Page 155 of Caution to the Wind

I dressed the part, too.

This, Axe-Man liked and didn’t like in equal turn.

When I’d walked into the living room before we left for the clubhouse, he’d taken one look at me and scowled. Cleo had laughed in delight and clapped her hands as she took me in.

“You look amazing,” she crowed.

I tugged at the short hem of the black sheath dress one of the Fallen babes, Tayline, had lent me because we were the same size. It was classy, made of rich velvet with a little belt to highlight my waist. Paired with black Louboutins I usually wore out with Jiang and big hair Lin had taken half an hour to tease into place, I looked like someone who might frequent the beautiful Lake Edge Casino near Entrance.

The second we got into Axe-Man’s Jeep, he’d clamped a hand around my thigh and tugged me across the console into his lap so he could lay claim to my mouth. By the time we pulled apart, my lipstick was eaten off, my hair was irrevocably tousled by his big hands and there was a hickey high on my neck under my ear. Axe-Man pressed the burgeoning bruise with his thumb and grunted in satisfaction.

“Heathen,” I’d teased, but fuck if it didn’t feel good to experience him like this.

“Your heathen,” he growled, nipping at my bottom lip. “Don’t let any of those motherfuckers get too close or you put them down, yeah?”

“Oh yeah,” I agreed, playing with the ridiculously soft hair in his beard just because I was allowed the intimacy, and holy shit, did that feel amazing.

“And when you get done with this shit, I’m gonna eat you out while you sit on my face in this dress.”

“Aye aye, sir,” I said, a little breathy because, well, I’d always wondered but never could have known Axe-Man would be so deliciously filthy.

Now, we were a block away from the meet parked in front of a Subway. I was in a black van with “Angelwood Produce” embossed on the outside. Within, Curtains sat on an overturned bucket, fingers flying on the keyboard as he enabled the tracking devices they’d put in the duffle bag of cash I was given.

“You’re sure they’ll only speak Cantonese?” Bat asked from beside him.

The two of them, Axe-Man, Zeus, and Priest were all crowded into the tiny space going over the final details. The rest of the brothers were at the clubhouse waiting for orders to roll out.

“Seven Song is almost purely a Cantonese gang,” I told him as I adjusted the thigh holster for my knife. “And there are a lot of second, and third generation members, too, who might only speak English. It isn’t like the old days.”

“We’ve been watchin’ ’em, and they mostly speak Cantonese,” Curtains confirmed, running a hand through his copper hair so it stood on end. “Your contact’s name is Wang Wei, does that mean anything to you?”

“One of the most famous poets in Chinese history. It just means they’re using famous Chinese people or maybe literary references as code names,” I mused. “I’ll go in as Wu Zetian.”

Axe-Man grinned at me. “Fittin’.”

I shrugged and batted my lashes.

“Who’s that?” Curtains asked.

“The only woman to ever rule China as a lone Empress. The original badass,” Axe-Man responded.

Zeus chuckled. “Well, you got the run’a this show, Blossom. You meet the mark, exchange the money, and see if he’ll take you into Lake Edge. Don’t push too hard. He objects, we got the trackers in the bundles of twenties, and we can track ’im and the cash once he leaves. No use puttin’ yourself in danger or blowin’ the whole thing by bein’ too pushy.”

“Oh, he’ll want her company,” Axe-Man muttered darkly, arms crossed and eyes scouring my form.

“Not gonna take that bet,” Bat murmured.

“You ready?” Zeus asked, handing over the hockey bag filled with one million dollars in cash.

I didn’t ask where he’d gotten his hands on that much money. They were an outlaw biker gang that dominated the marijuana industry in North America and ran guns in a country with strict laws that made it hard to obtain them legally. I had no doubt they were rich as hell and didn’t keep all their ill-begotten gains in a bank like normal civilians.

I hefted the heavy strap over my shoulder and went to the door, Priest pulling it open for me.

“You so much as flinch, I’ll be there,” he promised quietly, much to my surprise.

I looked into his face and saw the almost joyful anticipation there. He wanted the mark to come at me just for a chance to exact violence on him. A little shiver tore down my spine, and I thought, not for the first time, that Bea was much more of a badass than me if she’d somehow won the heart of Priest McKenna and survived his brand of affection.

I nodded back at him in thanks and hopped out of the van.