Page 61 of Half Cocked

That’s what I liked about the guy. He was the quiet type. Didn’t need the words to understand what was expected of him. Unlike some people…

Connor hadn’t shut his trap since we started moving, and I didn’t have it in me to listen to him right now. So I’d been tuning the fucker out. Trying to piece my mind together. I lost myself back there. I knew it. I could feel it. And I needed to shake the haze from my system before I even considered answering all the questions that were currently being tossed my way.

A few short miles later, we were pulling back up to our hole-in-the-wall motel. The adrenaline draining from my body along with my patience. I jumped out of the car, escorted the boys into our room, and slammed the door behind us. Away from the prying eyes and ears of anyone who’d care enough to listen.

I shoved Connor down on the mattress and waved a hand in his direction. “Go on. Ask away.”

“Oh? You need me to repeat myself?” he grunted. “Okay, fine. What the fuck is going on, Dani? And what the fuck is he doing here?” Connor flung an arm out towards Zeke.

“Him?” I hitched a thumb while peering over one shoulder. Then I landed my glare back on the man in front of me. “You mean your best friend?”

“No, I mean the fucker who was too busy suckin’ Benny’s asshole to trust that I’d always have his fuckin’ back.” Connor pushed up from the mattress, and I pressed my fingers over the pressure point in his shoulder, watched his arm slump, and slammed him down again.

“Nope. I said you could ask questions but only if you’re gonna listen to the answers. If not, you may as well pack your shit and leave.” I lifted a challenging brow.

Connor crossed his good arm over his chest while grabbing the limp one to hold it there too. His stubborn-ass way of agreeing while showing me he wasn’t happy about it.

“Right, well, if you woulda kept quiet long enough for me to explain, I woulda mentioned the part about how yourbest friendwas only doin’ what he was told. For your sake. So you weren’t forced to choose sides.”

“What the fuck are you talkin’ about?”

“I told ya you needed to trust me with this shit. This is the world I grew up in, one I learned to navigate before I learned to walk.”

“What the fuck does that even mean, Dani?”

“It means that when it comes to dealin’ with sons of bitches like Benny Mulligan, you have to have an ace up your sleeve. You can’t play fair. Because he sure as fuck won’t.” I waved a hand towards Zeke. “Say hello to our ace. Oh, and ya might wanna apologize too.”

“I don’t understand…” Connor’s eyes bounced between me and his friend. Then back again.

“What’s there to understand? I did what any good head of the family woulda done in my shoes. Planted a rat, made it look like he was workin’ against us. Meanwhile your boy here was a double agent. If that sick Irish fuck was half the man my father was, he woulda seen that shit comin’ a mile away. Lucky for us, Benny is—was—as dumb as the day is long.”

“So…?”

“So, kiss and make up. 'Cause Zeke never turned my ass in. I went willingly. Got that girl outta there. And then had 'em plant the real bombs. Yours were decoys.”

Thathad Connor jumping up on his feet and towering over me again. “Decoys? Are you fucking kiddin’ me? What the actual fuck, Dani?”

I shrugged a shoulder and folded my arms over my chest, my hip cocked and my glare lethal. “See? And that’s exactly why. You’re too impulsive, MacCullagh. I needed someone with a clear head. Someone who knew how to listen and wouldn’t go in there and accidentally blow us up. More than that, I needed real emotion coming fromyou. That look on your face when youthought the man you considered a brother stabbed you in the fuckin’ back. I needed that authenticity to really sell it to Benny. Otherwise it all woulda been for nothin’.”

I dropped an arm before quickly reaching up and placing my open palm on Connor’s cheek.

“You wear your heart on your sleeve, pretty boy. Which, believe it or not, I find admirable. Unfortunately, it also means you can’t lie for shit. So we had to do it for ya. Hopin’ you’d forgive us later.” A small smirk quirked up one side of my lips as I peered up at him through my lashes in that way I knew he liked. “So do ya, MacCullagh? Do ya forgive us?”

“Before I answer that, I got one more question for ya…”

“What’s that?”

“No, not you.Him.” Connor craned his neck to the side to peer over my shoulder. “If you didn’t rat us out, how’d they track us to that creepy-ass motel? We were in the middle of fucking nowhere, no cell service, no nothin’. And the only person I told wasyou.”

Zeke’s brows knitted together as he leaned back against the wall. “No fuckin’ idea, man. I just know it wasn’t me.”

I trailed a hand along the waistband of Connor’s jeans, drawing his attention to me as my fingers dipped into his back pocket. Where I pinched his badge from Mollies between the tips and plucked it free. Then I fisted the white keycard between my palms and snapped the shit in half to reveal the chip-sized tracker that was embedded in the plastic.

“How the fuck did you know that was there?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t. Till just now. But figured there was a good chance I was right. Probably had all of ya chipped. Slimy fucker didn’t know what it meant to earn his loyalties. Let alone keep 'em.”

Connor shook his head, an amused grin already playing on his lips as he slammed his mouth on mine and forcibly slippedhis tongue inside. His free hand landing on my waist and tugging me forward at the same time his cock ground itself against my stomach. Then the little cunt-tease was pulling away again. Much too fucking quickly if ya asked me.

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