Jacked Up (Bowen Boys #4)(70)

James studied him, a smirk on his face. “I never thought I’d see the day when a woman would lead you by your cock.”

“She’s not leading me by my cock. We have a deal.”

“Since when do you need to make deals to get your way with women?”

Since the happiness of said woman mattered to him. But he kept his trap shut. James could read him well enough without all the explanations. “After this, she’s going into hiding until this shit is resolved.”

“You got her to agree to that?”

“We have a deal.”

“You going into hiding too?” James handed everyone earbuds. Those were among James’s latest toys.

Jack shook his head.

“Who’s going to make sure she stays put if you aren’t around?” Cole asked. “Because we don’t intimidate her in the slightest.”

No shit. “I reached out to Kai. He will contact his family.” Jack had thought about it long and hard. Because of their meeting at the fund-raiser, when Maldonado found out who Elle was he’d figure out that Alex Ayala didn’t exist. Jack needed to stash Elle with someone that couldn’t be traced back to him. So all his contacts were out. The Bowens and their resources too.

“Oh boy,” James muttered.

Cole turned to his brother, confused. “What?”

“You know the global holding company Shinoda? The one whose assets in the US were frozen for a while but the FBI couldn’t link it to the Yakuza? It’s run by his family. And it’s not linked to the Yakuza; it is the f*cking Yakuza.”

“Oh boy,” Cole repeated James’s words.

Max grimaced. “She’ll lose all her fingers just in the first day.”

“If Kai agrees to go into hiding with her to keep her company, she might be more accommodating,” James offered, looking intently at Jack.

That was a possibility he couldn’t even consider without seeing red. But her security was at risk and Kai and his people were more than capable.

At that moment Elle came out dressed in a two-piece black costume, the jacket trimmed with yellow and red flames and a hood with two red horns on it. She had a red scarf around her neck.

“Ready. You changing?” she asked Jack, pulling on her sunglasses and then handing him some clothes. “We are running kind of late. We won’t make it to prep.”

“You bet we won’t.” It was madness enough that he was agreeing to this; the last thing they needed was to spend extra time prepping. Then he remembered her question. “Changing?”

“Yes. Into Jonah’s outfit. I suppose it will fit you. You want to shadow me; you’ll have to wear it. You have to blend.”

Man, he’d known he was going to regret this. And what the hell was that long thing hanging from the ass of the pants? A red tail? Shit.

When he came out of the men’s restroom, he threw a glare at the group waiting for him. “First one that laughs, I shoot.” The Bowens had the grace to hold on until they got into James’s pickup before exploding in laughter.

“You *s, cut it out. I can hear you through the earpiece,” he muttered, but it didn’t help jack shit.

“Let them laugh,” Elle said. “They’re jealous. You’re the best devil in the world. The one with the longest tail too. On account of his height and strength, Jonah always held the biggest pitchfork, the one with sixteen firecrackers on it. You’re going to look fantastic.”

The electronics were good, because the Bowens heard her and broke into more fits of laughter.

Once again, he thanked God for the tinted windows. They were in a rural area. If they got pulled over by the cops dressed like this, they were going into the hole.

They rode for fifteen minutes, while Elle painted her face black and red to the sounds of Grease. Jesus Christ, was this record always on one radio station or another?

“What is with these songs?”

“They’re fantastic. I’ve been trying to convince the flash-mob guys to do the one of Travolta on top of the car, ‘Greased Lightning’, but they outvote me every time. I even have the choreography ready.”

Jack had no clue what she was talking about, but decided to keep his mouth shut.

“Love the movie. Don’t you?”

“Haven’t seen it.”

She gaped at him. “You didn’t? We need to remedy that. It’s a must. No self-respecting rockabilly can miss it.”

That he was no rockabilly and couldn’t give a flying f*ck about that movie, she didn’t seem to care.

When they arrived at Little Italy, Jack parked as close as possible to their destination and got out of the truck. “This is…” Jack said, looking around.

“Nuts,” Cole finished.

Exactly.

Traffic had been blocked from the main street leading to the square, but it was not clear of people. It was brimming with activity, security fences nowhere to be seen.

There were dozens dressed like Elle. He was going to need to paint a big red dot on her back not to lose her. On the bright side, no one else would be able to spot her either.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?” Jack demanded, looking at some children picking up their small pitchforks. “These are explosives; you have kids handling those?”