Page 13 of Rogue's Path

“Sure do!”

“Havoc and Rogue.”

I turn as Havoc stands up. “Pitt.”

“You’re the ones Maddox called.” Pitt walks up to us, stopping near Nayeli.

The smirk on his face begs to meet my fist. “Yup.” We don’t know what the job is for, but for the kind of money Maddox mentioned, we aren’t all that picky.

Pitt laughs. Then looks down at the little girl. “Time for lunch.” He scoops her up and gently tosses her over his shoulder. Her little giggles trail behind them.

That little cutie is related to the crazy man who thinks it’s fun to throw around hand grenades. Makes sense. “We better get going.”

The boys don’t follow us down the cobblestone street as we walk away.

“Nayeli needs a pink motorcycle.” Havoc’s evil grin says it all.

“Done.” I’ll need to make sure it can’t go too fast so that she won’t get hurt. Pitt is going to lose his mind. “He might toss a grenade at us.”

“Probably.”

Better add some sparkles to it just to make sure she keeps the bike.

The amount of money these people must have in order to keep this neighborhood up makes my head hurt. Our MC does well. Our various business endeavors keep us in top-shelf booze and give us the freedom to get up and go whenever we want. But this…the handcrafted wrought-iron work everywhere had to cost millions. After dabbling in it on occasion, it’s easy to see just how much workmanship was needed for each of the hundreds, probably thousands of pieces around Willow Street. The doors we step through into Maddox’s office building are not only stunning works of art but also structured and thick enough to stop a tank if braced properly.

Why do I think these guys thought about that fact?

After a short trip up the elevator, we stop outside of the home of the Deathadders aka Maddox’s office.

“We need to start asking him to come to us.” I should have taken a shot before coming, either of whiskey or valium. Neither one of them would probably be strong enough to fully prepare me for what’s inside of this room. Dead bodies would be less terrifying.

“Agreed.” Havoc steps in first.

The walls move. Slithering strips of vibrant pain and death surround us with only a thin piece of glass as protection. My skin crawls along with it and every hair on my neck and arms stands on end. How can anyone relax and work with all these venomous snakes encompassing them?

Havoc freezes in place.

Did one of them escape…Vex! What is he doing here?

Maddox must know his reputation. Anyone crazy enough to keep vipers and cobras is probably insane enough to make friends with a psyco like Vex.

My body says to run or pull my weapon. Like either of those things will keep me safe from him. I’ve won my fair shareof bar fights. Rumor has it that Vex killed an entire bar full of men with a knife and his bare hands.

“Havoc, Rogue. Thank you for coming.” Maddox walks up and greets us with a nod and an almost friendly smile. “Have you met Vex?”

No one meets Vex voluntarily.

“No.” Havoc gives him a nod.

“We have a job for your club.” Maddox gestures to a table and chairs well away from the walls of death, but closer to Vex.

The snakes seem more inviting.

Wait. He said ‘we’. No way. There’s no way in the world we’re doing a job for Vex. If something goes wrong… No. We should have run. Or gone to a tea party with Nayeli.

“What kind of job?” Havoc asks as we sit down.

“It should be pretty simple. We need bodyguards for one night.”