Page 37 of Renegade (The Santini Assassins #2)

With their weapons holstered, Greystone collected their night-goggle helmets. Caroline brought the dirty dishes to the kitchen. Ten minutes later, the break room was cleaned up. With their computer bags slung over their shoulders and their helmets in hand, they made their way toward the hangar.

At ten-fifteen on Saturday morning—after pulling an all-nighter that didn’t include sex—Greystone had a damn chip on his shoulder. With no option but to push on, he backed out of the hanger, slid on his shades.

“Where to, boss?”

“JL’s,” Caroline replied. “I’ll text her.”

Are you home?

Seconds later, her phone rang.

“It’s JL.” Caroline said to Greystone, before putting the call on speaker. “Hey, how are you doing?”

“I’ve been up all night waiting for Erik to call or text me back,” JL said, the angst in her voice front and center. “I’m kinda freaking out.”

“Can we swing by?”

“We?” JL asked.

“Grey and me.”

“Ohgod, he must be furious. I can’t believe Erik would do something like this.”

“We’ll talk when we get there.” Caroline killed the call, pulled up JL’s home address, and turned on her phone’s nav app.

After a few minutes of silence, Greystone said, “You’re comin’ with me tonight.”

He wasn’t asking, he was telling. He wanted her with him when he reunited with his fam.

“Are you sure?”

He clasped her hand. “I want to spend as much time with you as I can.”

She regarded him. “Are you leaving on another assignment after this one? ”

“Maybe.”

She tightened her hold of his hand, and he glanced over at her.

“Come with me tonight,” he said.

“I’d love to,” she replied.

He pulled into the Vienna neighborhood, parked in front of JL’s.

The house was decent-sized, the area upscale, but Greystone didn’t care if they’d landed on the moon.

He was there to find out what this woman knew about the man she’d been sleeping with.

The man she’d hired to help run her multi-million-dollar company.

The man who was one of the most ruthless, most wanted terrorists in the world, and who’d been working in plain sight for months with more power and access than Greystone could believe was possible.

“You ready to do this?” he asked as they walked up the driveway.

“One-hundred percent,” she replied. “One-hundred percent.”

CAROLINE

Caroline wanted—no, she needed—alone time with Grey.

Had Teddy not interrupted them, again , she would have had her way with him in the hallway.

The pure anger thundering off him was a powerful aphrodisiac.

Life was short, too short, and she was going to take full advantage of this brief break to take care of him and, in the process, herself.

Truth was, she was crazy about him and she wanted to tell him, but she didn’t want to push him away. Grey wasn’t a word guy. He was a man of action.

I’ll show him how I feel.

As they made their way up the walkway, the front door opened and JL stood there looking like her world had blown up around her. Bags hung heavy under her eyes. She was having a serious acne breakout she hadn’t bothered to cover with makeup.

Caroline’s heart broke for her as JL accepted her hug.

She offered Greystone a meager smile. “Hi, Grey.” She stepped back inside, waited for them to enter before she shut the door.

“Can I get you something to drink?” JL offered.

“I’m good,” Grey said.

“We need to talk,” Caroline said.

JL glanced at Grey before she led them into her kitchen. Rather than sit, she stood on the other side of the center island, then opened a drawer, pulled out a rubber band, and started fiddling with it.

“Erik must’ve shut his phone off,” JL said. “I’ve called him so many times.” She started scrubbing her hands over her face.

Caroline walked over to her and put a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Erik brought Grey’s McLaren back this morning.”

JL’s mouth dropped open. “What? For real?” She regarded Grey who nodded. “Where is he?”

“He said he had to leave the country for a while,” Grey answered.

She furrowed her brow, stared at the rubber band she’d wrapped around her finger. “Did he call you?”

“No,” Grey said. “He showed up at my house around six-thirty. He found my registration in the glovebox.”

Caroline studied Grey. Though he was outright lying, she couldn’t tell. Normally, she was pretty good at spotting that, but Grey’s body language hadn’t changed. He glanced at Caroline, returned his penetrating gaze to JL.

“I don’t understand,” JL said.

“Yeah, I was pretty surprised,” he continued. “He handed me the keys, apologized for takin’ off.” After a brief pause, Grey said, “He wasn’t alone.”

JL’s gasp-groan hit Caroline in her guts. No woman likes a cheat.

“Who was it?” JL asked, then held up her hand. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. He’s a scumbag. I knew it, but I just ignored the signs.” Her shoulders dropped. “I’m such a loser.”

“Not true,” Caroline said as she rubbed JL’s back. “Erik got into a car with some woman. She must’ve followed him to Grey’s.”

JL’s eyebrows shot up as she stared at Caroline in disbelief. “You were there, at Grey’s?”

Caroline wasn’t sure if JL was surprised she’d spent the night with Greystone or that someone that hot would be attracted to her.

“He apologized,” Grey said, hijacking JL’s attention, “he got into the woman’s car, and they left.”

“Well, he’s fired,” JL bit out.

“He said something about heading back to UAE,” Grey said.

“Yeah, he’s got businesses there or some projects,” JL said. “He never got into the details.” She opened a cupboard, pulled out a bottle of tequila. Instead of pouring the liquor into a glass, she swigged from the bottle, then offered it to Caroline. “Want some?”

“No,” Caroline replied. “Are you sure you should be drinking?”

“Well, it’s Saturday and I have no plans, so it’s not like I have to be somewhere.”

“How much access does Erik have to your company?” Grey asked.

“Too much,” she replied. “Too fucking much.”

“If you’re serious about firing him, you gotta cut him off,” he said .

“Why?” JL tossed back another mouthful of booze. “It’s not like he’s going to be doing any work or anything.”

Caroline took the bottle of tequila and screwed the lid back on.

“Jennifer Leigh, you run a very successful company you built from nothing. If you’re serious about firing him, you need to take away his access to your business, unless you’re talking all tough, but you’re gonna crumble the second he comes back. ”

“You’re right.” JL retrieved her laptop. “You’re such a good friend, Caroline. Seriously. How do you put up with me?”

“Caroline is a great friend,” Grey said. “You’re lucky to have her.”

“Caroline, you go from no dates to landing yourself a total hottie,” JL blurted. “My loser boyfriend couldn’t wait to get to the club so other women could climb all over him. How’d you land a man like Grey? I mean, no offense, but it’s not like you’re?—”

“Not another fucking word,” Grey growled.

Caroline stilled, her attention completely locked on his.

In seconds, all the energy in the room changed from kind and compassionate to turbulent.

Greystone’s nostrils were flared and he was working the muscles in his cheeks pretty good.

Was his loyalty to her that strong, or was he just caught up in the pressure of the case?

“Whoa, easy there,” JL said to him. “I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Did Erik tell you about his businesses in the UAE?” Grey asked.

“He told me he had big international reach, said he knew a lot of powerful people, and he wanted to do something dramatic enough to change the world.”

“Why did he want to work for you?” Grey probed.

“I’ve got a successful business and he wanted to establish roots in the DC area. He was well qualified and he told me he could help me grow my business. Why are you asking me all these questions?”

“He didn’t seem that into you. Why keep him around and give him so much power at your company if wasn’t treating you right?

” Grey shrugged. “I’m a simple guy. What you see is what you get.

If I’m into you—” he slid his gaze to Caroline and the anger in his eyes faded away— “you know it. I don’t play games, I don’t cheat, and I’m gonna give you one-hundred percent, one-hundred percent of the time.

” He regarded JL. “I wouldn’t keep him on my payroll. ”

Caroline had won the man lottery. Despite the euphoria soaring through her, she needed to keep her head in the game. She and Grey had delivered their fake message about Erik. It was up to JL how she handled her situation.

“We have to go.” Caroline stood next to him, and the heat from his massive body warmed her. Being around him had become her absolute favorite thing.

Ever.

“Thanks for stopping by,” JL said. “I wish you had better news.”

She walked them out, shut the door.

As Grey drove away, Caroline made a call. “I’m checking in with Slash.”

After several rings, she answered. “Lemme call you back.”

Grey called Tank. “Yo,” Tank answered. “We got some shit goin’ down here.”

“We’re on our way.”

“We got this,” Tank said. “He kept asking for water, so we went in. He wouldn’t answer our questions, he was his usual dickwad self. Slash has a short fuse when it comes to terrorists, so he’s missing some fingers.”

“Ohgod,” Caroline blurted.

“It’s quiet now, but it got pretty crazy,” Tank continued. “She wrapped his hand, but Haqazzii’s furious. He’s got a lot of fight in him.”

“We’re coming back.”

“Greystone, you gotta let the OPS do their jobs,” Tank pushed back. “We got this. Sin and Dakota will be here by six. I’ll see you at Carrera’s.”

“Caroline and I will be there,” Grey said. “Call me for any reason.”

He hung up, released a long growl. “I don’t like leaving them there with him.”

She slipped her fingers in his hair at the back of his neck, and caressed his skin. “Tank’s right. They’ve got this.” Then, she placed her hand on his muscular thigh and stroked his leg. Slowly.