13. Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Sylvie
I pounded down the metal stairs to the garage, a coffee mug in one hand and my phone in the other. The smell of oil and gasoline hit me as I took in the sleek black 1960s Chevy Corvette with its beautiful curves and signature white highlights. The hood was popped, and Drakos leaned inside, fiddling with something. Diego lay on a mechanic’s creeper under the vehicle.
I speed-dialed Kilian as Drakos straightened. “Kil, what the hell’s going on?” I hadn’t meant to sound so worried.
“Where are you?” he demanded.
I looked over at Drakos. “At a friend’s house. What happened?”
“Declan was getting out of his car in front of Fenn’s house, and someone did a drive-by. Stupid idiots. That street has more cameras on it than the White House.” Fenn and Ezra lived next door to each other, and they’d created a lush, fortified compound between their two homes, including a pool and spa area, and two guest cottages.
“What about Declan?”
“He’ll be fine, but it was close. They got him in the calf as he dove behind his car. Luckily, he’s fast and he was armed. When they stopped to get out and finish him off, he returned fire and held them back until the dogs could get there.”
Sinking onto a bench, I looked up as Drakos stared down at me. “Who was it?” I asked, but I already knew.
“We traced the vehicle back to an MC OutKast gang member. Their attack makes no sense and doesn’t follow any logical pattern. I can’t figure out why they’re coming after us.”
He sighed. “Can you stay where you are until we secure the mortuary and have eyes on them?”
“I’m in a safe location, but there’s a viewing tomorrow morning, and I still need to prep Ms. Rudding.” I wanted to tell Kilian what I knew, but Drakos and I needed to talk first.
“Okay. Fennick is going to throw a fit when he finds out you’re at Drakos Creed’s loft, but it might be a blessing in disguise right now.”
My back straightened, and my eyes went wide. “How did you know?”
“Because it’s my job to keep track of the family. I won’t tell Fennick for now—he’s already out of control. I’ve got to go.”
He hung up, and I stared down at my phone, then shoved it back into my pocket.
“What’s going on?” Drakos watched me carefully.
“Kilian told me not to come in yet. A few OutKast members did a drive-by and shot Declan outside the Spade compound last night. Kil said he’s going to be okay, but he got hit in the calf and had to return gunfire to chase them off.”
“Your family has a compound? Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“It’s just a nickname. Fenn and Ezra own adjacent houses next door to each other, and they knocked down the wall between them and built a pool and a few cottages.”
He smirked. “That’s a compound. Does this kind of thing happen often?”
“Often enough,” Diego cut in from under the vehicle.
I couldn’t argue with that. “They shot him in the calf before he shot back and sicced Daisy and Poppy on them.”
“Are Daisy and Poppy cousins I haven’t heard about?”
I took a swig of coffee. “No, they’re Fenn’s German Shepards.”
Drakos shook his head and turned back to the Corvette. “Jesus. Never a dull moment with you. I can work from the mortuary today if you need to go in.”
He wore blue overalls smeared with grease and mechanics gloves, a stark contrast to his usual custom-made suits and dress shirts. He still made my mouth water.
“Kilian knows about you, but the rest of my cousins don’t… yet. I’ll text Ezra and tell him I’ll be in this afternoon.”
He studied me quietly, then nodded and went back to working on his car. The corpse in the fridge would keep until later.
I stared at Drakos’s ass as he bent over the engine.
“Are you enjoying the view?” he eventually drawled without looking up, his hands buried deep in the engine.
“Yep.” I took another sip of coffee and gave up pretending to work on my phone.
Diego slid out from under the car, then sat up and winked at me. “Despite him dressing like Wallstreet most days, he actually knows what he’s doing under the hood. You’re watching a master at work.”
“Master of what?” I teased, raising an eyebrow.
Drakos straightened and leaned against the car. "Everything, obviously. You thought so when you were screaming my name–”
“Okay, you’re the master of everything,” I interrupted loudly. He grinned at me.
Diego took off, and Drakos peeled off his nitrile gloves and went upstairs to shower. Twenty minutes later when we climbed into his Range Rover, he wore a perfectly tailored charcoal suit with a dark gray dress shirt. I couldn’t decide if he looked hotter in a suit or his grease-stained, blue coveralls.
He glanced over at me. “I want to tell Ivan about what happened at Titties. He’s an expert hacker, and I’d like him to monitor Terrance and the club to see what they know.”
I rubbed my palms against my thighs and thought about his request. We’d promised we wouldn’t tell anyone about that night, but I knew it was only a matter of time before someone figured it out. And I did want to know what that scary psychopath Terrance LeBaron was up to.
“Okay, if I can tell Kilian. But please swear him to secrecy. My family is my whole world, and I don’t want to start a war if I can prevent it.”
The SUV purred to a stop in front of the mortuary, and as I reached for the door handle, he took my other hand. His touch sent an electric jolt up my arm.
“I promise. You’re safe with me, love. I’ll pick you up around six. Does that work?” His voice was low and warm.
“That’s fine.”
He tugged my hand until I leaned over the console between us, then he bent and gave me a long, drugging kiss. “Have a good day.”
His warmth and scent wrapped lazily around me as I kissed and nibbled back. When I got out and shut the door, my mind felt a little drugged. He waited until I walked inside before taking off.
A few hours later, I wore a respirator along with the rest of my protective gear as I stared down at the decomposing corpse of a woman who’d just been brought in to be cremated.
Donald Erndt, the medical examiner, called me to explain her situation. Don was unflappable, curious, and didn’t have an ego. He also had a deep, chain-smoker voice. “The lady choked to death on a chicken nugget at her desk last Friday afternoon. It took almost four days for her coworkers to notice. The smell finally tipped them off.”
“Yeah, after four days that would have been a problem,” I agreed.
“She’s a bit of a mess, but I got her to you as soon as I could.” He wasn’t exaggerating.
The body was bloated and split in places, and putrefaction had set in. The skin also had a greenish tinge to it, and bodily fluids were leaking from all her orifices.
No one had reported her missing or come forward to claim her body. The thought of being that forgettable shook me. When Ezra died, and my friends and cousins found husbands and wives, could something like that happen to me? Maybe I’d sit dead for days at my desk in the embalming room after choking on a breakfast burrito.
My odd career and large mafia-style family weren’t conducive to long-term relationships. The last boyfriend I’d had told me after we broke up that it was lucky I was pretty enough to fuck, because otherwise I was too creepy and weird.
Ezra and Fenn found me as I finished cleaning up. “I dropped by your apartment last night with some dinner, but you weren’t home,” Ezra mentioned casually.
“How’s Declan doing, and did you leave the food?” I didn’t want him to ask where I’d been.
Ezra frowned. “He’s alright, and Daisy and Poppy are getting steak for dinner tonight. I made chicken Florentine and left it in your fridge. How about we eat it for lunch, and you can tell us about Drakos Creed? I saw him dropping you off this morning.”
Damn it, I’d forgotten about the cameras. I inwardly groaned and waited for the fireworks as Fennick slowly turned to me. “What. The. Fuck? Drakos Creed ?” If he only knew.
“Don’t start,” I grumbled, holding up my hand.
“Luna’s a lost cause now that she’s married to one of those ambulance-chasing pettifoggers, but e t tu, Brute? ”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, my God. You’re such a drama queen. I’m not betraying you, dumbass. And what the hell is a pettifogger? Was that on your Word of the Day calendar?”
Fenn narrowed his eyes. “ Drama queen ? Sylvie, it’s Drakos Fucking Creed, for fuck’s sake. The man is a well-known player. He’s going to use you and move on to his next fuck buddy–or buddies.” His words stung, mostly because I worried about the same thing.
“Did you lose something, Fennick? Because your fat, ugly nose is in my business again, and if I wanted to hear from an asshole, I’d just fart.” Ezra sighed and held the bridge of his nose.
Fenn’s eyes narrowed. “At least I don’t have the decision-making skills of a three-year-old.”
I started toward him when Ezra finally intervened. “ Enough , you two. Fenn, she’s an adult now. Start treating her like one.” He turned to me. “And you. Flatulence jokes? Really?” I opened my mouth, but Ezra kept talking. “The three of us are going up to the apartment to eat lunch together, and you two will talk civilly to each other the whole time , or I’ll call Aunt Sandra and invite her—and her two sons—to Sunday dinner next week and let her know it’ll be at Fenn’s house, and you will be hosting.”
Fenn and I winced at the diabolical threat. Aunt Sandra excelled at mean, underhanded insults, and her sons from another marriage tended to pick their noses in public and had poor hygiene.
Lunch lasted just over twenty minutes, and I might have strained a muscle in my jaw, keeping my insults to myself. “What would you like to drink?” I asked Fenn in a sugary voice.
“Water is fine.” He looked constipated, and Ezra smiled benignly as he watched us struggle to behave. It was a relief to get back to the bloated corpse.