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“You’ll be just as whipped as we are one day,” Vapor warns, waving a half-eaten chicken wing at him.

“God forbid.” Bones crosses himself.

“Uh, do Voodoo priests cross themselves like that?” Tank asks.

“Not a priest, just a practitioner.”

“Oh, can you read bones for me?” Vicki asks.

“Sure. Let me unpack my shit and when I find them, I’ll let you know.”

“How many people still need to move in?” I ask.

“Almost everyone’s got their boxes out of the inn. The only slackers are you guys,” Vapor says, pointing another chicken wing at me.

“We’re going as fast as we can.”

“Ever get her stuff from the compound?” Vicki asks.

“No. I’m never going back for it either,” Isabella says. “All that stuff is a part of my past now. I don’t want it. I’m only bringing my new stuff to the house.”

“Just what she’s got in our room at the inn,” I say.

“It’soneroom,” Fang says, snickering. “Stop fucking for a few hours and you’ll be done moving in no time.”

“Not possible.” A slow, huge grin spreads across my face, while Isabella’s turns a delightful shade of pink. “Speaking of which, we gotta go.”

“Babe!” Isabella raises her eyebrows, giving me an exasperated look.

“What? They’re all here. No one’s back at the inn. Won’t have to muffle the screams into your pillow.”

“I’m literally going to kill you when we get there.” She grabs her paper plate and heads for the trash.

“She’s going to slap the shit out of you.” Vapor chuckles.

“As she should,” Blue says, siding with her new best friend.

“Just turn the damn music up,” Tank says. “The rest of us still have shit to move.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Bones says, glancing past Tank to where Vicki’s smirking.

“He is a screamer,” she says.

“I am not.”

“Am too.”

“Children!” Vapor shakes his head. “See you tomorrow, Ice. Night, Isabella.”

After saying our goodbyes to everyone, we get on my bike and head back to the inn. Once we’re inside the room, I turn to Isabella.

“There’s only one thing I want to pack right now.” I grab her waist and pull her hard against me.

“The bathroom stuff?” she asks in a tone that is far too innocent.

“No, baby. That sweet, sweet pussy.”

I thread my fingers through her long, dark hair, pulling her closer as our lips collide in a fiery kiss. The world outside the NOLA Inn fades away, all the chaos of my life with the UVMC NOLA and her ties to Los Serpientes de Cristal evaporating in the heat between us. My heart hammers against my chest, not from the thrill of a high-speed chase or the rush of a close call, but from something deeper, more intimate.