Epilogue #2
I grab her hand, twisting it so she drops the can.
She stumbles back, but I fist her hoodie and turn her back into the wall, this time so she is facing it and I step up close so she can't move. She’s tall for a woman, her baggy clothes and the darkness hid a lot, but it hides nothing now that I’m close.
The scent of her is undeniably all woman.
“Who the hell are you?” I grunt out.
“Fuck you,” she yells back. “I don’t have any money, I have nothing worth stealing. If you think I’m going to stand here and not fight back, you’re dead wrong.”
“What?”
“You heard me, you fucking pervert.”
She telegraphs her next move, so I’m able to back up by bending at the waist and avoiding her back kick, which was aiming between my open legs.
The fuck? “Why are you here?”
“I’m going to scream bloody murder if you don’t let me go right now!”
“Go ahead, no one will come. No one will step in if they do. You messed with the wrong person tonight, sweetheart.”
“Don’t sweetheart me, you asshole.” She fights against my hold on her again.
“You’ve got five seconds to tell me what the fuck you’re doing sneaking around out here…” I don’t know how to finish that sentence.
Shit, I don’t hurt women. I’ve had to restrain a few. Drunk ones, handsy ones, and a few who’ve tried to attack the brothers or other club girls at parties, but never with violence.
“My cousin works here,” she snaps, wriggling her shoulders.
“Wrong answer. I know everyone who works here. They’re all my brothers.”
“Your what?” She shakes her head, turning and straining to see me, but I keep my face away from her view. “Your brothers? That’s bullshit. There are like three people who work here and only one of them is a man, and he is my fucking cousin.”
What the fuck is she talking about? I glance up at the spire of the church I’ve got her pressed against. Shit, is she talking about the pastor?
“Explain this to me.”
“Because you’re stupid?” She asks in a mocking voice.
If I weren’t so wired on adrenaline, I’d smirk at that, but I’m still not convinced this isn’t to do with Storm.
“Who is your cousin?” I snap, pressing the barrel of the gun into her spine. It’s enough to stop her wriggling.
“Look, I… we got off on the wrong foot here. I’m pretty sure neither of us is who the other is thinking we are.”
“I don’t hear a fucking explanation.”
“Maybe take the gun out of my back and we can talk like civilized people.”
“Honey, you’re getting on my last nerve.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t realize being held at gunpoint makes people unreasonable.”
Jesus Christ. I glance down at the bag off to the side. It’s open and some things inside spilled out when I collided with her. Are they… spray cans and a torch?
“You’re going to graffiti this fucking church?”
I take the gun away, but keep a hand in the center of her back so she can’t move, slipping it back into my holster.
“No,” she grunts. “I told you, my cousin works here.”
Tugging her hoodie, I twist her around so she is facing me again. Immediately she checks my hands and sees the gun is gone. Her body relaxes, but her shoulders are still back and she looks like she is one wrong move on my part from kicking me in the balls.
“Then what the fuck is this?” I indicate the bag.
“That’s my supplies.”
“God damn it, woman, just tell me who you are and why you’re sneaking around in the middle of the night.”
“You could do the same.”
I’ve never met a more infuriating woman in my entire life. “You don’t know how to answer a simple fucking question, do you?”
“Neither do you,” she scoffs.
Then she folds her arms, and my eyes lower to where the movement has pushed her tits together. Luckily, I’m far enough out of reach for her to hit or kick me, and she doesn’t try, which is surprising.
“Look, whatever the fuck it is you thought you were about to do to this church, it’s not happening.
And this is not the right place for you to be sneaking around in the dark.
So do yourself a favor and get out of here, go back to wherever you came from, take your paint cans and your attitude and stay the fuck away from this neighborhood. ”
“Are you gonna make me?” She cocks her head.
If I’m not mistaken, there is a fucking glint of amusement in her eyes. She is enjoying this?
“Yeah, if I have to,” I lean on the last two words, saying them quietly but in a tone that most of my brothers know it’s time to quit messing around.
Her eyes flick back and forth on mine, and for the first time, with the dim light of early morning starting, I can see it’s not a trick of the darkness and shadows, her irises are steel gray. She has some dark blue glittery shit on her eyelids but no other make-up. Not that she needs it.
“What’s it gonna be,” I fold my arms too and we stare at each other. Neither one of us is about to back down.
“When you two have finished comparing dicks, or vaginas, I’m not sure who has what…”
We both jolt at the voice, but where my little villain’s eyes go to my sister’s, I keep mine locked on her. I’m used to Raven’s sarcastic drawl, but I’m not all that happy she crept up on me without me hearing a damn thing.
What is even more shocking, the woman who I’ve still not taken my eyes off, looks like she knows my sister.
“What are you doing here?”
“I tracked you when you didn't answer my calls,” Raven says, walking towards us. I spare her a sarcastic glare.
“Raven? You know this guy?” The woman asks.
“Unfortunately,” she gives her a sweet smile, then turns it on me. “Kinsley, this is my brother. River.”
“Rebel,” I correct her, it's habit. When she is irritated or feeling left out, Raven pulls this petulant shit. She’s being a little asshole using my real name.
“River the Rebel?” The woman asks. There is that amusement again, the mischief dancing across her face as she stares, waiting for me to react.
“I’ve got more important shit to do. You know her,” I turn to my sister. “Vouch for her.”
Raven’s mirth drops as she takes in my stance, my look. The one that says it’s time to stop fucking about. She nods, eyeing me more intently now, wanting to question me about what is going on. She won't, not in front of a stranger.
“Do yourself a favor and stay away,” I tell the woman before turning away.
“That’ll be kind of hard,” she says, making me pause and look back at her. She smirks at my annoyance. “Seeing as I’ll be living here for the next three months, painting a commissioned mural on my cousin’s church.”
She wants to get a rise out of me, but it won’t work.
After tonight, chances are I’ll see a lot more of her.
I don’t even want to unpack what thoughts of that are doing to me.
Taking a few paces closer to her, she doesn’t back away, she doesn’t look scared, she faces me square on, her head tilted so our eyes are locked.
“Then whenever you see me coming,” my voice is low so my nosey sister can't hear. “Walk the other way.”
“Gladly.”
She wants to have the last word. I’ll let her. This time. But just to be a jerk and because it will get a rise out of her, I kick her bag as I turn to walk away. Spray paint rolls out across the sidewalk, and she curses after me as I head to my bike.
I spare Raven a quick look, and she follows me.
“What are you doing out here? It's not safe tonight. You need to go home.”
“What do you mean?” she asks. “Has something happened?”
“Nero is floating the idea of a lockdown.”
It’s the only way to get Raven off my back and listen. I’m not explaining anything else.
“Go home. Until you hear otherwise, carry on as normal, but take no chances. I fucking mean it, Raven.”
“Okay, I heard you.” Her brow creases, then she rolls her eyes, she knows I’m not going anywhere till she is in her car. “I can’t just leave her here.”
“I don’t care what you do with her, just get off the street.”
“Do you have to be such an asshole all the time?”
My look tells her to stop asking questions she already knows the answer to.
“Fine. She is staying here, so I’ll convince her not to start her art tonight.”
Who fucking paints a mural in the dark? I don’t understand normal people.
“Be careful,” she whispers.
I dip my chin as Raven turns away. She speaks to the little villain for a few moments, who gathers her things and walks towards the rear entrance of the church. Raven walks past me and makes a comment that I don’t bother paying attention to as I watch her.
Once I hear my sister getting into her car and turning over the engine, my body relaxes. She might be a pain in the ass, but I don’t want her around here alone right now. Or this other woman, who is not rushing to do as my sister told her. Probably because the directive came from me.
She has a key to the door, which further confirms her story. I will not leave until both women are away from here.
Pushing the door open, she turns back to me, giving the motorcycle a long look, her eyes running from my feet to my head. That one look has my dick getting into the conversation, which is fucking stupid with a woman like this…
And I’m proven right when she stops eating me up with her eyes, then slowly and deliberately raises her middle finger at me.
The smile on my face is slight and involuntary as she disappears inside the church, which is quickly wiped off when Raven drives by, repeating the gesture.
Fuck, if those two are friends…
My cell rings again, and I check it to see Fury’s name.
Fun time is over. We have a motherfucker to find and destroy.