Page 21 of Queen of Spades

“This doesn’t concern you.”

“Oh, but it really does,” I assure him. “Let go of the lady, and I’ll only break your hand.”

“Fuck you,” he growls, dropping his hold on Annika.

She immediately ducks under his arm and bolts toward the entrance to the parking garage.

The dick spins around, advancing on me. I don’t bother unhooking my hands. Instead, I kick him right in the gut.

The idiot cradles his stomach with his left hand, but he takes a wide swing with his right. It has no chance of connecting as he staggers.

“Are you okay?” Cassian asks from behind me.

“I’m fine,” Annika replies.

“Anni Girl,” a man I’ve never seen before growls, heading our way down the alleyway.

The original asshole spins to assess who is joining the party, but the new guy slams a tattooed fist into his face without stopping. A ragged crunch fills the air as the first man hits the ground. The new addition continues on, jogging past me. That was a vicious hit.

“Grady,” the little omega whimpers, chucking herself at him. He catches her, lifting her and wrapping her around his front in one quick move.

“You’re okay. I’ve got you.” Grady nuzzles his cheek to the top of her head. “What the fuck happened?”

“Apparently, the High Roller needs to offer better exterior security,” Cassian says, tugging the cuff on his rolled-up button-down.

“I’m fine,” Annika says. “I would have handled it. He just surprised me.”

Grady chuckles. “Of course he did.”

“I looked for you, but I couldn’t find you.” She buries her face in his throat, clutching at his back.

He palms her ass under the bottom of her dress. “I got caught up talking to Travis.”

Oh yeah, those two are very well acquainted.

“I figured it was something like that. I knew you’d climb in bed at some point.” She snuggles deeper. “What I wasn’t expecting is that.” She points at the collapsed heap of man.

“Cassian Forbes.” Cas steps forward, extending a hand.

“Grady Wells. Glad the two of you were around to step in.” He offers a lazy smile, but something in his entire demeanor makes me suspicious.

“The SUV is here,” I tell Cas. “It seems Mr. Wells has everything under control.”

Cas nods, tilting his head like he’s analyzing something. “Have a good night.” He strides off toward the idling vehicle, and I follow.

Once we’re settled in the back seat, Cas turns to me. “We’ll need to look into that one. The mask slipped for just a second, but I’d bet my life he’s dangerous.”

Well, we can both agree on that.

It’s time I do a little digging into Grady Wells.

Chapter Six

Annika

There’s exactly one convenient thing about having short hair. Well, maybe two. The first is that it takes forever for me to clog a drain with hair, which wasn’t the case when it was down to my ass. The second is it takes much less time to wash and style.

I’m just rinsing the conditioner from my hair when Grady steps into the shower behind me.

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