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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

ST. CLARE

What the fuck is going on?

I’m still panting as we fly downtown in a car that’s half-deranged, a stranger taking us who knows where and Perry wheezing so hard he sounds like a squeak toy has been lodged in his throat.

Oh. And he’s bleeding.

Wonderful.

“Who is this? Where are we going? And what the hell just happened?”

Perry loudly inhales, hair so sweaty it looks wet, as he reaches behind himself and pulls off his backpack, teeth clenched tight in pain.

“Got shot.”

“I can see that.” And as much as I’d love to remind him that he put me through the same, I can’t. I don’t like seeing Perry’s face anything but happy, and right now, it’s pinched with tension, and his big eyes hold a worry so deep I want a word with whoever put it there.

“We need to get you to a hospital,” I say.

“No hospitals,” the driver throws back.

“He’s bleeding.”

“It’s his shoulder. It’ll be fine. ”

“How the hell could you know what?”

The driver laughs. “You ask a lot of questions.” Then he turns up the radio.

Perry tugs open the zipper on his bag and digs around inside for a second before pulling out his phone. It’s an old thing. Bright, metallic pink, with a tiny screen on the part that flips open.

I snatch it from him. “Answer me.”

Perry’s actually shaking. “I went to the lobby to check on Walter. There were two guys there, and they were holding Margot and Elle at gunpoint. I need to make sure they got away okay.”

Before I can hand the phone back, it rings. Perry’s big, warm hand closes around mine as he takes the phone from me and snaps it open.

As soon as I make out Margot’s voice from the tinny speaker, I relax a fraction. She’s okay. I can feel it in the way Perry’s whole body relaxes.

They barely say more than a few words before he hangs up. His phone is gripped loosely in the hand resting on his thigh when he sags back and closes his eyes.

“You’ll get blood on the seat,” I tell him.

Somehow, he manages a small smile. “Look at where you’re sitting.”

I shift forward to look down and … well. That doesn’t look pretty. “Please tell me this isn’t the first time you’ve been shot.”

“It’s the first time.”

“I don’t want to know what those stains are, do I?”

“Couldn’t tell you even if you did.”

Wonderful. I give myself a second to adjust to the reality that I’m sitting on a lot of someone else’s blood before I move stiffly back into place. “Nice car.”

“It’s reliable.”

His sleepy voice draws my attention back to him. I don’t like how gray his face is going or the way he’s got sweat still building at his hairline.

“How are you feeling?” I stupidly ask.

“Sore. ”

“Yeah, but besides that.”

Finally, his eyes crack open, and he looks at me through amusement. “You’re loving this, aren’t you?”

“Surprisingly, not even a little bit.”

His eyebrows bunch together. “Really?”

“Yup. Weird, I know. You’d think I’d enjoy seeing my would-be killer turned protector turned hookup bleed out in front of my eyes. There’s obviously something wrong with me.”

His small smile slopes wider. “My charisma wins everyone over.”

“Well, you still have work to do with me, but at least we’ve reached the level where I don’t actively want you dead.”

“Big praises.” His eyes fall closed again.

We’ve left the city behind and are speeding our way through residential streets. Perry’s filling out the whole seat and part of the middle, making an effort not to bump his shoulder as we take the corners.

My gaze drops from his wound to run over his bicep, down his hairy forearm, all the way to the ridiculous bracelet, and then onto his wide hand. I’m not sure what it is about him that I’m tuned in to, but knowing he’s in pain doesn’t sit right with me.

“Do you need a hospital? If you do, I’ll make him take us there.”

Perry’s warm brown eyes peep open again, and he studies my face for a moment. “Nah, I’m good. Besides, all the guys dig battle scars, right? I won’t be able to keep you off me.”

I choke on, well, I don’t even fucking know, but that was the last thing I expected Perry to say. “I know it’s been a long day, but you definitely came on to me last night.”

“I thought I might die ,” he says like that’s some kind of defense.

All it does is remind me that he only went gay for the night to tick off some stupid, imaginary list. “Right.” I can’t keep the edge out of my voice. “Guess I need to make a move on finding a woman to hook up with, then. You know. In case I die.”

There’s nothing in the world that could make me do that, considering my complete lack of attraction, but saying he kissed me because he thought he’d die is the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard. If that’s how he wants to play off his attraction to me, then fine, but I’m not going to play along.

Hopefully.

My gaze drops to his thick thighs, and a memory of sitting on them fills me, and fuck. Right. I’m going to try not to play along, even though I know that if he ever wanted to do it again, I’m not strong enough to say no.

Perry is way too fucking hot to ignore.

But I’m a big boy, I have no issues picking up, and there’s no way I’m going to turn into a pathetic little yes man just because my body is tortuously in tune with him. I hope.

I have no idea how long we drive for, but I can’t shake the unsettled energy coursing through me as the residential streets disappear and I watch vacant lots go by.

Perry’s little finger nudges mine, and I hate how cute I find that.

“Yeah?” I ask, not looking at him.

“You mad?”

“Nope.”

His voice is laced with amusement. “You sound mad.”

I finally look up, and I hate how easily his eyes make me soften to him, so I quickly distract to stop him from guessing why I actually am kinda mad at him. “I’m annoyed no one has answered any of my questions.”

“I told you what happened.”

I nod up front. “Still don’t know who he is.”

“ He is Tommy. He’s a friend from Lethal Poison.”

“What?” Lars turns completely in his seat, and his gun meets the side of Tommy’s head before I even see him pull it out. “Where are you taking us?”

“Relax …” Tommy blows a bubble of bright pink chewing gum before he lets it pop and pulls it back into his mouth. “I know a place.”

“Is Luther at this place? ”

Tommy sneers. “You really think I want Luther to know that I’m helping you guys? I don’t have a death wish.”

“Why are you helping, then?” I ask.

Lars slowly lowers the gun, but his attention doesn’t leave Tommy.

“Perry’s my friend.”

“Aww …” Perry lays a blood-smeared hand over his chest. “I knew I liked you.”

“Arlie’s waiting for us.”

That’s a name I’ve heard before.

Perry perks up. “She is?”

“Why do you sound so surprised?”

“Because Luther warned her and Everett not to help or they’d be in trouble.”

“Do you really think she’s the type to listen?”

“Probably not.” And then Perry says something that sends my insides cold. “It’s why I’m in love with her.”

In … love.

Ice fills my veins, and I’m totally unprepared for how fucking instantly I want to rage. We’re heading for who the fuck knows where, and I’m going to be face-to-face with the woman the guy I slept with last fucking night is in love with.

Just when I thought that being shot at would be the worst part of my day.

The way we kissed keeps giving me this little gut tug every time I think about it, and now that memory is going to be replaced by seeing him with … her. Arlie. The contract killer who showed Perry the ropes and then let him loose on me.

“Any chance you can drop us off at my nightclub?” I ask, lifting my voice to be heard over the music.

Tommy turns it down a fraction. “No can do. It’s too easy to find you there.”

“I have security.”

“That won’t stop anyone.”

“I have Lars. ”

Tommy throws Lars an assessing glance. “And as impressive as he is, one guy isn’t going to keep you safe.”

“What about me ?” Perry asks, having the fucking balls to sound offended.

“What about you?”

“ I protect you as well. It’s not just Lars.”

“Yeah, but Lars doesn’t go rogue when he sets out a plan, then get himself shot, then throw me out of a window. And when I asked to be dropped off, that plan didn’t include you.”

His jaw drops. “But we’re a team.”

I point at Tommy. “They’re your team. You don’t need to latch onto us for protection anymore.”

He’s frowning at me, and I hate the way it makes me want to apologize. If there’s one ask I could throw out to the universe, it would be for Perry to not look so damn disappointed and for that disappointment to do nothing to me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Lars glancing back at us both.

Perry slowly looks over at him. “But … we could all be a team. The five of us. With four of us protecting St. Clare, no one else stands a chance.”

“He’s got a point,” Lars says, and this is the part where I wish we really could communicate telepathically because I’d tell him I want to be literally anywhere Perry and Arlie aren’t.

Then he’d tell me to pull my head out of my ass and that this is more important than who my dick wants.

Which is a good point.

Even if I don’t want to acknowledge it.

“Ever’s there too,” Tommy says. “But we’re not sticking around. My job was to grab your car, drive you there, then Arlie’s going to arm you up, Everett will take a look at your shoulder, and then we’re out again.”

Before I can take a second to be relieved that Arlie won’t be someone I have to deal with constantly, Perry takes over.

“Wait a second, how did you get my car? I’ve got my keys.”

Tommy snorts. “Who needs keys? ”

Then he turns off the street we’re driving along and onto a back road. It looks exactly like the creepy kind of place you’d bring someone to kill them. So I’m instantly filled with assurance that this is all totally fine and not another case of us having to run for our lives. Can I really hope for a third time lucky?

“Well, this looks creepy,” Perry says, sitting forward to look out the front windscreen. It brings him dangerously close to me, and while the urge to lean in a little and brush his hip is strong, so is the urge to poke him in the shoulder.

Bet his precious Arlie would never hurt him like that.

All I can hope for at this point is that she’s seventy-nine and Perry’s joking around.

But a few minutes later, when we pull up in front of a dinky little cabin with moss-covered wooden walls and a sheet metal roof, I find it hard to worry about them bringing us out here to shoot us in the head because the woman who’s waiting for us is a goddamn goddess.

Nothing like the constant reminder that you were only a means to getting off to help you value your own life a bit less.

I thought our kiss had been explosive.

Turns out it was only explosive to me.