Page 101 of Protective Love

His eyes widen slightly, and a moment later, a smile splits across his face.

"I love you too, baby." He kisses me once more, and then he steps back, winking at me. "I'll show you exactly how much I do later."

Heat spreads across my skin as he turns around and walks out the door, closing it behind him while I stand frozen to the spot, staring at the wooden door, dumbfounded.

Did that really just happen?

"I can't decide whether that was cute or hot," Sophia says from somewhere behind me.

Okay, that definitely just happened.

Chapter Fifty-One

Jaylen

Parking the car a couple streets away from where Danny and the few men he has with him are supposedly camping out, I glance down at the tablet in Kaleb's hand, looking at the multiple camera screens shown to us.

"Miles said he's only seen four men enter and leave this plot in the last couple days. One was the man Leo injured, he's now dead. He confirmed one of the others was Danny. With one dead, there's only three in that building, so this should be easy," Kaleb says, clicking on one of the screens that shows the entrance to the factory where Danny's holed up.

I glance around the darkening streets outside, my eyes coasting over the boarded-up windows on all of the buildings down this street.

"Is this whole place deserted?"

"Pretty much," he says. "This was an industrial site filled with warehouses and factories, but as far as I'm aware, and from listening to Miles ramble on earlier, they've all been abandoned since 2019."

"Perfect place to hide out then," I mutter.

"Okay, look. One of them is coming out and walking around, clearly checking the perimeter," Kaleb says, nudging me and pointing at the tablet in his hands.

Glancing over at the screen, I see the man he's talking about, and I frown as I lean closer to the screen.

"He looks old," I state, zooming in on the screen, trying to get a better look at his face.

"What's that matter? You gonna feel bad choking out an old man?"

"No. I'm just surprised because I'd have thought that anyone willingly helping Danny would be young. The older guys should surely be following Killian, not Danny."

Kaleb shrugs and pulls out his phone.

"I'll text Dom and tell him to let Killian know. Take a picture after you choke him out, then Killian can decide what he wants to do with the rat."

The remaining rays of sunlight disappear, and I crack my neck, and awkwardly twist my body around, stretching out my limbs.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Kaleb asks, watching me with a look of confusion.

"Stretching."

"Looks more like you're trying out for the gymnastics team," he retorts, rolling his eyes. "Let's go before you freak me out even more."

I scoff, and shake my head, but follow his lead, getting out of the car and checking that both my guns and my knife are secured in place before I close the door and walk over to Kaleb's side.

"Once we get to the end of this street, I'll text Miles and he'll disable the cameras for us, just in case they're also tapping into the feed. Then we get closer and lie in wait until one of them comes out, okay?"

"Yes. I remember the plan," I tell him, walking ahead of him down the street.

"Can never be too sure with that pea brain of yours."

Fucking hell. This is going to be a long night.