Page 60 of Rolling 75 (The Noire Brothers #1)
RYKER
M y eyes are glued to my phone, gauging Mercy’s pulse tracker—the one hooked up through her La Lune Noire–access bracelet. It spiked to one hundred forty beats per minute, then up to one hundred fifty, and now seems to be floating back to one hundred thirty-five.
That’s really high in the absence of physical activity.
And by her tracking dot, it’s clear she hasn’t moved.
During orgasm, her heart rate accelerates to around one hundred seventy sometimes.
It certainly did a week ago when I had her in the pillory.
But other than that, she’s far steadier, as would be expected. Between sixty to one hundred bpm.
I should have put a body cam on her so I’d have had peace of mind.
I proposed as much a couple of nights ago.
But she insisted I was being crazy because the courthouse was the safest place she could be.
No one is armed, other than the bailiffs.
And if she was caught with an unauthorized recording device, she’d be suspended, so I dropped it.
Hadyn emerged about ten minutes ago and told me she was finishing up. I had been monitoring her on and off most of the day. But when Hadyn came out, I was on the phone with Axel. Knowing she was almost done, I hung up and studied her tracking app.
Something’s off. What the hell could have her this worked up after the case concluded?
Kane—the chief of our security—is outside with several of his men, so I shoot him a quick text as I stride to the door.
Me: Meet me on the steps with my pistol. And secure all entry points.
When I’m ten paces away, the heavy wood door swings open, and Bryce appears.
He storms toward the front lobby, doing a double take when he glances over his shoulder and catches me. “Hey, man. Sorry that went so late, but Mercy and Hadyn really came through. I can’t thank you enough. It’s finally over.”
“Glad to hear it.” I stop two feet from the door that’s just swished shut again. “What’s she doing now? Everything okay?”
“She was chatting with Judge Nicholson.” He glances at his watch and begins walking backward. “I’m late to pick up Emma. We’re still on for dinner tomorrow, right? Meeting you there? She’ll be more fun now that all this stress is behind us and we can focus on the wedding.”
My phone vibrates, likely with a response from Kane, but I finish my conversation with Bryce first.
“Sure.” Something in my gut stirs as that word falls from my lips, and panic rips through me.
The next few seconds fall like a deluge of pellets in a hailstorm, cracking through everything I’ve built with Mercy, until we’re once again stuck in the past.
I yank open the door to an empty courtroom. The possibility of her being in the judge’s chambers strikes, only to be obliterated when I check my phone.
And at the precise moment my eyes glimpse the text I never wanted to see again, a deafening bang resounds as an explosion detonates from within.
Chaos, white oak, and screams.
Mercy: 86