Give Me War - Kate McCarthy Page 0,18

looks at me. “We got a problem.”

Like we didn’t have one before? “What is it?”

“Ren is undercover. A narc.”

“How the hell is Wild Renny now a narcotics agent, and what the hell is he doing snatching up my sister?” Coby barks.

Mitch shakes his head. “We don’t know. The issue is that he’s in deep. Been in for a long time. We have orders not to compromise his identity or their operation.”

I look at my brother, knowing I’m about to mess with his career, but Evie’s more important than some drug operation, no matter how deep or how compromised this Renny asshole is. “Sorry, Mitch, you can bow out if you need to and I’ll understand, but I’m not sitting back, and I’m not standing down.” My voice hardens. “Fuck your orders.”

Kelly nods beside me as he looks at Mitch. “Fuck your orders.”

Coby steps up too, eyes flat and arms folded. “Fuck your orders.”

Mitch works his jaw for a moment before rising to his feet. He looks at me and nods. “Copy that. Let’s go get Evie.”

5

EVIE

You’re just some asshole I used to know.”

Renny sucks in a sharp breath and turns his head, as if my words sliced right through him and he’s trying to breathe past it. I falter, the pain in his expression sending me off kilter. “I guess I deserve that.”

“You deserve everything that’s coming your way,” I tell him, knowing the Valentines are going to tear him apart.

“I almost got you killed.”

My fingers tighten around the gun in my hands, but I can’t seem to stop my eyes from drifting over the familiar lines of his face. The full lips, a mouth that used to savage mine with every kiss. Thick, black lashes that lured me in. Lush dark hair long enough to curl your fingers in. My gaze lowers over the wide shoulders, thick biceps, the tension in his fisted hands. My eyes lift from their inspection to find him watching me intently.

Renny had walked away from me without a backwards glance. He’s nothing but a bastard with pretty lies and bad boy ways. “So what,” I snap, “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again?”

He barks out a laugh. A fucking laugh. “I missed that about you.”

“Missed what?” I ask, forcing him to keep moving into what looked like another bedroom.

“Your humour,” he replies, his palms up as he glances behind him, giving the space a quick scan. I follow him in, my eyes sweeping the same space and finding it biker free. There’s nothing in here but a brown sofa bed, a side table with drawers, and musty, weathered floorboards.

I shift further in and put my back to the wall. “I wasn’t trying to be funny. I’m pissed off. And I have a gun, you know.” I wave it a little, reminding him that I’m the one with the upper hand here.

“Evie …” He shakes his head, and his dark eyes turn serious as he tucks the amusement away. “I put you in the hospital! What kind of asshole does that to the girl he’s supposed to love? I was no good for you, and Coby and Henry made damn sure I knew it too.”

My brow pulls together. “What do you mean?”

“They beat the shit out of me that night. Told me to fuck off and never come back.”

“They did what?” My voice comes out winded and it feels like I can’t breathe.

His brow lifts in a sardonic arch. “Oh, they didn’t tell you that part?”

My brother left me thinking Renny didn’t give a single shit and I’ve carried that with me all this time? “No, they didn’t.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know.”

My nostrils flare. “Clearly.”

“Don’t be mad. Not at them. We both know I deserved it.” He takes a step toward me. “I’m sorry, Evie. I’m so sorry.”

I shake my head. “It’s too late for that.”

“It’s never too late,” he says softly, sounding like the Renny I used to know. The one I thought I loved with every ounce of my naïve teenage heart. I struggle against the urge to cry and jerk my head at the two sets of drawers that sit unadorned on either side of the bed. “Where do you keep your other weapons? In those?”

He ignores my question. “I loved you, Evie.”

I didn’t know that either.

Oh God.

My voice comes out hoarse. “Renny.”

There’s heat in his eyes now when he looks at me, and in another lifetime that look use to burn me like fire. “I did.”

“Please don’t.”

But