Page 73 of Lawless in Leather

“Whether the Angels are going to perform tonight,” Alex said.

Raina’s head snapped around. “What? Of course we’re going on.”

“That might not be the smartest thing,” Mal said. “If someone is targeting you or the squad, then you’re just giving them a clear shot.”

“Someone is trying to scare us. If we don’t go on, then they’ve succeeded.” Raina protested. “That’s just giving in.”

“She has a point there, Mal,” Alex said.

“We don’t even know if the girls will want to go on,” Mal said. “You have to tell them about this. You can’t send them out there without them knowing what’s happened. For one thing, you’ll need to explain why they can’t wear their wings tonight.”

“Do you have another routine?” Maggie asked. “You usually do three. The opening one with the wings and then the two between innings.”

“Yeah, we have a few we’ve been working on,” Raina said. “And we can work out a costume change easily enough. We’ll just swap things around. It won’t be as dramatic as the wings but it will do.”

“You tell Brady to get started on a new set. Wherever he got them done,” Alex said. “Tell him we’ll pay a big bonus if they’re ready for Friday night. That way you can do tonight and tomorrow with the new routine and come back with the wings for the weekend before we go to Toronto. Send the guys off with some team spirit.”

“The guys are going to be pissed about this,” Lucas added. “Most of them seem to like having the girls here.”

“They’re baseball players, of course they like having eighteen—nineteen, sorry, Raina—gorgeous women around,” Maggie said.

“They won’t like them being messed with,” Lucas said.

“Good. Then they can channel that mad into winning the games,” Raina said. “They can come out swinging. And so will we. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to the girls. Dancers believe in The show must go on. Even if some of them don’t want to do it, we can do the routines with a reduced number.”

“If you’re sure,” Alex said. “If you don’t want to, then that’s okay, Raina.”

“I’m sure. Mal’s team is good. They’re not going to let anything happen to us. And it’s not like they went after one of us anyway. They went for the costumes. Easy target. It’s creepy as fuck but screw them. Oops, sorry,” she added. “Not professional.”

“Accurate, though,” Alex said. “Okay, then that’s the plan. Raina and Maggie and I will go talk to the Angels. Lucas, you can talk to the team, and Mal will work with his people and the police.”

“And tonight we can all go home and collapse into bed,” Maggie said. “I swear, I don’t need this much adrenaline. Baseball is plenty exciting enough without weird shit.”

“I hear you,” Raina said. She stood and stretched, trying to convince herself she wasn’t as tired as she felt. She was grateful that she wasn’t going to have to go out and perform tonight like the Angels. Though if too many of them balked at the idea, she might have to. “I have a date with my comforter, my cat, and half my weight in chocolate.”

“No you don’t,” Mal said. The growl had come back into his voice.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not going home. You can come stay with me for a while.”

Maggie’s face broke into a grin at the same time as Lucas’s eyebrows shot up. Alex just looked at Mal and shook his head. Raina felt her face get hot. “Don’t be stupid, I’m going home.”

“Not going to happen. We don’t know if this is the same guy pulling shit at your club. but if it is, then he’s stepping things up another level. Your apartment has security that a clown could get through. My place is safe.”

“That may be true,” Raina said. “But it also comes with you. Right now, I’m not sure that’s a bonus. You have a big mouth.”

Mal crossed his arms and looked stony. “Alex already knew. He probably already told Maggie.”

“Nope,” Alex said. “Don’t dig me a hole along with your own there, Mal.”

Mal ignored him. “And I would have told Lucas soon. No one cares that we’re sleeping together, Raina. Except me. I care. I care about you and I’m not going to let you put yourself in danger when there’s a simple fix. I can’t stop you and the Angels doing your thing. I won’t stop you doing what you do. But I can stop you going home to somewhere that’s not safe.

“It’s my home. And there’s Wash.”

“You can bring the monster cat to my place,” Mal said. “There’s plenty of space for him to run around and plenty of furniture for him to scratch.”

“Mal’s place is kind of like Fort Knox,” Maggie said. “He’s right, you would be safe.”

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