Page 91 of Rami

Killing those fuckers last night hadn’t been enough. Hadn’t even whet his appetite. He wanted the orchestrater. The head of the snake. He’d never get to the head of the entire organization, but he didn’t care about that. He wanted Fernando.

Taking out a higher-up would come with severe repercussions. But what was he to do? Wait and hope Fernando didn’t come back?

The guy had been pissed enough about the grenade to send people all the way to Seattle to put bullets in their heads. And Rami had lost count of how many had been killed since then.

Ivy stirred in his arms with a little moan of complaint. He was too wired right now, too high-strung. She wouldn’t be able to rest with him beside her. Placing a kiss on her temple, he tucked the blankets around her and then slid from the bed. Scooping up his clothes, he shut the bedroom door softly and made his way to the living room.

He turned on his phone for the first time that day. His device pinged and vibrated with notifications of missed calls and texts from all the guys. He stepped into his joggers and pulled the T-shirt over his head while he read Taschen’s message.

He hadn’t even talked to him last night after he dealt with police. Dammit, he should’ve been available, even a little bit. But he’d been one-hundred-percent dialed into Ivy. At the time, nothing else had mattered. Surely Toth had followed up with Taschen and picked up Rami’s slack.

He tapped the call button.

“Hello?”

“Hey, man.”

“Dude, what the fuck? I tried calling you all night.”

“Sorry,” Rami drawled. “I was tied up.”

“Yeah, I heard Ivy was in rough shape. How’s she doing now?”

“Good.” Rami’s mind went back to the mind-blowing quickie they’d just had. As soon as her head was better, he’d give her the attention she deserved. “What happened with the police?”

Taschen exhaled and told him about the inquisition. The good news was that Dare had turned over the cartel’s tracking device data to the FBI and, according to Dare’s intel, there was a rescue mission planned.

The security footage showed Rami had acted in self-defense, and the bodies recovered were identified as cartel members. At the end of the day, Backcountry Protection Services didn’t have anything to worry about. The shitshow at the gas station would just affect their insurance. Nothing they couldn’t handle.

Rami finished up the call then texted August and Toth to let them know Ivy was fine and that they’d be busy this afternoon. As soon as he hit send, a message from Gigi came in.

Hey, just landed. We should be home in about an hour.

He glanced at the clock. It was just after 2:00p.m. They’d already eaten so once they showered, they’d be ready to go. He just didn’t want to wake up Ivy too soon if she needed more rest.

Sounds good. We should be there by 3:30.

He pocketed his device then quickly cleaned up the kitchen. He moved quietly while loading the dishwasher and wiping down the counters. Then he took a few minutes to survey the fridge and cupboards. They’d need some groceries.

His stomach knotted.

He hadn’t asked Ivy to move in. Hell, they hadn’t even talked about where things were going from here, but his stupid brain had assumed she’d stay. Maybe she wouldn’t. She had her own apartment and hadn’t wanted to move out to live with Gigi.

After shutting the fridge he made a quick list, trying to put all thoughts of the future out of his head. Hopefully she’d want to stay at least a couple days. She didn’t seem to want to be alone, and the doctor had said to make sure someone was with her for two days.

That gave him less than forty-eight hours to figure out his life.

Or at least the short-term. He scrubbed his hand over his face, and the action reminded him he was way past due for a beard trim. He padded his way back to the bedroom, quietly entered, and went to the en suite bathroom, closing the door behind him.

If Ivy slept a little longer, great. But Gigi was dying to see her sister and he wasn’t cruel enough to make her wait too long. After trimming his beard, he turned on the shower and got in under the warm spray.

Having Ivy in bed mere feet away was... nice. Homey. She brought him a sense of contentment, a security he’d always denied needing.

Now she was here, filling his home with her scent and her laughter.

A smell and a sound he never wanted to let go of.

CHAPTER 25

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