Page 119 of Cassio

“He isn’t pierced, right?” The question came out of nowhere and I blinked in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“Ummm, down there,” she mumbled. “Is he pierced down there?” When I just continued staring, she continued. “Is his dick pierced, Áine? Why do you make me spell it out?”

A strangled laugh escaped me. “No, it’s not. Why?”

“Oh, no matter.”

I shook my head in disbelief. I’d question her about it, but I didn’t have time for it now. “We’ll talk about it when I get back,” I told her, my curiosity peaked. Who wouldn’t be curious about a pierced dick?

“Okay, so how will you sneak out?” she asked.

Cassio didn’t have anyone watching those stairs, not until the garage. I pulled up my phone and sent a short message to John, asking for his status.

“I’ll take the private staircase,” I told her. “Then instead of going through the garage, I’ll go through the lobby, straight out the door, and into the car. John will be waiting for me.”

She slipped her raincoat off and offered it. “Here, wear this in case you run into any of the guards.”

I eyed it suspiciously. “I don’t have time to color my hair black right now.”

Rolling her eyes, she chuckled. “Put the hood on. Your hair is pulled up into a ponytail anyhow, so as long as you keep it over your forehead, they’ll never know it is you.”

It wasn’t a bad idea. As I put it on, I couldn’t resist. “Why did you wear a raincoat?” My eyes darted to the windows still reflecting a bright sunny day.

“My mood was kind of rainy,” she muttered, her shoulders slumping. “I don’t know. Somehow it felt like my life as I knew it was over, and I needed something to cheer me up.”

I frowned. “So you wore a raincoat?”

She shrugged. “The bright color makes me happy.”

“Oh.” Yeah, Margaret would be a moody pregnant woman. I’d buy all the brightest cupcakes, clothes and umbrellas in the city to keep her happy.

“Okay, enough about me,” she grinned, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You better be safe and watch your back.” I nodded, pressing a kiss on her cheek.

“I will. I promise.” Another hug and I had to get going.

As I slipped through the back door, I rushed down the stairs, my heart thundering with every step, almost expecting to run into Hunter at any moment. When I reached the last landing, I took a deep breath, my hand lingering on the doorknob. The main building lobby was where I could run into someone. I pulled the hood further over my forehead, just in case. I opened the door and almost plowed straight into one of Cassio's guards.

Keeping my hood on, I diverted my eyes to the ground and sidestepped him, rushing through the lobby and out the door into the fresh air. John was already there waiting in the car. Without delay, I strode towards it, opened the door, and threw myself into the passenger seat.

“Go,” I breathed out.

Without a question, he shifted into a drive and sped down the road. “Thanks for getting the crew together on such short notice,” I broke the silence.

He flicked his eyes my way, then returned them onto the road. “You’re the boss.”

If he looked at me, he would have caught me rolling my eyes. “This is a team effort,” I muttered. “I don’t think of The Rose Rescue as just mine. It is all of ours. We are all doing it for one reason or another.”

I learned through the years that John lost his daughter to human traffickers. One day, they snatched her on her way home from school, never to be seen again. In every rescue mission, he searched for her. He didn’t say it, but he didn’t have to.

“Then I should warn you,” he said, his tone revealing none of his thoughts. “The boys are not happy about your plan.”

I wasn’t surprised to hear that, but they’d have to deal with it. “The main thing is that you guys are not far behind. We have been going after him for years and never got close to him. This way, he can believe he got me.”

Coming to a screeching halt, John pulled up into a parking spot. Both of us got out of the car and ran through the private gates of the airport. With a private jet there were less security protocols and we were able to reach the plane within ten minutes.

Pilot, a nickname for one of my crew members, was waiting for us at the bottom of the plane, leaned against the rails, looking every bit like an arrogant asshole. Margaret and he hooked up a few years back and both immediately realized their mistake. Working together and sleeping together caused complications that neither one of them wanted.