Chapter 4 #2
“Let’s agree to disagree on that, Alessa,” Evander says with a smile. He stands up and buttons his suit jacket. “If there is nothing else, we have some things to take care of.”
Throughout this exchange, I notice that he never called her by her first name, whereas she never said his last name. It’s a power balance, and Evander is letting her know he acknowledges her as the leader.
She nods, and we follow them outside. Evander turns to Dex when we step through the front door. “Which one?” he asks, and Dex points to the taller, beefier guard standing to Evander’s right.
Everything else happens in slow motion. Evander grabs a Glock from the other guard’s holster, chambers a round, and places the barrel against the guard’s head that Dex pointed to, pulling the trigger before the guy’s eyes even widen.
He hits the ground with a thud, and Evander hands the gun back to the other guard.
“Clean that up,” he says to the two guards standing at the car, mouths hanging open.
I keep my eyes carefully averted from the body because it’s not something I’m used to seeing.
My brothers took care of business whenever needed, but I usually wasn’t present.
He turns to Alessa. “I told you. No one on my team will be left who caused harm to anyone in your family.”
He strides up to me, locking me in a bear hug. “You good?” he whispers.
“I’m good,” I assure him.
He pats me on the back, nods at Alessa, then climbs into the car. I can hear Mateo laughing his ass off, the sound cut off by the remaining guard shutting the door.
I was an only child growing up, so imagine the shock when I found out I have two brothers who welcomed me into their family with open arms.
Alessa looks at me and then at the fading taillights of their SUV. “Did he just kill a man in my front yard?”
Micah chokes on a laugh. “I think so.”
“It was his way of keeping his word,” Dex says.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Ryder snarks.
“Fuck you,” Dex replies with a shake of his head.
You can tell they’re all close, so it makes me wonder about their relationship with Alessa.
It all looks platonic, but looks could be deceiving.
I would have laughed in your face if you asked me a few months ago if I thought Alessa was the queen of a crime family.
All five-foot-four of her is every bit of a fucking queen, though.
After Evander and Mateo left, Alessa left me out of the room.
I always have one of her guys at my back, but at least I’m not locked up.
I have only been in my jail cell, the kitchen, and the living room, but this house is gigantic.
The kitchen is all stainless steel with black marble countertops, a huge island in the middle, and enough seats to fit everyone.
The living room is massive but cozy, with a huge TV on the wall over a fireplace.
There’s a couch with an oversized chaise lounge, a love seat across from it, two chairs facing the TV, and several more chairs placed throughout the room.
I can see all their personalities everywhere, and it’s more like a family than a team.
I’m not sure how I feel about that, coming in as an outsider.
Dex doesn’t say much, and Gage mostly just jokes around, but Ryder makes shitty comments whenever she’s out of earshot, and I’m getting fucking sick of it.
“Dude, just get it off your chest and shut the fuck up,” I finally tell him.
He raises an eyebrow. “You find your balls after your brothers left?”
“No. I’m getting sick of hearing your voice.”
He chuckles, but there is no humor in it. “You think you’re big and bad now?” He steps into my space, and I refuse to step back. “I can kill you, and no one will ever find your body, motherfucker.”
“Ryder,” Alessa snaps, walking into the room. “Back off.” She’s changed into the clothes she was in earlier, her hair hanging down her back again.
He gives me one last look before spinning on his heel and leaving the living room.After he’s out of the room, I flop down on the couch, all of my bravado fading the minute he leaves. I’m a pushover, but I know when I’m outmatched.
Gage walks in behind her. “Don’t mind him. It’s the steroids,” he announces, flopping down on the couch beside me. He doesn’t seem to care that I’m here. He doesn’t seem to care about much at all.
“Don’t start that shit again,” Alessa says, sitting on the love seat in front of us, tucking her legs underneath her and doing everything she can to avoid eye contact with me.
A guy I haven’t seen before with shoulder-length curly hair walks into the room, head down. He hands her a folder and then sits in a chair beside her, typing furiously on a laptop that was in his other hand. I raise my eyebrow at her in question.
“Holden,” she answers and shrugs. “He’s quite talkative.” I remember my brothers mentioning him, but they didn’t know much about him, just that he was newer to her team.
Gage snorts, turning the tv on. “Yeah. You can never get him to shut the fuck up.”
Holden never even looks up, but I can see his lips twitch.
I shake my head at Gage. He’s done nothing but joke around with me, but I can see the watchful way he observes around him. Evander and Mateo warned me about him. He seems easygoing, but he hid a wealth of crazy.
Alessa opens the folder, flipping through what looks like pictures and separating them into piles.
I want to ask, but it’s none of my business, and I’m sure she won’t tell me anyway.
“Anyone interesting?” Gage asks.
“A few,” she replies.
“Tonight?” he asks.
She looks at me and then back to Gage. “Sure. Why not?”
Gage whoops. “Yes!”
“Holden,” she says gently. He finally looks up, but I can tell he won’t look her directly in the face. “Get me more on these two.” She hands him two pictures and shoves the others back into the folder. He nods and disappears from the room.
“I guess you aren’t going to tell me what that was about,” I ask her.
“Um. No,” Alessa answers. I can’t tell if she’s still pissed or not. Her face is devoid of all emotion, and it’s starting to wear on my nerves.
“Fair enough.” I nod. “But I had to ask.”
“You want to know what she does?” Gage sits up on the couch, animated. “She’s a superhero. She flies around with her megabat wings and saves the city.”
Alessa rolls her eyes. “Shut up, and stop reading my smutty books.”
“Hey. I learn a lot from those books,” Gage defends.
I shrug. “He’s not wrong.”
Her mouth pops open. “You read them too?” Finally, a reaction.
I grin. “I’ve learned a thing or two from them.”
Her face looks suspiciously like she’s blushing, remembering our night together like I am, but she hides it with her hair. I pulled a few things out of those books.
“Dude,” Gage exclaims. “That’s fucking awesome. I have something you need to read,” he says, jumping from the couch and jogging from the room.
Alessa watches him go. “You don’t know what you just got yourself into.”
Before she can elaborate, he rushes back into the room and thrusts a book into my hands with a hot, curvy redhead on the cover. “Read it. There are five books, and I stole them from Les. They’re about these six dudes banging the same witch.”
Alessa giggles. “Gage, they’re about so much more than that.”
“Oh, for sure,” he nods. “The dudes bang each other too.”
That causes her to laugh, and I can’t get over the sweet sound. “They love each other is what I meant, you dumbass,” she says between laughs.
He shrugs. “That too, but it’s hot as fuck.”
“I’ll read it,” I tell him with a chuckle.
It’s not like I have anything better to do with my time.
Gage sits back on the couch, flipping through Netflix for something to watch. I wonder what exactly he does for her. Ryder and Dex are her muscle, Holden is her hacker, and Gage is…what? My brothers couldn’t pinpoint what he does; they just said to watch my back around him.
Holden walks back into the room, handing her another folder. “They all check out,” he informs her and disappears again.
What the hell is his deal?
She flips through the folder before pulling one out and handing it across the table to Gage.
“Bingo,” he grins, handing it back.
She stands up. “I hate to tell you, but you are stuck with Ryder and Dex tonight for a while.”
“I’ll be fine,” I assure her. I don’t know whether that’s a lie or not. I don’t worry about Dex, no matter how big the man is, because he seems to respect whatever Alessa says. Ryder, on the other hand, I’m not so sure.
Gage jumps up and tosses her over his shoulder, running from the room with her laughing the whole way.
Stuff like that is what makes me wonder about their relationship.
They all seem to watch her in their own way.
True, it’s their job, but their eyes linger too long.
It’s killing me that she makes sure we aren’t alone together.
We dated for four months, and now she’s avoiding me like the plague.
Not that I blame her. I fucked up. When I realized I fell for her, I planned on telling her everything, but there was never a right time.
Nothing like the right time being right after you shared your first time.
Dumbass.
Truthfully, I stalked the hell out of her on the internet after I met her that first night.
Pictures of her and Gage are plastered everywhere, always looking like they are a couple but never confirming or denying it.
I understand it’s a cover, but some things you can’t fake, like how he looks at her when he thinks no one is watching.
I’m not the jealous type, but she’s mine. At least she was. I wish it didn’t start the way it did, but there’s no changing it now.
I will have to be patient and accept anything thrown my way.