Page 41 of Murder & Mayhem

I walked confidently to the counter to pay, not ashamed, Jamie practically hiding behind me. I smiled at the waitress. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks flushed.

I handed her cash. “Is everything okay?”

She startled and then forced her eyes from Jamie. “Oh, um, sure.” Her eyes then flashed to the bathroom door.

“I apologize for what happened in there. We’re leaving now.” I also gave a larger tip.

She shook her head but was staring at Jamie even as she took my money. “It’s, um, fine.”

I took Jamie’s hand and led the poor, mortified boy out and to our car.

“Oh my god,” he whisper-yelled. “I can never go back there again.”

I laughed. He probably never would anyway. “It’s okay. We’ll be the highlight of that place for months.”

Jamie hid his face in my shoulder. “Oh. My. God. I can’t believe they heard us.”

Working purely on instinct, I leaned over and kissed the side of his head. Jamie whimpered, but happily.

“Let’s go, sweetheart. It’s still a few hours to the shore house. Let’s get there so we can make plans and get your brother back.”

CHAPTER 15

DOMINIC

About halfway there, we realized we had a tail. It was probably one of Flame’s guys, but there was no fucking way I wanted them to know where we were going or get any more information about us than they already had.

Jamie was asleep against the window. I hated to wake him up, but things were about to get bumpy.

“Hey, Jamie?”

He groaned, arms stretching out adorably. “Hmmm?” he asked groggily.

“We’re being followed. Things might get dicey so I wanted you aware.”

Jamie was awake and alert in seconds. His hand reached out blindly until it found the switchblade in the cupholder. It was cute as fuck, even if the knife was useless in this situation.

“I don’t think we’re actually in danger,” I told him calmly. “I’m pretty sure it’s Flame’s men. They’re probably trying toget intel on me. We’ve managed to run under their notice till now, and I’m sure it pissed him off.”

Jamie twisted around on his seat to watch. “Which car? I don’t see anything.”

“That white Expedition, like five cars back.”

He frowned. “Damn, how’d you even figure that out?”

I grinned. “I got practice. Now, sit forward. Things are going to get rough.”

I pressed call on Ari’s contact.

“What’s up?” he asked, sounding distracted.

“We got a tail.”

“Shit,” he cursed. “Wraiths?”

“Likely.”

“Okay, give me thirty seconds to pull up your location.” I waited, my eyes on the white SUV. It had closed the distance by one car but was definitely trying to hang back. This wasn’t an offensive attack. They were trying to follow us, not hurt us. While I still didn’t like it, it was better than the alternative.