Page 135 of Lock Up the Darkness

“You want him taken aback, on edge, before we meet with Revenant’s contact.”

“I want him distracted.”

I grinned. “Damn, you’re good.” I shoved my hands in the pocket of my brown leather jacket. “All right, I’ll track Hollis, instead of going to Aurora. I won’t need to put on a show now.”

“Yes, you do. We need the show to get back to Carson so he’s put at ease where that’s concerned and it’s confirmed she’s truly our plaything. Then we take Hollis out of play, leaving that impression as Carson’s only one.”

“It’ll buy us time.”

“Precisely. Now, I already tracked him and he’s currently at Fusion, so you can kill two birds with one stone.”

“Good. I’m on it.”

I turned to go, but his hand clamped down on my arm.

My gaze snapped to his and I swallowed hard at the dark look there. “Don’t make her uncomfortable,” he rumbled. “It’s only a show.”

“I know. Princess one of us now.”

“She is.”

“You gonna tell her that anytime soon?”

“When the time is right.”

“Asher—”

“Just go,” he said, his cigarette stilling halfway to his lips as he choked again. “Hollis isn’t going to be there all night and Aurora’s shift is over in a couple of hours. I want this done, Jonah.”

“I’m on it,” I said, easing my hand from his grip. But then I reached up and traced my fingers over his stubbly cheek, almost in beard territory now because he hadn’t shaved for days since he’d been on this code-cracking mission. “But when I get back, we’re moving into making you better. This sickness charade has run its course. Plus, after this plan of yours with Hollis, Carson will be distracted, so you won’t need to be suffering through this, sick as a dog.”

“We’ll talk,” he offered, stroking my hand, before easing it down.

I stared at him for a moment. That was a compromise to him.

Asher Monroe had just offered to meet someone halfway?

Wow. Stunned didn’t quite cover it.

The corner of his mouth turned up. “Yes, you heard me correctly. Now, head out, for fuck’s sakes.”

I chuckled, then spun on my heal, and set out to handle the situations.

* * *

Fusion was packed, the Hexwood U crowd really filling out the place.

They were all amped up for the big game against the Torvin Generals in a couple of days.

I took in Evan Tessier up on one of the center tables, a beer bottle in hand, holding court with a whole bunch of sycophants crowded around him, hanging onto his every word. With Kill not there, he was their second best choice and they were all lapping it up.

All except Becca Wild, his girl. Well, his former girl.

There she was in the corner, a ways from him, slumped back in a booth with a few of her fellow cheerleaders. She was twirling her straw around some fruity drink, shooting pained looks at him every few moments, trying to be discreet but failing. I’d been keeping an eye on them since I’d fucked them to within an inch of their lives, and they’d broken up. Either he was craving my dick and knowing it couldn’t compare to what she could do for him, or she was the one on the Jonah cock wagon. It sounded conceited, but it wasn’t the first time. Definitely not the first couple I’d unwittingly ripped apart. There was also the fact that I’d noticed both of them shooting me a look here and there a few times since.

Too bad I didn’t do repeats.

Not with outsiders.

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