Page 59 of Queen of Spades

“I need a weapon,” I say at the exact same time.

“You stabbed that guy right in the dick.” Grady chuckles. “Was that purposeful or pure luck?”

“I was aiming for his throat,” I admit with a grimace.

“I love the shit out of you.” Grady laughs.

“You did what now?” Kane asks, keeping his head on a swivel. “Never mind. I heard it the first time.” His free hand moves to cup his cock. “You get no weapons.”

“Hey!” I snap, pointing at the controlling jerk. “Everybody misses from time to time.”

“This is why you’ve got to get her fond of your dick,” Grady says, like he’s imparting some kind of magical wisdom. “My cock has no fear. She loves it too much to ever stab it.”

“I am way too drunk for this,” Cassian says, shaking his head.

“Don’t worry, princess. We’ve got your back,” Grady says.

“Safe room?” Kane growls, like he’s desperate to get us back on track.

“Upstairs,” Cassian says. “In the pack bedroom.”

“We move as a group,” Kane says. “I took out two on the way in here, but I have no clue how many there were to start with.”

“Come on.” I stand and offer Cassian a hand. He takes it, but he doesn’t use me to pull him up. He wraps an arm around my lower back, yanking me into his chest.

“Good idea. The princesses can stick together,” Ward says, popping up on the other side of the counter. He’s next to Grady, but he came from the opposite hallway from the doorway Kane is blocking.

I exhale in pure relief.

I was a little afraid he was upstairs, sleeping. Being unconscious makes for an easy target.

“Let’s move,” Kane growls, disappearing around the corner.

My heart races as my fingers dig into Cassian’s back. “I really am sorry about your house.”

“Don’t be,” he mutters. “You probably would’ve hated me in the morning, anyway.”

I have no idea what that means, but something crashes from the direction Kane just headed in. Cassian is also drunk, and this is pure chaos. I’ll give him a pass for talking nonsense.

The house is huge.

Rather than going room by room to clear them, Kane makes the call to clear only rooms we need to go into. Once we get upstairs, he tries to talk Cassian and me into the safe room.

“No, we need to move.” Ward’s head shakes. “Everyone needs to grab what they can’t live without, and we leave.”

“Don’t you think it’s better to clear the house and then pack?” Kane scoffs.

“Maybe, but this could be wave one. Or hell, maybe Andretti decides to play dirty and call it in. The last thing we need is cops on our ass,” Grady says, looking at me like I actually get a vote.

“How about two scan the house, and two of you stay with me while we handle packing?” I offer in an attempt to appease them both.

“Fucking fine,” Kane growls. “Ward, you’re with me. You know the property.”

Ward nods and follows him out.

Grady’s eyes fly to me. “All right. Let’s get everything we can’t live without.”

Kane works on swapping out Cassian’s tag for the clean one from the car. I’m just climbing into the back of Cassian’s SUV when someone staggers around the edge of the garage door.

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