ran a hand over his short beard. "You really okay, kid? Those boys treating you right?"
My brows flickered up. "Uh, if you're asking about my relationships—"
"I'm not," he cut me off with a huff of Cass-laughter. "I just mean if they're still pulling their bullshit with you, you know what to do. Call me and I'll clean up the bodies."
I laughed properly this time. "Aw Grumpy, you do care. Don't worry, though. I'd just chuck them to the pigs, and no one would ever find the evidence." I gave him a feral grin, and his eyes widened slightly.
"Well shit," he muttered, "that's more like it. Get out of here. Text me and let me know you're home safe."
"Can do," I agreed, heading across the parking lot to where the guys waited with our car. Then a thought crossed my mind, and I spun back around to look at Cass. "Hey, how's your girl?"
The glare he shot me was pure violence, and I just grinned wider. Still unavailable was my guess. When my own drama was all wrapped up, I was going to have to work out who this mystery woman was. She had to be someone pretty cool to have Mr. Grumpy all tied up in knots.
"All good?" Steele asked as I slid into the backseat beside him.
I jerked a nod. "Yep, Cass is cool."
Archer huffed a short laugh as he pulled out of the parking lot, leaving Cass standing over Zane's unconscious form. "Yeah, he's not bad."
"Hell of a lot better than Zane," Kody added. "We should sort that out one of these days."
I wrinkled my nose. "Sort what out?"
Steele shot me a grin. "Zane. He's out-lived his usefulness and is starting to become an annoyance."
"You're going to kill him?" I don't know why I was startled by that idea. Maybe because he was Archer's brother? Or because he'd once loved my mom? I didn't know.
Archer was the one to answer me. "Not today," he said, his tone thoughtful. "But one of these days, he'll push me too damn far. The only reason he's alive now is because I'm grateful to him."
I blinked at him in the rear-view mirror. "For what?"
He gave a small shrug. "He told you what I was hiding, and I'm glad he did."
His gaze held mine far longer than was safe, then slowly shifted back to the road ahead of us. I said nothing back, because he was right. Zane had done us all a favor, whether he’d meant to or not.
19
The next week was uneventful. Too uneventful. By the time the following weekend rolled around, I was jumping at every shadow, flinching at every beep of a phone or knock at the door. Put simply? I was a fucking mess.
Which was why it was such a relief when Leon came strolling into the den with his laptop tucked under his arm. For a mercenary, he was awfully attached to that thing. Then again, what the fuck did I know? I'd never met mercenaries before him and Danny.
"Madison Kate," he greeted me with a short nod. "Your men around somewhere?"
I arched a brow at him, the spoonful of ice cream halfway to my lips. "Why? You have something wrong with talking to me directly?"
There was really no reason to take that attitude with Leon, except that I was all kinds of twitchy and snapping at anyone who so much as looked at me. My stalker had been silent ever since the night of the break in. No packages, no notes, no creepy phone calls. It was like he’d just gotten bored and disappeared.
Leon didn’t take the bait, though. "Actually, I don't want to repeat myself twice. Danny and I have another job to get to tomorrow, so I need to debrief on everything we've sorted out here."
I sat up in a rush, placing my ice cream on the table. "Shit, sorry, I totally lost track of the days. I'll grab them and be back here in five."
Leon just waved a hand like he didn't care, and I scurried out of the room. Kody and Archer were in the gym training—my session wasn't for another two hours, which was why I'd been pre-gaming on ice cream—and Steele was swimming laps in the pool.
By the time we’d all made it back to the den, Danny had joined Leon, and she had a thick folder of papers in her hands.
"Alright," Leon said, checking his watch as we all sat down. "We have five minutes before the next guard