Page 28 of Kept in the Dark (Hitmen of Ulysses #2)

Mac

I can’t wait to bust his balls about this.

“Yo, D! Was that you at the gate?” I call up through the foyer as the massive oak doors swing shut behind me. I place my earbuds back in their case and wipe sweat from my brow.

“Hey, Mac…” Wes calls from the kitchen. “You’re going to want to see this.”

I head towards the sound of his voice and see that he’s standing in front of the windows by the French doors that lead out to the pool area.

I weave around the giant marble island, snag an apple from the fruit bowl that my girl keeps stocked in the center, and join him as I take a juicy, loud crunch.

“’Sup?” I ask around a mouthful of fruit.

“There’s a strange woman running around in the garden with a gun.”

Well, that’s… something. Definitely not what I thought he’d say. I feel my mouth gape and a little rivulet of apple juice spill from the corner before I can recover. I wipe at it and manage, “What?”

He jerks his chin towards the backyard. “It’s not every morning that you get a show with your breakfast. Dimitri’s been chasing her around the yard for the past…” he checks his watch, “three minutes.”

I snort. “Kinky.”

I turn and see a tall, tan, curvy woman sprinting across the grass, looking terrified for her life. She doesn’t so much as pause to orient herself, running blindly, and nearly falls as she trips over a sprinkler head.

“Nicole Brooks, I take it,” Wes remarks dryly, pulling a chip from the bag he’s holding and popping it into his mouth.

I reach in and steal a small handful, which makes Wes raise his brow at me. “The witness? Huh. Yeah, looks just like the picture you pulled from her work ID badge,” I confirm.

A few seconds later, Dimitri—looking meaner than I’ve ever seen him, fucking pissed, in fact—bursts through the tree line after her.

His longer legs eat up the distance between them as she recovers from her stumble, and he overtakes her in her desperate attempt to escape.

We both lean forward, squinting against the too-bright early morning light cresting over the hill in the distance.

“Looks like he took a shot to the nose. You think she did that?”

“Seems likely.” I nearly snort. “Dimitri’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.”

I can see her mouth open in a scream as she looks over her shoulder and realizes he’s gaining, a noise of panic that’s only just audible through the distance and glass panes. He tackles her from behind, and they both go down in the grass.

As one, Wes and I crane our necks to keep eyes on the tussle.

“She’s holding her own,” Wes observes, sounding impressed as Dimitri attempts to pin her and she manages to roll away and scramble back to her feet.

“Should we… help?” I ask, tracking their movements as they grapple and limbs go flying. It’s pretty obvious what’s going on here—she’s trying to get away, and he’s trying to stop her. And I know him well enough to see that he’s pulling his punches, trying to subdue her, not hurt her.

Wes chuckles. “Who do you propose we help? ”

I make a thoughtful noise, shrug, and take another bite of my apple. With a smack of my lips, I throw a glance over my shoulder at the fruit bowl. “Damn, these are good. You should try one.”

“I’ll stick to my—Ooh!” Wes hisses, a noise of pity. “What a shot! Right in the nose. If it wasn’t broken before, it is now.”

I whip back around in time to see Dimitri stumbling backwards, clutching his face as a fresh wave of red drips between his fingers, pooling in the valleys. I hoot with surprised laughter. “I missed it! Damn! How did she get the drop on him?”

“He’s holding back. Or, he was. Looks like she’s finally remembered the gun she’s holding. I reckon the kid gloves are off now.”

I stiffen, seeing her lift it towards our fearless leader. “It’s not loaded?”

He shakes his head. “Dimitri wouldn’t chase her like that unless he was sure she wouldn’t—or couldn’t—shoot.”

The black metal flashes in the sunlight that barely crests over the hill, extended in the space between them. I shake my head. She’s holding it too far from her body. He’ll have it out of her hand in two seconds flat. “Her grip’s all wrong.”

Even though she’s armed, she’s clearly inexperienced.

Once Dimitri stops messing around, she’s done for.

It’s almost funny to see some of the moves he’s been drilling into us for over a year in action like this.

It’s not like sparring, since the stakes are higher for both of them, but it’s nowhere near a fair fight.

He knocks the gun into the grass with a perfectly aimed and lightning-quick blow to her wrist that she doesn’t see coming.

Disarmed, she falls back a step and pivots, preparing to run again.

He feints left; she darts to avoid him, and he catches a handful of the back of her shirt, using it to jerk her into a bear hug, overpowering her.

But she’s not done fighting—she throws her head back, clipping him in the chin.

It’s only then that I realize how tall she must be to be able to even reach his chin.

That’s about where Wesley falls on him when they stand next to each other.

I see him working his jaw, and his arms bulge as he tightens his grip around her.

Struggling, but apparently filled with more annoyance than anger, Dimitri casts exasperated eyes skyward.

When they level back out, they fall on us.

He stiffens, realizing we’re at the window, watching.

Wes uses his bag of chips to salute him, and I jerk my hand in a wave, grinning.

I see his chest expand as he sighs, probably muttering some obscure Russian curse.

My favorite is when he calls us goat testicles. Or penises from the mountains.

As if realizing how this all must look in front of an audience, he loosens his hold and places a hand on each shoulder to turn her. She takes off as soon as she can break free.

“Nearly had her that time… Oh, no! Not that way! She doesn’t see the—”

The screams were muffled before, but we can clearly hear the sharp ripping sound and the giant splash as she steps right through the pool cover.

In her defense, it looks just like the rest of the patio—it’s designed to.

It rips down the middle, and she disappears into the murky water beneath it.

Dimitri dives right in after her, and the splashes get bigger.

Well, that’s not going to be fun for either of them. We’ve had a cold front sweep in, and nights have been near freezing lately.

I move towards the handle of the French door, ready to step in, but Wes stills me, thumping the back of the hand still holding the bag of chips against my sternum. “I wouldn’t get in the middle of that if I were you.”

“Middle of what? He clearly needs a hand in subduing her.”

He resumes his casual posture with a one-shoulder shrug. “I don’t know that I’d insert myself into that particular lover’s spat.”

“Lover’s spat?” I repeat, grinning. “Fuck off. You think they’re…” I trail off, slapping my hands together in a suggestive but meaningless gesture .

He chuckles. “I think that’s Dimitri’s woman.”

“No way,” I scoff. “She’s running away from him. At most, she’s his captive—his obviously unwilling captive. A kidnapped witness.”

He shrugs again, but I can see he really believes his statement.

And Wes is usually such a stickler for not making assumptions.

This guy doesn’t speak until his little calculator-brain has done its math about the odds and he’s sure he’s right.

But Wes only acts like he knows everything.

Half the time, I think he’s full of shit, just saying things with enough confidence to convince people he knows for a fact what he’s only making an educated guess about.

“Mark my words.”

I reach in to steal more chips and roll my eyes.

“In the almost three years we’ve known him, have you ever heard him talk about women?

Have you ever seen him with anyone? All he does is work, work out, and sulk.

I did kind of think he liked her at the wedding, but we both know she was a cover.

” I take a thoughtful munch. “My theory is that there was some kind of accident and he took one of those knives to the ‘nads.”

Wes holds out his hand, palm up. “A fiver says he makes some kind of claim on her today. Marks his territory, as it were.”

I glance out towards the pool. They’re both standing, heads cresting through the rip in the pool cover and up to their waists in gross, old water. She’s shivering as she angrily sends a splash his way that hits him right in the face. Her scream this time is not one of terror, but of outrage.

“All right. You’re on.” I laugh and grab his hand to shake. “What makes you so sure, anyway?”

“Didn’t you see his face?”

I look back. They’re getting out now, and he’s half-carrying, half-dragging her towards the stairs. “Yeah. Same mean mug as usual. What of it? ”

Wes shakes his head, clearly feeling pretty certain about this. “It was the same look you had when you brought Eleanor here after you’d been stalking her and trying to keep it from us for weeks.”

“Oh?” I grin. Fond memories. “And what look was that?”

“Like she was yours and no one better say otherwise. Like you had something to protect.”

“You’re sayin’ that has a look? Fuck off.” I laugh incredulously.

“It does,” he nods. “It’s like the caveman, animal brain saying mine .”

My brows shoot up. Okay… maybe he does know more than I give him credit for.

Because I’ve never said that thought out loud to him, but I sure as shit have to Eleanor.

And I don’t remember exactly what I was thinking that night I brought her home the first time, but it’s safe to say that was part of it.

I remember giving the guys an ultimatum, threatening to leave if they decided to throw her out.

“Besides,” he continues, “he brought her here .”

“Yeah,” I grin, taking the last bite of my apple and moving it into a cheek to speak around it, “And after the shit he gave me about Eleanor, I can’t wait to bust his balls about this.”

“Exactly. You know how Dimitri feels about us doing the job right. And he can’t stand eating crow.

If he didn’t care about her, he never would have brought her here and put our safety at risk.

He’d have taken her to the warehouse or the farm or the meat freezer and locked her away for all our sakes. ”

Well, damn. Wes might actually be right. As per fuckin’ usual. I narrow my eyes at him. “Did you just hustle me, Short Round? You know something I don’t?”

Wes laughs, balls up the now-empty bag of chips, and tosses it in the trash as he heads through the kitchen towards his office. “I know so many things you don’t, it’s honestly embarrassing for you, pretty boy.”

“Eat me,” I retort to his retreating form .

“I got some new tech in if you want to check it out,” he calls, nearly all the way back to his office by now.

“Be right in.”

I glance out the window again, see that D’s ushering her towards the pool house where he set up shop. If I am wrong about the two of them, I’m gonna be pissed. Five bucks is whatever, but a smug Wesley is pretty fucking insufferable, even if he never actually says, “I told you so.”

I check the time. Eleanor is going to be awake in the next few hours, so I hope Dimitri and that woman sort out whatever it is that’s going on.

My girl is sensitive—she feels deeply for other people, even if she doesn’t know them—so I’m not totally sure how she’ll react to Dimitri having a captive houseguest.

I sigh. Things are about to get a whole lot more interesting around here.