Page 77 of Pack of Crooks

“Your alpha, huh?”

Oh shit. Was that too much? Quick, change the subject. “If you had a million dollars?—”

“I have a million dollars,” he cuts me off.

“Shh, you’re ruining the moment. If you had a million dollars and could do anything in the world, what would it be?”

“I’d probably invest it because like I said, I already have a million dollars. Actually, we have more.”

Sighing, I spin in his arms and link my fingers behind his neck. “That’s boring. You have to say something like sail around the world or buy an island.”

“Is that what you would do?”

“No.”

“Come on, omega, don’t leave me hanging. What would you do with a million dollars?”

I already know. I have a whole plan. “I’d get a better place for me and Lottie. Pay for her college. Get her a car. Make sure she has everything she’s ever wanted.”

“And what about you?”

I shrug. “If Lottie is taken care of, then so am I.”

He studies my face in the dim light from the streets, gray eyes calculating. The look strips me bare. Like he knows that I’ve never made plans for myself, only for Lottie, and he’s not happy about it.

The possibility of disappointing him has me filling the silence. “And I guess I would maybe buy a giant lava lamp?” Really, Hazel? That’s all you could come up with on the fly?

“A lava lamp?”

See. Even he thinks it’s dumb. Too late to change your mind now. Commit to the bit. I nod. “I—uh—really like lava lamps.”

He tips his head. “Lava lamps?”

“Say lava lamp.”

“Lava lamp.”

I giggle. “Okay, okay. I don’t know what I would do for myself, but I’m serious. As long as my sister is happy and taken care of, that’s enough for me.”

“I think you deserve more, but we can discuss your criminal lack of self-care later.” His face grows serious. “How do you feel about aliens?”

“Probe me, daddy.”

He sucks in a breath.

“I mean, they’re cool.” I lift a shoulder and look away. “If you like butt stuff.”

Then he bursts out laughing. “God, you’re fucking funny.”

I beam up at him. “So are you.”

This is so different from them breaking into my apartment, and while I enjoy the thought of them looming over me while I sleep, I very much like talking to them. Kill and I hang out for a bit more—the ridiculous game of twenty-one questions has my cheeks aching and my chest filled with warmth—and when he eventually lets me go, I head to my couch with a grin and a full heart.

They’re the best.

twenty-one

MADDOX