He sat down and Kayleigh, who looked like her muscles might be too tight to bend, went over and stood behind the wing-backed chair, pressing her palms into the back of it, as if trying to hold herself up. She had to be exhausted, he had been, before the adrenaline shot he’d gotten when Georgia was taken. He felt like shit for dragging Kayleigh around, but he’d tried to get her to lie down earlier and she’d refused. He figured it was a damned good thing he didn’t do the bodyguard thing for a living. His charge didn’t listen well, and thanks to his own shit, she was likely to come out of the situation traumatized for life.
“Card Room,” the voice that answered the phone on the other end of the line said.
“I want to talk to Bandit.”
“He ain’t here.”
“Where is he?”
“Well, since it’s five fucking thirty a.m., I’m gonna guess, sleeping in his bed at home.”
“This is Razor.” The smartass on the other end went silent. “Is he there now?”
“Nope. Still not here. Aren’t you sad that your fucking stupid name doesn’t make people appear?”
“I can tell you know who I am, which also means you know he wants to talk to me.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Give me your number. We’ll let him decide.”
Razor rattled off the number to the disposable phone he’d bought the night before. Hunter took a bag of peanuts out of one of his pockets and for the next five minutes, the only sound in the room was him rattling the package, and offering them out to Kayleigh, who declined. When the phone buzzed, Razor answered it on the first ring.
“Bandit?”
“Well, if it ain’t Casanova himself. Killed any women lately?”
“Fuck you, you piece of shit. I didn’t kill Lisette, and you know that because you did.”
“Cheaters never prosper,” Bandit said, coldly. “I tried to tell her that many times. You fucking her was the same as killing her, so I wouldn’t go around patting myself on the back if I were you.”
“I didn’t call to talk about Lisette. You know that. Where’s my sister?”
“Your sister? Hmm, you’ll have to be more specific.”
“Stop fucking playing games with me! You took her, or your men did. Where is she?”
“She wouldn’t be that big, ugly Cajun woman who won’t shut the fuck up, would she?”
“I swear to God if you touched one hair on her head…”
Bandit laughed. “I can see the talking too much is a family trait. She’s fine. No one has touched her. Truth is, she scares me a little. I would never touch her. If she needed to be touched, I’d have one of my guys do it. That’s why I pay them the big bucks, for unpleasant tasks like that. Women just shouldn’t be that big, you know? It’s unnatural. But you and I have the same kind of taste, don’t we? We like those petite women. Sure, didn’t take you long to find another little spitfire almost as soon as Lisette died. This one had an old man too, didn’t she? Did you set him up…?”
“Where is my sister, you motherfucker?!” Razor didn’t like Bandit talking about Kayleigh. It stood to reason if he’d been following them, he knew about her, and now Razor was beginning to wonder if leaving her alone with only Titan to watch over her had been a good idea.
“Take a breath. Your ginormous sister is fine…for now.”
“What the fuck do you want from me? I don’t want to play any more of your fucking games, okay? Just tell me once and for all what you want.”
“Pushy for a man in the passenger seat,” Bandit said with a snort, but at last he did say what he wanted, and it made Razor sick to his stomach. “I want the NOPD off my fucking back. I want you to call that Petit son of a bitch and tell him you shot Lisbeth, and then go turn your big ass in.”
Razor wasn’t going to let Bandit kill Georgia…but the thought of going to prison made him feel like he couldn’t breathe. “If I refuse your terms, then what?”
“Then your big, ugly sister is going to need a big, ugly coffin. I hope she knows a lot of people because I’d say she’ll need at least eight pallbearers.”
The rage hissed through Razor’s veins like a snake getting ready to strike. He had to force himself to take another deep breath before saying, “I want to see her first. I need to know she’s