Page 5 of Caged

“Woman? Huh? Don’t you have to lay down to sleep? Isn’t that what you’re speaking of?” Alexei’s grasp of the English language is less than mine, but sometimes I wonder if half of the shit he says is just for kicks.

Jax stares at me for a moment before facing forward. “Crazy Russian,” he chuckles as he shakes his head.

I grunt my agreement before the shadow of the parking garage darkens us.

“Come on, we’re late.” Slamming my door, I don’t look back.

There isn’t a person in Vegas brave enough to try and touch my Hellcat, so I don’t bother locking it.

The wave of air conditioning buffets us as we walk through the large sliding glass entry. Mikhail hasn’t spared any expense at his high-end hotel, and the throngs of people leering over the slot machines proves how successful his enterprise is.

He’s done well for all of us since we’ve been here.

If only people knew how much clawing and digging it took to get a foothold here. Or, all of the loss we had to endure before we even arrived.

No one does.

Even Alexei is subdued as we walk down the empty hall towards Mikhail’s office.

We all know why we’re here.

I push through the heavy oak doors first.

My brother stands behind his desk, his presence filling the room.

His dark eyes narrow over the black balaclava covering the lower half of his face. One of his thick fingers points at Alexei as we file in. “Not a fucking word.”

I hear Alexei give a low whine, but he doesn’t argue. Instead he stomps over to one of the couches like a toddler and throws himself down with an exaggerated grunt.

“We lost three men this morning in an attack on the west side. Knox has regrouped and is hitting our weak points.” Mikhail picks up a heavy set of keys and tosses them to me. “One of their men is downstairs in number forty-two. Make him tell us where either Knox or Kirill is. We need to find those fuckers and shut the Reapers down.”

Alexei frowns and follows me as we start to leave. “Why did I have to be quiet?”

The side of Mikhail’s cheek twitches. I know he’s smiling beneath his mask.

“The asshole was dressed up like a giant frog. It’s how he got close enough to our guys to take some of them out.” He shakes his head, his slicked black hair staying perfectly in place. “We don’t want to belittle the memory of our men.”

Jax turns away, but his shoulders quake in silent laughter.

Alexei’s face turns red and his eyes widen. “Because he got the jump on them?”

“Go before you leap too far.” Mikhail points towards the corridor, hurrying us out.

As soon as the heavy door closes, Alexei starts bouncing from foot to foot.

He’s worse than any kid.

“He made them croak? Gave them the slip?” His silver tooth shows as his cackle echoes off of the marble walls.

“Now, he’s in hot water.” Jax adds from behind us.

Alexei looks back at him, his smile slipping. “I don’t get it.”

Jax rattles his tongue piercing against his teeth. “It’s complicated. But, you might warm up to it later.” He winks at me when I groan.

Both of them are jokesters.

In the depths of the casino, down sound-proofed halls, we push into the holding cell of our captured toad.

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