Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
“Sure. I’ll have MaeBe set it all up,” his uncle said. “That girl can teleconference like no one else. And now she shoots people, so my job here is done.”
He ignored the sarcasm. It was a talent he’d been forced to develop over the years. “You’re going to have to have Hutch do it. Mae is going to be on that plane.”
“Is she?” his uncle asked.
“I bet she’s not,” Alex offered. “I got a hundred that says she does not get on that plane.”
“I am not taking that bet,” Ian replied. “I would bet a grand that Kyle’s going to get his balls kicked in.”
Alex’s head shook. “Nah, see that’s a bet I wouldn’t take the opposite side of.”
“I think that already happened.” Drake gave him an apologetic frown. “You’re walking a little bowlegged, man.”
“She did?” Taylor was shaking her head. “I thought she was a civvie. The way Kyle talks about her she’s barely able to protect herself from bees. He describes her like a fainting damsel in distress.”
“Not anymore,” Ian said.
“I never described her like that.” Disappointment twisted his gut. And his balls still hurt. “MaeBe is smart and capable, but not all strength comes from muscle. She doesn’t have to be some ball buster to deserve respect.”
“No. She needs to be a ball buster to survive Julia Ennis and feel somewhat safe,” his uncle countered. “I’m going to give you some advice, and you can take it or you can continue to fuck up. Don’t treat her like a doll you cuddle at night and put in a glass case when you don’t want her to get dirty. If you love that woman, get on your damn knees and beg her forgiveness because you were wrong. People in love discuss their problems. Dumbasses fake their deaths. You want to talk to one? Call your Aunt Charlotte. You know what she did when she came back? Apologized and got on her knees.”
“Do not talk about that blow job,” Alex said with a sigh. “We don’t need to hear about it again.”
His uncle had zero discretion. “I promise I’m going to make it all up to her, but after she’s safe. Drake, Taylor, and I have to travel for a bit, and we kicked the hornet’s nest, as proven tonight. Julia’s not going to stay away from MaeBe any longer. Loa Mali is safe. She’ll be secure, and we’ll handle everything when I come back.”
If he came back.
“It’ll be too late, but I can’t convince you of that.” Ian gestured to the rental. “If you have a brain cell left in your head, you’ll bring her to the office tomorrow morning at ten and we’ll strategize. If not, well, I would watch your balls, nephew. Drake, you have more sense than he does. You want my people to help, be there at ten.”
He and Alex had that body in the back of Alex’s SUV in quick time, and then they were taking off for wherever the hell they kept a freezer big enough to keep a body in.
“We need them,” Drake said, a grim expression on his face.
He wasn’t wrong. “Then Taylor can escort Mae, and she can meet us when we figure out where we should look for the intel.”
“You okay with that, baby?” Drake asked the question carefully, as though he wasn’t at all sure of the answer.
Taylor’s lips curled up, and she winked her boyfriend’s way. “Sure. I’ll get MaeBe where she needs to go. You two handle Taggart.”
At least one of the women in his life was reasonable.
It was time to deal with the one who wasn’t.
* * * *
And she was back in the car again.
That was how she felt. Like that scene from Jurassic Park where they managed to get out of the car that was stuck in the massive tree only to have the car fall on them and they were right back where they’d started.
And she had a T-Rex after her. Julia might not appreciate the comparison, but Mae wasn’t feeling particularly fair right now.
“You okay?” West had followed her inside and had spent the last couple of minutes talking to the guards Big Tag had dragged out of bed to watch over her. Again. West had two small bags in his hands.
She knew what those were. The group used Sanctum as a safe house often enough that they kept toiletry bags available for the refugees who sought sanctuary here. They usually didn’t have time to pack a bag.
That had been the nice part about the first time around. She’d at least had a bag of her clothes and her computers and some of her things. Naturally Kyle Hawthorne was back and she’d lost everything again.
Also not fair, but she didn’t care in the moment.
“I’m fine.” She sank down on the lounge chair. It might be smarter to go up to the third floor where the privacy rooms would serve as their bedrooms, but it would merely put off the inevitable. Kyle would find a way to get inside whatever door she locked, and she would rather have it out here and now. “Thanks for picking that up for me. I’m going to sit down here and deal with Kyle.”