Page 9 of Darling Psycho

He didn’t like people in his places.

He partied at the club, and while he was at home, he enjoyed being alone without neediness sticking to his sinuses.

Two bodies—even people he liked—were more than enough for him in twenty-four hours.

That was why, nearing midnight on his second night home, after too much time running intel on the dark web until his eyes felt like two blood pools, he took off on his motorcycle. There was snow on the ground and a bite in the air, and he enjoyed the feel on his face as he increased the speed. The heavily lit casino up ahead guided Lawless, and he brought his bike to a rumbling halt in the farthest spot in the parking lot, where he could survey the entrance without detection.

No criminal or cop would say a stakeout was fun.

Not even for the donuts.

It was utter monotony, and this was coming from a guy who’d spent twenty-three hours a day in a room the size of a shoebox.

As Lawless sat his ass sideways on the bike seat, legs out in front of him, he pulled the collar of his long, black leather duster coat up by his ears and peeled a foil wrapper off a piece of gum, folding it into his mouth.

Plumes of air steamed from his lips, the cold nipped bitterly into his cheeks.

How fucking good was he at waiting, huh?

His dear bitch of a momma would be proud. Maybe he’d look her up one day, or he could just wait a while longer to vomit on her grave. Yeah, Lawless preferred option two.

Pulling out his cell phone, he listened to the five peeling rings before Hawk answered. “This better be good.”

“Aren’t you a ray of sunshine tonight, smiler?”

“I will be if you wake Gia.”

“You in bed this early?”

“I was. Give me a second.” And then. “Okay, I’m out of earshot. What’s up, enforcer?”

“I keep forgetting you’re domesticated now. Did I wake your old lady?”

“No, my Gia can sleep through a tornado warning. You calling about your tools?”

Lawless smirked without taking his gaze from the casino. “How did you guess?”

“A doctor always needs his instruments. They’re in storage at the club. You need ‘em now?”

“Not tonight. Got something else to do. Have you done any damage while I was away?”

“Not so much. Assholes haven’t stepped out of line.”

Hawk was the silent type, but they’d always paired up well when the hard, grisly graft needed doing.

It was sentimental, really.

And though they never had long, tender chats, he’d missed the only other man who knew what it was like to kill in a way that didn’t bother them.

He and Hawk were similar men.

They got the job done and didn’t lose the contents of their stomachs.

So many memories of them in the murder shed or on the hunt for Russian scum.

But what many didn’t guess about the moody VP, Hawk was damaged, destroyed, and then healed by love. No one saw how he licked his lips over Gia for years. Lawless had seen it the first time they were in the same room together. Hawk was a demon, but he’d lay his life down for that woman.

As he hung up, the tuning fork he had in the middle of his gut started going nuts, and his eyes caught two figures walking out of the casino.