Bad Wolf(28)

He looks up and freezes. Then he finally catches on and starts to run.

By the time I reach him, the other two are already there, punching and kicking at him.

"Gimme the gun," Declan shouts at me, but I move out of his reach and yank the poor guy out of their hands.

"Go," I hiss at him. "Run!"

"What the fuck are you doing?" Declan is on me before you can say ‘asshole,' and keeping myself between the guy who's following my advice and getting the hell out of Dodge, and Angel's gorilla is damn near impossible, especially when he's joined by his buddy Jorge. "Angel said to get him."

"Guy hasn't seen anything. It's dark."

But I know my logic doesn't mean jack to his gnat brain, so I kick him in the leg, and have the satisfaction of seeing him jerk backward, his face going pale. Turning to Jorge, I deliver a flurry of punches to his solar plexus before he can get his hands properly on me. I'm keeping an eye on Declan, cuz I'm damn sure he's not going down with a kick to his leg unless he has a weakness there I didn't know about.

Jorge stumbles back, and I turn to Declan just as he bowls into me with an enraged roar. Ready for him, I shift onto my weak leg and knee him in the nuts.

Thanks for the move, Karate Kid.

Hey, Connor used to like the movie.

Now both of them are whimpering, and the guy they were sent to silence is long gone. I bend over slightly, trying to catch my breath, keeping a wary eye on them, anyway.

Holy shit, these guys. They're complete and total morons. I bet without the gang giving them a direction in life, misguided as it is, they'd be going around hitting each other over the head with clubs and growling like animals.

Angel whistles from a distance. It's time to blow this joint. I see the gang vanishing in a side street, and hurry after them, followed by a limping Declan and a cursing Jorge. Not that I'm much better myself, favoring my good leg and struggling to move fast, even as I check the street for anyone lurking, for cops arriving.                       
       
           



       

Quiet. And still I expect a police siren, a cop hollering at us to drop down, a shot to go off. We pile up inside the two cars, and take off into the night.

All clear. We're so damn lucky.

I know our luck won't hold out forever. It never does.



The loot is piled in the cars, and Mav and Angel prepare to drive them away to one of the safehouses where the goods will stay until a new deal comes up for selling them.

Mav is checking the bags together with Jorge and Elena. Declan and Alfie are having an argument over who's going to ride shotgun.

Angel is smoking a joint, the sweet smell making my mouth water. I could use a few drags to calm my frayed nerves, still my shaking hands.

"What the hell happened over there?" Angel glares at me through the curling smoke. He looks older tonight, deep grooves in his forehead and at the corners of his mouth.

Maybe it's just the shadows.

"Nothing," I mutter, fumble with my pack of smokes, and although my throat feels like I swallowed a cheese grater, I consider lighting up another.

"I told you to get that guy. Instead you fought with Dec and Jorge and beat them up good. What the fuck, Jarett?"

I shrug, my shoulders aching with tension. "That guy was an innocent bystander. Besides, he didn't see a thing."

"Fuck. Your heart is too damn soft for this game."

What is he now, the voice of my conscience?

He's about to kick me from the gang, I sort of feel it in my gut, and I can't afford that. Kicking me out means shooting a hole through my chest, and then who's gonna look after Sebastian, and his mom?

I have to make my case or I'm a dead man walking.

"You're wrong," I tell him, my voice sounding harsh in my own ears. "Listen to me." I meet his gaze, hold it even if it gives me the creeps. "I could have put a bullet through the guy's brain. But killing him would have got everyone into so much fucking trouble, and you know it."

He draws smoke into his lungs. "Keep talking."

"My job is to keep you safe. By you I mean Sebastian, and then the gang. I do what is best for you, not whatever your bloodthirsty mind dictates. Simple as that. You pay me to protect you. That's what I'm doing."

He arches a brow. "Bold. I like that. You have backbone, unlike your brother." He gestures for me to come closer, and I do, not trusting him, prepared for the worst. When he grabs my arm, I jerk a little. "But the thing is, Jarett, I call the shots around here, not you. You're just hired help, nothing more. When I say, get that guy, you get that guy. When I say fetch, you fetch. When I say roll over, you roll over. Do you fucking understand?"

Dammit.

I nod.

He stares at me for a few long seconds, his grip tight on my arm, his eyes narrowed and bloodshot. "You're either all in or all out in this business, Jarett," he says, and I hate my name on his lips. "There's no halfway, and you're halfway. Not a good place to be. Got no protection from either side that way. Choose a goddamn side, or I'll choose for you."

The side of the gang, of the family-or the side of the law.

The side of past promises-or the side of hope.

As he releases me and I stumble back, I'm not even sure I'm sent home to ponder his words, this impossible choice he's putting on the table, or if he's made the choice for me, if he decided I stepped over the line and I'm done.

But as I step further back, he doesn't come after me, or gesture for Declan and Jorge to tear me to shreds, something I'll bet they'd be fucking delighted to do. As Angel puts out his joint and climbs into one of the cars, Mav into the other, and the gang scatters, no gun goes off, no bullet tears through me.

Alive. Still alive.

I watch them go, and then I turn and head off in the direction of home, putting one foot in front of the other, my brain empty and buzzing.

I realize I didn't even think to see where Sebastian was headed, if he went into the car with Angel or Mav, or just left with the others.

Shit.

The wind slices through me, and I barely feel it, my hands shoved deep in the pockets of my threadbare jeans. Good thing Angel and Mav didn't drop us off far from where I live. As I approach the campus, I find streams of students passing around me, as if I'm a rock in a river.

It's earlier than I thought, the whole breaking and entering, saving a man from getting beaten to a pulp and then getting threatened by Angel didn't take all that long. It just felt like years to me.

Across the street, I see Declan and Elena walking, heads bowed together, and a shiver goes through me.

Dammit.

I pat my pocket for my keys, staring blindly at the students passing by, heading toward the nearby bars and bus stops and carparks, wondering what's on their minds, if it's just how to have a good time out, a good dinner, a good fuck. If they worry about money, and rent, and the future, like me.                       
       
           



       

Probably.

God, I wish I only worried about that stuff, that the other, bigger shit didn't hang over my head all the time. If only life would stop dry-fucking me in the ass for a while …

And then someone stops in front of me, just as I'm taking out my key, someone familiar.

My breath stops. "Gigi?"

Her long hair is windblown, her red coat makes her face glow.

"I've been waiting for you." She gestures at the building. "I wasn't even sure this was the right place."

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Is this real? She's been on my thoughts every night and every day, replaying every moment with her, from the filthiest, hottest ones as she went down on me to the sweetness of her smile-and the cold of her absence when she stepped out the door.

I thought she never wanted to see me again, which would have made perfect fucking sense after the way I treated her, and …  God, she's so pretty, I can't think. Blood is quickly heading south, my jeans getting too damn tight. She's all bright blue eyes and soft lips, a heart-shaped face and a cleavage deep and mesmerizing.

My hands ache to map her every sexy curve. I ache for her, dying to bury myself inside her. I lick my lips, remembering her taste on my tongue, and my dick is about to bust through my zipper.

I reach for her, my only thought to kiss her.

But then I remember Declan and Elena across the street. I can't see them, but I'm not taking any chances.

"Come on," I say, grabbing her hand and pulling her after me. "Not safe for you here."

"Why not?" she asks, her small hand folded up in mine, her voice breathless.

I don't reply as I unlock the building door.

I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on Sebastian. He's my family. Gigi isn't. She isn't, dammit. And I never made a promise to anyone to look after her, too. I'm not about to do more than I bargained for. It's every man for himself in this world.

That's not what Connor taught me, but it's what he showed me.

And still I drag her inside the building and up to my apartment, breaking my rules, making a choice I wasn't supposed to make, hoping to keep her safe.





Chapter Seventeen





Gigi





"Ow. Let go." I try to pull my wrist free of the steel vise of his fingers as he drags me into his apartment, but no use. "Jarett. You're hurting me."