Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
PAXTON
“Here,” I tell Naomi, patting my thigh. She puts her foot up on it, and I lace her boot up for her. Her face softens, and her shoulders drop down, pulling in closer, giving me the more vulnerable side to her.
My girl always had it there, lingering deep inside; she only needed someone to bring it out of her.
Naomi can handle most situations herself; she is one of the most capable people I have ever met, but I enjoy the bits and pieces that I can give her that no other could.
It’s become quite addictive, really. I never knew taking care of someone could be a kink, but I’m finding it gets me off when it comes to Naomi.
“You’re always taking care of me.” She rests one of her hands on my shoulder, the other on her hip.
“I’m only lacing up your boot so that you can be hunted down.” I’m only half teasing. This is the third time I have borne witness to this little game she has with her brothers. It’s fascinating to watch and fucking hard. Her oldest brother doesn’t pull any punches with her.
It pisses me off, but I respect it too. It’s clear that they love her and are doing this for her. They want her to be at the top of her game.
“I’m training them too.” She gives my shoulder a squeeze.
“I’ve been thinking about the Esposito family.
” The name only has rage flooding me. I keep my anger under control, but Naomi catches the glint of it.
I have always been good at masking emotions, keeping my demeanor calm and unfazed, but she’s getting good at reading me.
She’s the only one I allow to see this side of me.
“What of them?” They are on the bottom of the list. Not because they are the least threatening; no, they blow. When we finally do hit them, it won’t be in the middle of the night where no one is the wiser that we were behind it. There will be a display. The final act.
“I want to start now with them. A longer game.” There’s a hint of excitement in her voice.
There are already wheels in motion, and people in places or on their way to them. It has been a lot of planning, but it’s already unfolding. In fact, one of the plans should be happening even now as we speak. Naomi gives me a small smirk, lifting her brows, wanting me to guess.
My mind shuffles through what she might want to do without alerting the Esposito’s to anything.
I’m sure they are already slightly on edge.
A meeting has been requested a few times from Tommy, wanting to smooth things over about his nephew.
He took a shot at my Naomi. There is no smoothing anything over, and soon everyone will learn that.
War keeps postponing the meeting, but it will have to happen.
“You’re not as mad about him shooting at you as you are about the torment and unrest he’s put upon Mac.” A small dip of her chin lets me know that I’m correct. “You want to torment him. You want payback for the seed of doubt he put in Mac’s mind.”
“I want to hunt Luigi down, the same way he tried to hunt her down.” Excitement lights up her eyes.
“And your plan for this?”
“My brothers. I want to send them his way and have them toy with him. Start messing with his head. Breaking into his homes, having a few of his men disappear. I want him terrified.” The more she talks about the plan she’s concocted, the more animated she gets.
“Everyone should get to have a bit of fun. It shouldn’t be all business,” I tease.
“You don’t think it’s petty and stupid?”
“No, the more antsy we make them, the more likely they are to fuck up. Tommy is going to grow more agitated with his nephew. It might be interesting to see what he’ll do about him.”
“You think he’d kill his own nephew, but he wasn’t willing to hand him over to us?”
“Yes,” I say with certainty. “Handing him over to you has nothing to do with his care for his nephew. They aren’t Marinos. It was about saving face. He’s already getting worried that you and War keep pushing off a meeting.”
“I’m still debating how I want to handle that.”
“With good reason.” I grip her hips, spreading my thighs at the same time so I can pull her between them. “See how all the other chips fall.” I unzip the thin windbreaker she has on over her sports bra to kiss her stomach. “Are you going to give them hell?”
“That’s the plan.” She turns, glancing over her shoulder when the patio door opens, Mac stepping out. “Are you excited?” Naomi asks her.
“About being hunted? Not really.” Mac laughs, nonetheless. “But I brought toys.” She spreads her palm out to reveal her surprise.
“What are they?” Naomi asks, her curiosity piqued.
“They’re mini drones. The smallest, fastest, and quietest on the market. Uncle Z helped me get them.” Mac comes over to give us a closer look.
“I can’t believe how tiny they are. This is a game changer, Mac. You’re a genius.” Mac gives Naomi a full-blown smile.
“They may be the size of a bigger bee, but they have the vision of a dragonfly. Those boys won’t even know they’re being followed. These babies have all the bells and whistles. GPS, high-res thermal imaging camera, and night vision, to name a few.”
I have to say this is the most confident I’ve seen Mac since everything went down at the warehouse.
“That’s badass,” Naomi tells her. If Mac doesn’t want to come face-to-face with a person hunting her down, then it’s best to be far enough ahead of them that they can’t catch up and find her. “How do you control it if you’re running?”
“I’m still working that all out, but I got my girl with me.” She taps her ear. I don’t see an earpiece there, but I’m sure there is one. “She’ll feed me details of approaching targets, and if I can—” She opens her jacket to reveal a tablet in a pocket and a few other items.
“And I got this for you too. I want to be able to see you if need be.” Mac pulls out a small pin that matches one of her own on her jacket, putting it on Naomi. “And for you.” Mac hands me a small device the size of a phone with a screen on it. It flicks on, and I can see it shows all the cameras.
“Much appreciated,” I tell her.
“I was talking to your sister, and I think we’re a go,” Mac tells me. “She’s wicked smart. I don’t understand half of what she’s saying, but we got everything lined out, and we’re a go whenever you are.” She glances back to Naomi.
“Do you want to go out there and meet with her beforehand?” Naomi asks her.
I have been hesitant to get my sister involved in anything, but when I spoke to her and told her about a woman whose husband did horrible things to her, wanting to disappear, she was more than willing to help.
“Yes, I want to be out there. Just to make sure everything goes as it should.”
“Is there an issue you’re worried about?”
“I mean, fake passports and a whole new identity can be tricky.” There are possibly twenty individuals in the United States who can create fake passports and related documents.
“You think they won’t work?” Naomi has full trust they will. This isn’t the first time they have made them, I’m sure.
“They will; I just want to be there.”
“Okay, but not alone.”
“I know, you have to be sending someone else out. I’m not throwing that blood all around.” Mac’s nose scrunches.
“You ladies ready?” Cooper rubs his hands together, with Romeo and Marcus behind him. Tova is a small woman, the same as my Naomi. I don’t know how these three came out of her. They are War’s size already, and I’m sure they are still growing. At least two of them.
“Are you ready?” Mac tosses back at them.
Cooper runs his hands through his buzz cut. “Not loving the idea of us hunting Mac.”
“Oh, but you’re down with hunting me?”
“Well, yeah,” Marcus says. “But can someone leash him? Think he wants to murder us.” He nods toward me.
“Watch it, or I’ll let him loose on you,” Naomi warns her brother.
“I’d pay to see that,” Romeo says.
“I got a grand on Paxton.” Cooper wants in.
“The fuck?” Marcus punches Cooper in the shoulder.
“I’ll take that bet,” Mac chimes in.
“You know I’m about to hunt your ass down, right?” Marcus narrows his eyes on her, but there is no heat behind it.
“All right, in you go. Give us ten.” Naomi points toward the back patio door. “Rules are the same for me.”
“What about for Mac?” Cooper asks.
“Just be gentle with me.”
“No one is going to hurt you,” Naomi tells her.
“We’ll only tag her, and no weapons today,” Cooper confirms.
“She can have weapons,” Naomi lets them know before they head inside to wait.
“I’m going to get this in the air,” Mac says, stepping down off the patio and toward the tree line in the distance.
“Are you going to watch?” Naomi asks me.
“Yes.”
“Why did you say it like that?” Her tongue comes out, swiping her bottom lip.
“I enjoy watching you work, and I know you’re not in any real danger.”
“Next time, maybe you could hunt me.” She pushes her body into mine, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Careful, sunshine.” My hands go to her ass, and she only presses in more, rubbing against my hard cock. I swear on my life she loves when I get hard over her. I don’t know how she got it in that mind of hers that she’s not attractive and sexy as fuck.
She could bring a man to his knees with her looks alone. Lucky for me, she’s always been a bit prickly. While I enjoy her thorns, they deterred men before me. Thank God I’m the only one that will ever know what it’s like to get past them.
“And if I don’t want to be careful?” she goads me, knowing damn well the state she’s put me in.
If this were any other time, I would use the eight minutes we have left to make her come, but I know she needs to keep her head in the game.
“I wouldn’t want to be careful if it was you chasing me down. ” There is a slight hitch to her voice.
“Does that turn you on? Thinking about me chasing you down and fucking you in the woods?”
“It could be hot.”
“With the way you’re wiggling all over me, there is no could to it.”
“I find it so crazy the things I desire to do with you. I would have never believed I would ever want to do them before, but now…”
“Now you have a man you know you’re safe with.”
“I do,” she says. I get one of her smiles, and I lean down and kiss it.
“Burn 'em down, sunshine,” I tell her. “I’ll be watching.”
“Always.”
“Always,” I confirm. I have already been doing it for years, and I will be doing it for all the rest.