We don’t talk the rest of the journey, and I purposely focus on staring out of the passenger side window to stop myself from sneaking peeks at Saint. None of us buys the horseshit he’s peddling, and I’m worried about him. We all know Sinner is capable of killing his mother, and it would explain her absence, but her running off when Saint was born stacks up too. By then, she would’ve realized who knocked her up. It’s disgusting to think she left an innocent child with a monster, but it’s not inconceivable to imagine her running. She would’ve known not to run when she was pregnant. Sinner would never have let her take off with his kid, so maybe it was her plan all along.
The only thing we know for sure is we’ll never find out, and Sinner isn’t above using whatever means necessary to control his son.
The guys wait at the abandoned store, like last time, and I take Saint’s Land Rover, driving it to the sleazy biker bar and parking it outside.
I spot the back of Darrow’s head the second I walk into the dive, making a beeline for the booth he’s in, pressing down on my necklace to activate the recording device so the guys can listen in. Diesel gave Theo access to the cloud drive the recordings automatically copy to, and he synced it to an app on the guys’ cell phones.
“You’re late,” Dar barks as I slide into the seat across from him.
“Bite me,” I drawl.
“I wait for no one,” he adds, his eyes dropping to my chest.
“I see you still have a healthy god complex.” I lean back casually in the booth.
His tongue darts out, wetting his lips, as his eyes stay glued to my cleavage.
He’s such a dog. “Eyes on my face, asshole.”
He leers at me, running his finger around the rim of his half-empty glass. “I miss fucking your tight cunt,” he admits, and I imagine the guys are restraining Saint right about now. “Tempest’s no fun in bed.”
“Not my problem, and not what we’re here to discuss.” I slide the lipstick across the table to him.
“What the fuck is this?” His brows knit together as he stares at it.
“It’s a USB stick with a ton of my father’s files on it.” I had almost forgotten I’d copied those files as a backup a few months ago. I know this won’t appease Darrow much, but it’s the best we could come up with at short notice. “You’ll be able to get more of your guys out of the joint.”
“This isn’t what we agreed.” He drains his beer and slams the bottle down on the table, clicking his fingers at the bottle-blonde behind the counter. “We agreed you’d get me current intel on what The Sainthood is up to, and you’ve given me jack shit.” Spittle flies from his mouth, and his nostrils flare.
I must have been temporarily brain-dead to ever find him attractive.
“I was in the fucking hospital, and I can’t pull intel from my ass,” I snap, my patience stretching thin. My fingers twitch with the ever-increasing need to put a bullet in his skull. I should’ve taken the opportunity when he kidnapped me, because he’s a fucking nuisance, and he’s getting on my last nerve. I unsheathe my knife, letting the feel of it in my palm ground me.
“This is piss-poor, and you know it.” He grinds his teeth, and his eyes narrow to slits. The waitress plonks a fresh beer down on the table, and Darrow yanks her to him, slamming his mouth against hers and shoving his tongue in her mouth, all while keeping his eyes open and staring at me.
Anger burns red hot in his eyes at my lack of reaction. Abruptly, he pulls back, grabbing her wrist to keep her in place. “But you can make it up to me.” Placing his gun on top of the table, he leers at me again, and I know what he’s going to say before he says it. “Join me and Jazzie in the back room, and I won’t put a bullet in your treacherous cunt.”
I press the sharp edge of my knife to his balls under the table, grinning as his eyes widen in alarm, and his body stiffens. “I wouldn’t fuck you if you were the last man on Earth and my pussy was about to shrivel up and die. Slide the gun over the table, and I won’t push this knife into your balls and chop off your cock.”
I press in a bit harder when he doesn’t immediately move, and he jerks against the seat, hissing through his teeth. “You are so dead, Lo.”
“Brave words for a man with a knife pressed against his dick.”
Blondie’s eyes widen, and her lips twitch. Reaching across him, she takes the gun and hands it to me.
I nod my thanks. “At least someone still has a functioning brain.”
“We’re done, Lo,” Darrow growls as I withdraw my knife, curling my gloved hand around the gun, pointing it at him. “You’d better watch your back.”
I slip my Strider in my back pocket. “We’re done because I say we’re done, and if anyone needs to watch his back, it’s you. The last person who tried to take me out didn’t fare so well.”
I slide out of the booth, keeping the gun trained on him. “And I need little incentive when it comes to your cheating ass.” I glance at the gun in my hand. “This is the second weapon I have with your fingerprints on it.” I lean down into his face, pinching his cheek. “There are more ways than violence or death to take down an enemy, and you’d do well to remember that.”
I snatch the USB drive from the table. “I’ll be holding on to this now.” He can fuck off if he thinks I’m giving him anything.
He pushes Blondie away, clenching his fists on top of the table. “This isn’t the last you’ve seen of me, Lo. You’ve made a grave mistake.”
“I’m quaking in my boots.” I throw back my head, laughing as I back away, keeping the gun trained on my ex. “Have a nice life, asshole,” I say just before I exit, hurrying to the car and peeling out of there.
_______________
“HE’S GOING TO make you his mission now,” Theo says when the guys are back inside the car and Saint is situated behind the wheel again.
“Let him try,” Saint snarls, thrusting the car forward.
Galen’s cell pings, and he cracks up laughing. “Man, he’s pathetic.”
I look into the back seat, grinning. “Darrow is nothing if not predictable.”
“You should meet with him,” Theo says. “Hear what he’s planning.”
“It could be a trap,” Saint suggests.
“Nah.” Galen shakes his head, and waves of dark, silky hair fall into his eyes. He tosses them aside with a flip of his head. “He still thinks I want Lo dead. I can tell him I’m even more bloodthirsty now that I was almost killed in the explosion that was meant for her.”
“Cold.” Saint grins wickedly at his cousin.
“But perfect,” Caz adds.
“Perfect would be his head on a spike,” Saint snarls. “He’s lucky he’s still in one piece after the shit he said to you back there.”
“I was so tempted to slice off his dick,” I admit. “Like, I seriously had to talk myself off that ledge.”
Caz chuckles. “You couldn’t deprive us of that sight. When you chop his cock off, I want a front-row seat.”
I lean back for a knuckle touch. “Deal, dude. Wouldn’t want to deprive you of such quality entertainment.”