw too much blood. Too much war. And he came far too close to dying.”

  He’d come too close to dying just hours ago. When Steve had been taunting him and fired that bullet, her heart had nearly shattered.

  “He put up a wall between himself and the world. You shattered that wall. When he looks at you, his eyes change. I see it. I mean, not like the man goes around grinning from ear to ear now or anything, but his eyes are different. I swear, they fucking light up when he looks at you.”

  She put a hand to her chest. “I love him.”

  “And that’s why I’m saying thank you. Odin is one of the good ones. He’s always had my back, and it’s nice to see he found a woman who will always have his.”

  She would always have his back. In a heartbeat.

  Odin came around the corner. She turned her head and watched him, and as he approached, she realized Jinx was right. His eyes did seem to light up when he saw her.

  She smiled at him.

  Odin walked right up to her. His hand slid under the fall of her hair, and he bent and pressed a kiss to her lips.

  “Oh, yes. He’s different.” Jinx’s voice held its usual teasing edge as he added, “That’s like, a super suave move. Odin is never suave. I could be staring at a stranger.”

  “Fuck off,” Odin muttered.

  “Fucking off. And, hey, I’ll get that ride ready for Maisey. She needs to crash, man.”

  Odin’s head lifted. He stared straight into Maisey’s eyes. “I know what she needs.”

  I need you. I want you. Forever.

  Her arms rose to curl around his waist. “It scared me to death when he almost shot you.”

  “You knocked his aim off me, baby.”

  Her breath caught. “H-he said he was deliberately missing.”

  Odin shook his head. “Thanks for saving my ass.”