Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 138315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 692(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
“Right.”
“I’m supposed to get you a plaque,” she said confusingly.
“What?” he asked, not following.
“Evie and Ryn told me when I showed them this today,” she tipped her head to the sculpture. “Now that it’s official, you know, you and me, you need a plaque for your workstation.”
He felt his lips curve up because this had become a thing.
Evie started it with Mag. Got him a #1 BOYFRIEND plaque to sit at his workstation. It changed when they got engaged. It’d no doubt change again when they got married.
Ryn did the same, and the plaque Boone had declared him her hero.
“They suggested, ‘Axl Pantera, The Wind Beneath My Wings,’ ” she told him.
“Please, fuck, do not give me a plaque that says that.”
She grinned up at him.
Her grin faded and she traced his cheekbone with her thumb, murmuring, “I’ll figure out something.”
“Baby,” he called, and her gaze went from her thumb, which was now at the corner of his mouth, to his eyes. “I love it.”
“Good,” she whispered.
“And I love you.”
“Good,” she repeated, still whispering.
“Thanks for adding Jordan to my house.”
Her warm brown eyes melted.
“You’re welcome.”
“Wanna move in?” he asked.
She did a slow blink.
When she was done doing that, there was no describing what was in her eyes.
It was just a feeling.
And that feeling had a focal point in the left side of his chest.
And then she said, “Absolutely.”
And when she was done doing that …
Well, that was when he kissed her.
While he was doing it, Molly started yapping.
And Welly used the distraction to pee in the corner.
* * *
HAWK
Hawk folded into the backseat of the town car next to Cisco.
“Joe,” Cisco said the minute he closed his door.
The car started moving.
Hawk had taken in that Cisco had come prepared for this late-night meeting.
Gone was the man’s usual suit, he was in jeans, boots and a sweater.
They were nice jeans, boots and sweater. Hawk knew they cost more than he would ever pay for clothes (not more than his wife would pay for his clothes, which was why he had jeans, boots and sweaters in his closet much like that).
But Cisco wasn’t going casual because the workday was done.
He wasn’t feeling anything hindering his movements tonight.
“Don’t got a good feeling?” he asked.
“I never enjoy a chat with Brandi,” Cisco replied.
They agreed on something.
“You get why she wanted this talk, just you and me?” Hawk went on.
For the first time since he entered the car, Cisco turned his head to look at Hawk, “I have no idea.”
“Credit where it’s due, you’ve been solid through this, man,” Hawk said to him.
Cisco turned again to face forward. “I had motivation.”
“The women.”
Cisco didn’t reply.
Hawk faced forward as well and murmured, “Heard rumors.”
“Never believe rumors.”
These ones, considering Cisco’s recent behavior, Hawk was prone to believe.
“It’s happened in Denver before,” Hawk stated.
And it had.
Twice.
When Darius Tucker and Shirleen Jackson exited the game and went legit.
And when Marcus Sloan and Ren Zano did the same and became partners in a legal operation.
“Yes, and when that happened, we got Benito Valenzuela,” Cisco reminded him.
Not much surprised Hawk Delgado.
That surprised him.
He turned to the man again. “You’re saying—”
Cisco also turned to him. “I’m not saying anything.”
“No,” Hawk stated firmly. “You’re saying you’re making moves to get out, doing it protecting Denver from a psychopath like Valenzuela.”
What Cisco said next didn’t confirm.
And it absolutely did.
“Hypothetically, if one were to endeavor not to make the mistakes made before him, actually learn from history for once, in reviewing how those before had taken their bows, one would note that the mistake they all made was that they didn’t select then train their successor in the proper way to go about things.”
Hawk felt one side of his mouth tick up.
Cisco ignored it and faced forward.
They were silent the rest of the way.
Not that B had ever been mighty, but even if there wasn’t far to fall, where she was now, she’d fallen to it.
It aspired to be a flophouse.
Christ.
“Charming,” Cisco murmured as he opened his door and got out.
Hawk did the same.
And with Joe at their back, they moved to the front door of the complex that might actually have no management. It looked abandoned.
So it was a squat.
Hawk didn’t miss Cisco had sent men ahead and they were positioned.
He also hadn’t missed the piece on Cisco’s hip.
He was also strapped.
Once inside, there wasn’t a lot of light, and what there was, was coming from candles since the electricity had been turned off. There was almost zero furniture except mattresses that had probably been hauled from a dump. Last, there were a number of smells, none of them pleasant.
And when they made it to the room where B had taken up residence, they saw the only real piece of furniture in the place.
The chair from where she was currently reigning.
She had a standing lamp next to her throwing light. That lamp had an extension cord that ran out the window, so she was stealing the juice from somewhere else.