Rev It Up (Black Knights Inc. #3)(19)
Uh-huh, that had not escaped her attention. Especially since she suspected Jake had been waiting all evening for this very thing. It was obvious he had something he wanted to tell her. It was there in his pretty green eyes every time he looked at her.
And she didn’t want to hear it. Because no matter what he said, it wouldn’t change what had happened. The only thing his words could possibly accomplish was to make her feel more pain and regret, and Lord knew she’d already experienced enough of that to last a lifetime.
“I can’t help but be afraid.” She turned back to him when she was sure she had herself and her stupid tear ducts under control. “You don’t know what it’s like to be a mother, Jake. Fear, even under normal circumstances, comes with the territory. When you have a child to keep safe you—”
“I’ll protect him, too.” Jake vowed.
And there it was again. That look of utter sincerity. How does he do that?
“I know you will, Jake.” He lifted a brow, and she managed a weak smile. “Even after everything that happened between us, I never doubted your courage.”
“Yeah, about that…”
No, no, no!
“Can we just be quiet for a while?” She pleaded, this time not hiding the desperation in her eyes. “I just need some peace and quiet to calm my nerves.”
His jaw clenched, and she could tell he was biting back his next words but, finally, he nodded. And in the stillness of the courtyard, the only thing she could hear was the pounding of her weak and foolish heart.
***
Rock stood with Vanessa and Boss at the second floor window of the shop, watching as Wild Bill—their resident explosives expert and Becky’s older brother—and Angel—the spooky ex-Mossad agent who’d joined their ranks under mysterious circumstances—made their way through the compound’s hand-rolled iron gates, frog-marching their captive across the open expanse.
And even as he observed their would-be assassin struggle in the Knights’ grips, his mind drifted out to the courtyard.
I wonder how Snake is farin’ now that he has Shell all to himself?
Not too good, he suspected.
One didn’t need his particular skills for reading people, or his aptitude for picking up on subtle cues, to see that Shell’s feelings toward Snake fell far short of friendly. It was clear as day for anyone with two eyes, because whenever she looked at the guy, she appeared ready to either break down sobbing or turn tail and run. He couldn’t help but wonder exactly what had happened between—
“Is Eve on her way?” Boss asked Becky as she strolled up to the group, interrupting Rock’s thoughts.
Oui, and there was another mystery. Because though it was obvious Eve Edens was a timid woman by nature, that didn’t account for the look of stark horror that contorted her pretty face the moment she heard Wild Bill was going to show up. She hadn’t been able to vamoose herself from the compound fast enough.
“Yep, she’s headed home with her tail between her legs,” Becky said, snaking an arm around Boss’s waist before turning to watch the trio of men approaching from down below. When they walked beneath the yellow wash of a street lamp, she chuckled before adding wryly, “Well, holy flaming ninjas, Batman.”
Rock grinned. The hit man, whoever he was, was dressed all in black. And he’d actually had the couilles to deck himself out in one of those tight, eye-slit hooded thingamabobs complete with a pair of weird double-toed, soft-soled boots.
“He looks more like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dumbass,” Vanessa mused.
A snort of laughter erupted from between Rock’s lips before he could call it back.
Well, well, well. Aren’t you just full of surprises tonight, Miss Cordero?
When she’d flirted with him earlier, he’d been so blindsided by the whole thing that, for a minute there, he’d gone dumb and mute as a bag of hammers. But he was proud to say he’d recovered in enough time to slide her some pretty good one-liners.
Unfortunately, despite their titillating little tête-à-tête, it was obvious she was barking up the wrong damn tree where he was concerned. Because, merde, there was more than just lust in her eyes when she looked at him. Lust he could’ve dealt with quicker than a knife fight in a phone booth. But the visions of white weddings and matching rings he could see dancing around inside her pretty head stopped him cold. Happily ever after wasn’t an option for him…
“Hey,” Bill yelled from the front door, dragging him away from his thoughts, “what do you guys want us to do with Shogun here?”
“Put him in the interrogation room!” Boss ordered before turning to Rock and asking, “You ready for this?”
“Oui, I’m ready.” He nodded, taking a deep breath and turning toward the stairs.
As he made his way down to the first floor, he ground his back molars so hard it was a miracle he wasn’t shooting little shards of enamel and the occasional filling from his ass. He stalked into the claustrophobic supply closet they’d retrofitted into an interrogation room upon first learning of Johnny Vitiglioni’s paid assassins, tossed off his ball cap and tilted his head from side to side, cracking the vertebrae in his neck.
Zut. He hated this next part. Digging around inside a person’s psyche always left him feeling dirty…