sure you don't wanna put a bullet in his brain right now?" Nadia asked, her hands on her wide hips as she scowled down at the unconscious man. "Save yourself a hell of a headache."
I grimaced. "You have no idea how tempting that is, Nadia." I kicked Chase again, just letting out a little pent-up frustration, then took the pie box from her. "Drop him out into the alleyway or something. He should focus blame on me, but—"
"If he burns my café down, you'll be paying for it," she finished for me with a stern look.
My lips twitched with a smile, equally shocked and impressed that she gave zero shits who she was speaking to with that attitude. No wonder Cass had such respect for women with a role model like her.
"Absolutely," I confirmed. "Best keep some of these boys around for personal safety too." I nodded to the Reapers, who weren't even pretending not to be listening in.
Nadia pursed her lips and gave a tight nod. "I've stayed alive this long; I'm no idiot. You just take care of..." she drifted her eyes to Zed, then back to me with a meaningful look "...of your family. Understood?"
The message was loud and clear. Keep Cass safe and alive, or I'd have Nadia to deal with.
I jerked a nod. "Thank you for the pie."
She huffed. "Thank you for the entertainment."
Zed and I exited the café as several of the big Reapers moved to haul Chase up roughly. Our car was right there outside, so we didn't speak until we were back on the road again, my fresh pie sitting warm in my lap. Yum.
"What did we just dose him with, and why was it in your pocket, Dare?" Zed asked as he drove, shooting me an amused look.
I smirked. "Chloral hydrate. Demi gave me that little vial months ago when I was having trouble sleeping. She puts just one drop of it in her chamomile tea when she can't switch her brain off from work."
Zed gave an amused huff. "Lucky break."
I shrugged. "I'll take it. And now we know that Chase hasn't changed all that much. Better the devil we know, right?"
"Too true," he murmured, then cranked the music up loud as we drove in the direction of our paid pathology lab. No time like the present to get Chase's sample analyzed.
14
Zed wanted to sit at the lab and watch our tech run the DNA samples through so there could be no possibility of contamination or corruption in the results. But I was bored as hell and itching to see Lucas, so I left Zed there and took his car home.
After I parked and headed into the house, I followed the sound of thumping music through to the gym, where I found Lucas, shirtless and sweaty, pounding the crap out of one of the punching bags.
His music was up loud enough that he didn't hear me enter, so I stood there for a while, watching him like a giant creep. Okay, in fairness I was a little bit checking his form and taking mental notes of things he could tweak to tighten his guard or add force to his hooks. Mostly I was drooling over the way his muscles bunched and shifted, his sweat gleaming on every slope and angle as he ran through one of Zed's training combinations.
When the song on the stereo ended, he stepped back from the bag with his freshly tattooed chest heaving and his gloved hands hanging loose at his sides.
"Not bad," I commented, startling him. "You're a quick learner."
His smile spread wide, then he used his teeth to loosen the Velcro on one of his gloves. He pulled them off, tossing them aside as he crossed the room towards me.
"How long were you watching me, Hayden?" His eyes were heated and his expression predatory as he stalked closer.
I grinned, unable to help myself, and tipped my head back to hold his gaze when he got close enough to touch. "Not long," I admitted. "You've got good form. Keep training with Zed and you'll be asking to fight at Anarchy soon."
Lucas scoffed a laugh. "And risk messing up this face? Hell no." He braced his hand on the wall behind me, then leaned down and caught my mouth in a gentle, unhurried kiss.
I leaned into his touch, parting my lips and weaving my arms around his sweaty neck as he deepened the kiss. Fucking hell, Lucas was like something straight out of my dirtiest dreams. I