Page 122 of Lethal Vengeance

With a smirk, he reaches into the bottom drawer of the dresser and grabs a pair of boxer briefs.

Surprised, I raise my eyebrows. “Confident, weren’t you?”

“No, I was terrified you would run from the darkness and lose yourself,” he says gruffly. “This was pure hope.” He links his fingers in mine and pulls me out of the room.

When we get to the basement, I’m amazed. The safe is one big room filled with weapons. Beside it is an enclosed shooting range, and an area to practice throwing knives.

I whistle. “This is quite the setup.”

“We tend to make enemies, so we need to be prepared,” he replies. Waving his hand around the room, he urges me to check out the weapons.

I pick up and put down several guns until I eventually decide on the SIG Sauer P365. Spotting a garotte on the wall, I add it to my pile, along with a few of the Kubaton weapons.

Raider adds a switchblade to the pile, and I frown.

“You need to stop being so predictable and carry more weapons,” he informs me, before picking up another knife and handing it to me.

As soon as this one hits my palm, I wrap my hand around it. “It feels good,” I tell him. “What is it?”

“Benchmade Fixed Adamas,” he replies, running his finger down the blade. “I have one. Good balance. Lightweight.”

I add it to the pile and drop my robe.

Heat flares between us. Picking me up, he lays me back on the table next to the weapons and slides down my body. When his mouth closes over me, I arch up and lose myself to his fantasy.

53

ZANE

Ending the day early, Sterling, Cruz, and I rush home to find out how Quinn is doing. The look on her face when I dropped her off had me debating whether to kill Raider or not, but he’d asked me to trust him, so I let her go in without me.

When we walk in the house, Raider and Quinn are watching Gabriel sing “Bye Bye Bye” by NSYNC, and she’s cracking up. Stunned, we stop and stare at them.

“Who taught him this song?” Quinn asks, her cheeks flushed from laughing so hard.

All of us point to Cruz.

I silently ask Raider if everything’s truly okay, and he nods. Damn, is that a smile on his face? Close enough. A twinge of jealousy hits me, but I know it’s going to take time for her and me to get there. But I do get to have the first date.

* * *

Cursingthe string around my neck, I toss it down on the bed with the other two. If the dress code didn’t require it, there’s no way I’d put on one of the damn things. I don’t know why Sterling loves them.

A smothered laugh draws my eyes to the door.

“You can stop laughing and help any time, Slick,” I grumble at Sterling.

Using his forefinger and thumb, he picks up one of the ties from the bed and dangles it in front of me. “This is a mangled mess of a perfectly good tie. Good thing I came prepared.”

Sliding a finger in the tie around his neck, he loosens and removes it. The grey silk drops around my neck. “There. Now all you have to do is tighten it but let me do it. Just in case.”

I stand straight while he gets the tie perfect. “I don’t know why I’m so damn nervous. It’s not like I haven’t been on a date.”

“In the last year?” Sterling asks dryly.

I glare at him. “Yes, I’m not that bad,” I reply stiffly.

He sighs. “She’s different. Not only is she a beautiful woman, but you respect her. And you’re afraid you’ll fuck it up for all of us.” A huge smile spreads across his face. “She asked me to adopt Gabriel with her.”