prefer. Czar wanted us to put down roots here and each of us to find a home. All of us more or less chose one that suited us best, depending on needs. This one appealed to me because it has space and I like that. I need it. I like to see what’s coming at me. I think all of us do. But I want you to see it and make up your own mind about it. I haven’t really lived there. I stay here at the clubhouse as a rule until I can’t take the noise around me and need solitude.”
“Why would it matter if I don’t like the house?”
She was going to make him lay it out for her. He glanced at Savage and then over at Mechanic. Both men got up from the bar stools without a word. Savage drifted over toward the front door and draped his muscular frame casually against the wall, pulling out his phone to look over text messages. He rarely texted anyone, so it was probably a ruse, although he looked thoroughly engaged. Mechanic leaned on the bar right beside the door leading to the back rooms where all the bedrooms and the back exits were. His solid body was between Scarlet and any doors just in case she got it in her head to make a break for it.
“I want you to stay with me. Give the library your notice and live with me. The Venomous club isn’t going to back down. Holden made it clear that he’s putting the word out to other clubs as well, so it won’t be safe to go back to work. You already know that. You only have two choices. You can run, hit that go-bag you have hidden in the wall back at your house.”
It wasn’t there anymore. Already, Steele and Maestro were cleaning out her house of everything she’d left behind and bringing it to the clubhouse. They’d sweep for anything she might have hidden carefully. She wasn’t going back there either, not for money, not for passports, not for anything that might get her killed.
“Or you can stay here and make a try with me.”
Scarlet’s gaze clung to his. He could see the longing there, but then fear crept in. Rejection. She was used to running. Hiding. She believed Holden was a powerful man.
“We’re assassins, Scarlet. Eighteen of us, the original Torpedo Ink members, trained from the time we were children. We have an additional two members: Czar’s brothers both trained in other schools, also from the time they were children. That brings us to twenty. We recently patched over twenty-five members of a club, all trained in a school one step down from ours. Trained assassins, all experienced. All lethal. They could wipe up the floor with a club like the Venomous club. With our prospects and theirs, we’re at fifty. All trained assassins. We aren’t talking men who might have some military training or think they’re badasses because they grew up on the streets.”
“I don’t want any of you to get hurt. He’s very vindictive and he’ll never stop.”
Absinthe shrugged. “He’s going to die. We’re already locked on to him. I want you to come home with me, look at the house and decide if you want that one or if you want to go house hunting. I need to talk with you alone. We have to decide one way or another if you can live with me. I know I can live with you. I want you to stay with me permanently. For me, it’s a done deal. You have to be as certain. Either way, whatever decision you make, I swear, we’ll protect you until Holden’s dead, then you can go your way if I’m not what you want.”
Scarlet’s gaze moved over his face and then jumped back to his eyes. “Any woman in her right mind would want to be with you, Absinthe. I’m not a great bet.”
“Ledi, did I not tell you that I’ve already taken the leap? My brothers know it. My sisters as well. I want you to say yes to me. That’s all I need from you. One fuckin’ word. Come to the house. Look it over. Hear me out and tell me yes or no.” He didn’t wait. He stood up and held out his hand, giving her no option. “A couple of the brothers will come with us just to make certain none of the Venomous club members lose their minds