So far, he and Martin hadn’t seen anyone who looked like the bitch or her son.
That failure made the last twenty-four hours even more painful. If Lloyd had to sit here with Martin for one more day, he’d kill the fucker before their mission was completed. Spending so much time with him, in such close quarters, just reinforced his decision to ditch the man before returning to Jamaica.
Martin couldn’t keep his fucking mouth shut. He kept talking about killing the bitch’s ex, about how much fun it was. Then he went into great detail about other people he’d offed. Lloyd even learned about the three women he’d kidnapped off the streets of Kingston and raped, murdered, then dumped.
There was no way Martin would be able to keep his big trap shut about what had happened on this trip.
For now, Lloyd needed him. But after they killed Cassidy and had the brat, Martin was excess baggage, and he would die.
Lifting the binoculars and doing his best to ignore whatever his partner was babbling about now, Lloyd saw that a vehicle had gone through the gates while he’d been thinking about the most satisfying way to kill Martin.
“Is that her?” Martin asked.
Lloyd opened his mouth to tell Martin to shut the fuck up. He’d heard the same question four hundred and fifty-three times in the last twenty-four hours, or at least it seemed that way.
The truck parked, and a boy got out of the back seat. Then, when a female got out, Lloyd’s heart rate increased.
He couldn’t see the driver, except to note the man was big. He got out on the far side of the truck, and Lloyd glimpsed his back for just a fraction before they entered the building.
He put down the binoculars and smiled. “It’s her,” he said in satisfaction.
“It’s about time!” Martin exclaimed.
For the first time in days, Lloyd agreed with his partner about something.
“Let’s go get her,” Martin said.
“Not yet. There’s way too much traffic right now,” he reasoned. They’d seen multiple men and women going in and out all day. “We’ll wait until some of the assholes inside leave.”
“But what if they don’t?” Martin argued. “We can take them. Come on, let’s just get her and the brat!”
“I said no,” Lloyd yelled, losing his temper. “We can’t take on an entire building full of people. We’ll watch for a bit. See what happens. If nothing else, we can follow her back to wherever she’s staying. She’s not getting away from us now.”
Familiar hate welled up within Lloyd. He’d had a good life with Michael Coke. And she’d ruined it. She’d pay for killing his boss . . . and he couldn’t wait.
Chapter Seventeen
Cassidy couldn’t remember ever being as happy as she was right this moment. Leo seemed to understand her better than anyone ever had. Since they’d made love, things had just clicked between them. They’d had a few misunderstandings, but nothing like the knock-down, drag-out fights she and Alfred used to have.
Leo was generally pretty easygoing, except when it came to her or Mario’s safety. She’d had to put her foot down once or twice, most recently when he’d been on the verge of going to a car dealership to buy her a vehicle. She hated taking his money, wanted to be able to equally contribute to their household. She knew that would take a while, but in the meantime, him spending extravagant amounts of money on her wasn’t going to happen, especially when she didn’t need a vehicle right this moment.
She could accept Leo’s paying for Mario’s cheerleading, gymnastics, and dance lessons. She could even stomach him paying for the materials to decorate Mario’s room. But a car? No. Mario took the bus to and from school. Leo drove her to Silverstone Towing and home when she was done working. If she needed to run errands, Leo also took her, or she called Molly, Taylor, or Skylar. She hadn’t driven a car in five years and honestly wasn’t in any hurry to get behind the wheel. Leo had given in, but Cassidy knew it was hard for him.
They’d also been very careful not to let Mario know about the change in their physical relationship, but it seemed as if her son wasn’t going to be traumatized when they did tell him.
The first morning, when the alarm had gone off and Cassidy’d had to leave Leo’s arms to go into the guest room, she’d hated it.
The second morning, when they’d been back at her apartment and Leo had gotten up to go out to the couch, she’d hated it even more.
It had already been a week of forcing herself to leave the warmth of Leo’s bed and embrace, and him doing the same, and she was ready to ease into the topic with Mario.
Her son came out of his freshly painted pink room at Leo’s house for breakfast.
“Morning, champ,” Leo said before kissing her on the temple and heading up the stairs to shower.
“Scrambled eggs with chorizo this morning?” Cassidy asked.
“Yes, please,” Mario told her. He pulled himself up onto a stool and put his elbows on the granite bar . . . and proceeded to stare at her.
“Something on your mind?” she asked, wracking her brain as to how to start a conversation with her son about Leo and herself being together together.
“Are you going to marry Leo?” Mario blurted.
Choking back a surprised gasp, Cassidy looked at her son. “Why would you ask that?”
“It’s just . . . he’s always touching you and kissing you, and we stay over here a lot. I was just wondering.”
“Would that bother you?” Cassidy asked, and held her breath as she waited for his answer. “I mean, it’s been just the two of us for a long time.”
“I like him,” Mario said softly. “He never rolls his eyes at me, and he doesn’t think the things I like are dumb.”
Cassidy forced herself to stay quiet. She knew the men in the Coke household, and the kids, too, had made fun of her son. They’d thought he was too effeminate and hadn’t had a problem telling him to grow up. To be more of a man.
“But what I like most about Leo is that he treats you good. He doesn’t yell at you or tell you you’re stupid, like Dad used to.”
“You remember that?” she asked.
Mario shrugged. “I’m not a baby,” he said.
Which was true. It made her sad and scared her to death at the same time. “I love Leo,” she told her son. “I’ve been happier with him than I’ve been in a really long time.”
“Me too,” Mario admitted. “So you’re going to marry him?”
“I don’t know about that. But we are dating, for now. Is that okay?”
Mario nodded. “I like his house. There’s more space here. He has a yard I can practice some of my cheers in.”
Cassidy smiled at her son and walked around the bar so she could hug him. “I love you, Mario. You know that, right?”
“I love you too,” he told her.
“We’ve been through some hard stuff, but I promise that things will get better from here on out. I know you’re getting older, but I hope you’ll always feel as if you can talk to me. About anything.”
Mario hugged her back, then looked at her shyly. “It’s okay if he stays in your room all night, Mom.”