Page 85 of The Vows We Keep

Vex chuckles. “Great distinction, Cat. Killing them is fine, just not in front of a cop.”

I try to grin but the action makes me wince.

Niro takes the ice-filled napkin from me and cleans up the blood I assume is coming from my nose.

King moves to Rae; Briar falls into Saint. Spark scans until he finds Iris and pulls her to him, looking into her eyes. “Are you okay?” he asks.

“We love Catalina,” Iris says, then hiccups.

“Nice to know, little chick. But why is your ankle strapped up?”

“The club security guy strapped it up for me while we were waiting for the police. I tripped the guy who attempted to hurt Gwen,” she replies.

Clutch tugs Gwen to him. “Some guy touched you? Did he inject you? He in that car?” Clutch tips his chin in the direction of the police car.

“He didn’t inject me with anything, it fell out of his hand when he hit the floor. We’re lucky.” She puts her hand on his chest. “Catalina took care of them.”

I see Halo move into position between Clutch and the police cars to stop the VP if he makes a move.

“Catalina was like a Quentin Tarantino movie star,” Briar says, and pulls a fighting stance. Then she wobbles and Saint catches her. “They didn’t stand a chance.”

I can’t help but smile. Because, despite the turn of events, we’d had a good night.

“What happened, cariño?” Niro asks.

“Basically, what Gwen said. Once I realized what was happening, my only objective was to immobilize those men.”

“And I tripped one of them,” Iris offers again.

I nod. “She did. He went ass over feet. And it pissed him off. It took a few minutes to take them all down.”

“I may have smashed a bottle of champagne on one of their heads,” Gwen says. “Am I in trouble?”

“No,” Clutch says. “But that motherfucker is.”

He catches Halo unawares and pushes him to the side before trying to get to the police car.

“Not today, sweetheart,” Vex says, assisting Halo and gripping Clutch around the waist.

A police officer walks toward us. “King,” he says. “Didn’t realize these were your girls.”

“Ten grand if you let the five shitheads out of the back of those police cars and go back to the station,” King says quietly. “These aren’t girls. They’re old ladies.”

I see the blood drain from the cop’s face. “Shit. King. Look. I already got ’em for assault. I got the syringe, so I once I get it tested, that will be direct intent. Plenty of eye-witness statements, including the bar tender and your girls. Let me handle it.”

“Twenty.” King doesn’t back down.

Rae steps to the club president. “Sweetheart, let him deal with it, please.”

“Thirty,” Clutch says.

“Jesus,” Rae curses. “You too. Stop.”

Spark joins them. “Forty.”

“Don’t even think about sayingfifty,” I say to Niro. My joints ache as I move to stand. After fighting with Niro two days ago, and fighting again today, I’m sore. It’s a good kind of sore though. One that shows I pushed my body to its limits.

Niro shakes his head as he helps me to my feet. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Still gonna kill those fuckers.”