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“There’s one. Blue Gables. It’s about ten miles that way.” He pointed.

“Fine by me.”

They got up and began making their way out. Shay spotted them coming and turned to face them as Paxton finished his round on the arcade game. It was that jumping frog one that Tanner was addicted to.

“Ready to go?” she asked, her eyes darting between nephew and uncle. The bruises on her face were finally fading.

Good. Roman hated seeing this beautiful woman marked up like that. If the men who’d touched her hadn’t been ripped to pulp courtesy of his little brother, Roman would have hunted them to the ends of the earth, until each and every one of them had paid for their mistake in blood. No one else would touch Shayla Cousens—he’d make sure of it.

“There’s a motel not far from here called Blue Gables,” Roman told her, his blood thrumming as he watched her attention dip to his mouth, as if hearing his words wasn’t enough, she wanted toseethem, too.

Fuck, he wanted this woman so badly, it was insane. Every part of his soul, his aura, his bodybeggedfor her. Shay was the perfect woman for him. He forced himself to get a grip and added, “We thought we’d crash there for the night.”

Those vivid green eyes he always had trouble looking away from scanned his face, as if searching for some hidden meaning.“Okay. Sure.” Her expression was aggravatingly unreadable, and so was her tone. Bland, almost.

Roman frowned, his eyes dipping downward?—

Just in time to see Shay clasping her wrist, her hand covering her fish skeleton tattoo. When she saw what he was looking at, she tightened her grasp, white light glowing faintly against the front of her jeans.

Slowly, Roman lifted his eyes to her face.

She flicked her rose-gold brows up, as if to say,What?

Dean stepped around them with a knowing smile and pushed the door open. “I’ll be right outside,” Dean drawled, leaving Roman alone to stare at Shay.

She stared back.

“Got something to hide?” Roman asked, indicating to the tattoo she was still covering up.

“Not at all,” she said smoothly, her face perfectly serene. “Shall we get going?”

Roman gave a stiff nod. “Time to go, Pax.”

“One sec, I’m almost done.”

Roman watched the screen, Shay doing the same, both of them refusing to look at each other as Paxton finished his game. The tinny music drifted through the speakers, declaring his victory.

“Yes!” he hissed, throwing his hands in the air.

“You’re really good at that,” Shay told him.

“Thanks!” Pax said, beaming. He grabbed his backpack and headed for the door, Itzel munching away on the ice cubes they’d dumped inside.

Shay gestured for Roman to lead. “After you.”

Roman tried not to frown.

Another motel. Another night under the same roof as this beautiful thief.

If this kept happening… Fuck, he might break. When it came to Shayla Cousens, his self-control was already thinner than a soap bubble. And every night they spent together threatened to pop it for good.

Hopefully tonight would not be that night.

Another nightin the same four walls as Roman Devlin.

Shay tried not to dwell on the horrible toll this was taking on her heart as she followed him and Paxton into the dark parking lot of Wacky’s Waffles. To where Dean Slade and his Death Dealers stood talking and laughing by the vehicles.

Dean’s uncanny resemblance to Donovan had unsettled her in the beginning, she couldn’t lie. But it hadn’t taken long for her to learn that the two brothers really were nothing alike. While the sight of him may be a jump scare, Dean was the good apple, just like Roman had claimed. He was funny, kind, patient. It was hard—impossible, even—not to like him. He looked a lot like Roman too, but that didn’t surprise her. The Slades all shared such similar features, you’d be stupidnotto see that they were related.