The Devil In Disguise (Bad Things #1)(21)

The agent was watching him far too closely. Luke made himself laugh. “Seriously? I’m supposed to believe some woman told Eli to burn himself…and he did?”

“She isn’t some woman.” Garrick’s voice was still low, carrying only to Luke. “She’s very, very dangerous.” He glanced swiftly at the crowd and then back at Luke. The guy started to unbutton the top of his dress shirt.

Luke let his brows climb. “Agent, if you want to go strip, there’s a club for that just down the road.”

A muscle jerked in Garrick’s jaw and he kept unbuttoning the shirt until…

A long, thick scar was on his chest.

A fresh scar, one that was still angry, still red.

“She told me to cut out my own heart,” Garrick told him, voice and face both stark. “And I nearly did.”

***

He’d put her in a cell. Gently, not so much as bruising her per Luke’s orders, but Mina was in a cell. And she was gagged.

As far as days went, this one was pretty shitty.

Mina glared at the guy—Julian. He’d told her his name was Julian. Right after he gagged me.

“I am so sorry,” Julian told her, actually looking contrite as he paced right outside of her cell. “I just can’t run the risk of pissing off Luke. Trust me on this, you don’t want to see the bugger when he’s pissed. Not a pretty sight. I mean that with one hundred percent honesty.”

She muttered behind her gag.

“And I know what you are, too.” He inclined his head toward her. “Siren. Sirens speak, and men do really dumb ass things. Sorry, love, but I can’t have you getting in my head. I already have enough damage up there as it is.”

She jerked at her handcuffs because—lucky her—he’d handcuffed her, too. He’d locked her hands behind her back and put the cuffs in place.

He thought they’d stop her from getting the gag out of her mouth.

He was wrong.

After shooting him one more glare, Mina sat down on the floor.

“Yes.” He nodded, all encouraging. “Do that. Just get comfortable. Before you know it, Luke will be back and he can take over your…care.”

She shimmied. She rolled. She lifted up her knees and she pulled her cuffed hands under her body, looping them so that they could come in front of her once more.

“Wait!” Alarm raised his voice. “You’re a limber thing, aren’t you? Normally a bonus with women but—stop! Stop that!”

No way. The cuffs were in front of her now so she could reach up and jerk the gag right out of her mouth—exactly what she did. “Screw you,” she snapped at him.

His eyes immediately…glowed. Lust flashed on his face and he grabbed for the cell door.

Oh, no! I said the wrong thing—again! That was her problem. She always said the wrong thing. She did the wrong thing. “You want to get away from me!” Mina yelled, hoping to stop him before this went too far. “You don’t want to screw anyone right now. You just want to get far away from me, fast.”

He immediately turned on his heel, like a puppet on a string and nearly ran from the area.

Her mouth dropped. “No!” She lunged forward and grabbed the bars. “I mean…you want to get away after you let me out!”

She could hear the thud of his fading footsteps.

“You want to let me out first!” Mina shouted.

But it was too late. Apparently, Julian could run very, very fast.

Her forehead pressed against a bar. “I did it again.” Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Now she was trapped.

Unless someone else happened to come into the cell area. In that case, she’d be ready. And she’d plan her words very, very carefully.

***

Garrick buttoned up his shirt. “You think I don’t know the story sounds farfetched? I thought the tales about her were bullshit, too, until I had her close and she stared into my eyes, parted those sexy lips, and told me to cut out my own heart.”

Luke’s heart was drumming too fast. His heart never raced that way. Not unless he was getting ready to end someone.

“When you aren’t of use to her any longer, Mina eliminates you. It’s the way she works. Eli didn’t have a boat she could use, he didn’t have a car…just his motorcycle. That wasn’t going to help her. So she found someone else to get her out of this place and she planted the order to die in Eli’s mind.”

Had Mina been alone with Eli? He wasn’t sure where she’d been when he’d first arrived at the bar. He just remembered looking up—and she’d been there. Perhaps she’d talked to Eli before he’d arrived…

“You know her, don’t you?” Garrick asked him.

Luke looked back at her picture. At the faint smile there. Such a temptation. The way her eyes gleamed… “Never seen her before in my life.” He handed the photo back to Garrick. “What agency did you say you were with?”

A little muscle seemed to tick near Garrick’s right eye. “The FBI.”

“So impressive,” Luke murmured. His head cocked to the right. “May I see some ID?”

Garrick put Mina’s picture back in his coat pocket and pretty much threw his ID at Luke.

Luke gave it a cursory glance. “Fascinating. The FBI has come all the way down to the tip of the Keys after a killer…one who told you to cut out your heart.” Now he tossed the ID right back at Garrick. “Were you f*cking her?”