Chapter Seventeen #2
Snorting in Fly's direction, I snarled. “I've done it before, I'll do it again.”
“This time is different.”
“How so?” I snapped.
He looked me in the eye carefully and shrugged. “Oh, I don't know. Maybe your anger every time someone mentions her or says anything bad about her. Or the photos you have on your bedroom wall.”
Surging towards him, I paused right up in his face. “Shut the fuck up. They were surveillance photos after I first bumped into her. Don't try and twist it.”
“Yeah, maybe at the start. You did what we always do when targeting our next hit. However, the photos are still up and I wonder what you do when you lie on the bed, staring at them.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “You're obsessed with her, Moth, and you need to sort it out.”
He was lucky he was incapacitated, otherwise I would've taken him down like I had Ant.
“Let's just get this plan sorted so she can go.” I sniffed and went back towards the apartment, slipping inside and turning to watch my friend hobble over the patio.
“So,” Spider said, sitting comfortably next to Alia. “You sound so innocent with your bookstore. How did you end up so involved with Moth again?”
Her mouth opened, only to shut when she glanced at me. I hadn't told them the full truth of her finding me on the bridge… or the way I'd jumped in to protect her every chance I got. Fuck, I'd already admitted my sexual obsession to Alia but Fly had seen it too. It was getting out of hand.
“Ant!” I yelled. “Come here.”
My friend appeared, sporting a graze on his chin. It was bright red and streaked with blood. I'd put my ring on that morning, a reminder of what we'd sworn when we'd stood on the bridge after escaping our captors.
“What?” Ant snapped, righting the chair and sitting on it.
“As you know,” I started, nodding at Fly who entered the apartment and leaned back against the wall. “There's an event at Alia's bookstore in two days. We’ll be dressing up as models from dark romance books.”
I glanced at Alia, whose cheeks were pink as she stared at the blank television. I was about to go on when she visibly shook herself and looked straight at me.
“You'll need to wear masks,” she interjected, looking around more confidently, “so no one knows your identity.”
“Masks?” Ant grinned. “I like that kinky idea.”
“And be topless.” Alia smiled.
I levelled my gaze on her. “You want us topless?”
Fly chuckled. “I'm glad I'm sitting this out.”
Alia glanced at him, her gaze flicking briefly to his torso. What did she think when she saw how tight his t-shirt was on his muscles? Did she think it was a shame that he couldn't join in on our scheme to take down Brandon?
My gut tightened and I glared at her. If she wasn't careful, I'd… what? Fuck her over? No, I couldn't do that. Shit, I was even jealous of my friend, who hadn't shown any interest in Alia. If I wasn't careful, I was going to lose it and someone… or several people… would get hurt.
“Fine,” I snapped, shoving down the dark emotions, “we'll go topless with masks. We serve drinks and we keep an eye out. Alia is going to lure Brandon with a cryptic social media post. We're hoping he'll be clever enough to fall for it and turn up.”
Alia shuddered and cleared her throat. “He'll turn up in a balaclava or something similar, I think. I need to try and get him into the room opposite the club room, which will be closed to the public. I'll then provoke him and he’ll come for me.”
I rubbed my neck as heat exploded within me. I’d tried to persuade Alia not to use herself as bait, but she had insisted that the CCTV evidence would be the only way the police would believe her.
“We'll be waiting on the outside of the room,” I went on, “and when we hear him attack, we'll intervene and rescue her. Brandon will be tied up and the cops called.”
“Wait.” Spider frowned. “The cops will want to interview us. We can't let that happen.”
Alia put her hands on her knees, brushing the top of her knee-high boots with her nails. “This part is Moth's idea.”
“We have a few contacts who would be happy to earn a bit of money.” I watched the guys’ reaction.
There was a risk getting others involved, however, the men we were hiring had helped us with various nefarious missions before. They were men who would cover for us and would never speak our names.
“You'll get the others to model too?” Ant asked, his gaze narrowed on me. “And we get out of there before the cops come.”
Inclining my head, I glanced at Alia. “As long as Brandon is knocked out – self-defense – and Alia isn't hurt, we'll leave, swapping in the other models as doubles to give evidence.”
“Sorry,” Spider rubbed his neck, his nails catching the legs of his spider tattoo. “Why aren't we just getting rid of this guy? This sounds like hassle we don't need.”
Alia's gaze snapped to me, her eyes widening. She was clearly afraid that the whole thing would fall apart with our refusal.
“Alia has chosen her revenge for Brandon.”
“He fucked me up,” Fly butted in, “I could choose a different revenge, one much more painful.” He smirked at Alia. “Wouldn't you enjoy that more?”
Alia shook her head. “No, he's claustrophobic. I want him to live a life where he has no freedom. Jail time is the only way.”
Ant snorted and Spider laughed loudly. I held my tongue, not wanting to shit on Alia's idea of revenge.
“Beautiful woman,” Spider said, tilting his head to the side, “we're the kings of vengeance. I promise you there's many ways he can suffer long term.”
Standing, Alia strode to the TV and turned to face us. “I appreciate your offer of…” She frowned. “…I'm not quite sure, but I think this is the best way. If he doesn't get time, I'll rethink my plan. By that time, you guys will have moved on…”
She dipped her gaze when I bared my teeth. Fucking hell, no one else was supposed to know about our vow, much less one of the people that had previously been on our hit list.
“Yeah,” Fly spoke up, “we've got a lot of work to do.”
The others nodded, not questioning Alia's choice of words. Good. Clearly, it was just my fucked up brain that had read more into it than she meant.