Page 20 of Concerto of Crows and Cowards

“Hey, I’m talking to you,” the same guy said.

He could have sworn he saw one of Vassin’s personal men grin when he continued not to respond to the overgrown bully. Max kept his gaze on the two in the sunglasses, knowing where the real threat was.

“Martin Vassin requests your presence, Mr. Devlin,” Sunglasses #1 said.

“I don’t know a Martin Vassin. And I don’t have time in my schedule at the moment. You can contact my personal secretary if he’s looking for a donation. As you can see, I’m on vacation.”

He moved slightly back and to the side, repositioning his body so Sunglasses #2 wasn’t at his back, and he nodded to Jade up on the porch. She looked sexy as hell leaning against the porch railing, and the two thugs couldn’t seem to take their eyes off her. The two in the sunglasses barely spared her a glance, dismissing her as nonthreatening. Their first mistake.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to insist,” Sunglasses #2 said. “You’ve put out the word that you have something for sale. We’d like to buy.”

“Like I said, I don’t know Martin Vassin. I’m picky about my customers and I have a reputation, which you’d know if you bothered to look into my background. Now if you’ll excuse me, gentlemen. This is private property.”

The guy with the snake tattoo reached out and grabbed his arm and Max gave him a chilling look that had him dropping it in a hurry, though he tried to bluster his way through by taking another step closer.

“You don’t want to touch me again,” Max said. “It makes my bodyguard unhappy.”

“I don’t see no bodyguard,” Tattoo said. “Just your whore and you, pretty boy.”

“What Mr. Evans means,” Sunglasses #1 broke in smoothly, “is that Mr. Vassin has given you the option of coming with us the easy or the hard way.”

“No,” Max said.

No one moved as they waited for him to say something more. But there was nothing else to say. He’d made his position clear.

Tattoo snorted out a laugh. “You can’t just say no. He just said you could come the easy or the hard way.”

“Yes, Mr. Evans, I can hear. My answer is still no.”

A red flush worked its way up Tattoo’s face, either in embarrassment or anger; Max didn’t know, but probably a little of both. He was the weak link, the one whose anger would get out of control and make him do something stupid.

They all spread out a little around him, widening the circle, and Max smiled, recognizing the brawler in each of them.

“You’ve messed up, Devlin,” Tattoo said, cracking his knuckles. “Looks like you’re going to get the hard way. And maybe when we’re done with you, Jimmy and I will show your whore what a real man feels like. Maybe we’ll let you watch so you can pick up some pointers.”

“That’s the second time you’ve insulted my woman,” Max said. “You’re going to pay for that. And if you do it again, I’ll kill you.”

“How you plan on doin’ that?” the one called Jimmy asked. “It’s four against one.”

“Well, Jimmy—” Max paused and raised a brow. “You don’t mind if I call you Jimmy, do you?” The tension rose higher than the heat and they began to shift, waiting for the opportunity to strike. “The first thing I’m going to do is take out Mr. Evans. I’m going to kick in his knee and then deliver a second kick to the stomach, while using him as a shield so I can take out Sunglasses over here.” Max pointed at the man in question. “I’ll probably break his arm, but I haven’t quite decided yet. I like to keep my options open.”

No one moved a muscle as he continued on. “And then I’m going to get to you, Jimmy. You’ll want to put some ice on the headache you’re going to have. And then that’ll leave Sunglasses number two. If he’s smart he won’t try to throw a punch and I’ll let him deliver my message back to Martin Vassin without any damaged body parts.”

“You’re crazy, is what I think,” Jimmy said.

“I’ve been called worse,” Max said. And then he put his words into action. His foot struck out and hit Tattoo’s knee, bones and cartilage crunching with a sickening sound, and his high-pitched scream was cut off by the second kick in the stomach.

Max caught him on the way down and used the momentum to push him into Sunglasses #1, throwing him off balance so Max could grab the other man’s arm and twist. He felt the shoulder slip out of socket and then he kneed him in the kidney and tossed Tattoo and Sunglasses in a heap on the ground together.

His blood pumped and his muscles sang as he dodged a blow from Jimmy’s meaty fist, and the sting in Max’s knuckles was sweet satisfaction as he gave Jimmy a quick jab in the stomach followed by an uppercut to the jaw.

The sound of a gunshot had everyone looking up to the porch in surprise. Jade stood much like she had been before, completely relaxed against the thick post, only this time her gun was pointed in their direction, obviously having just been fired.

“No one said knives were allowed in this fight,” she said.

Max gave Jimmy another shot to the jaw, taking him down for the count, before he turned his attention to the last man standing. The man’s hand was covered in blood and he held his wrist tight where the bullet had gone through. She’d made a hell of a shot—a small target that had been in motion—but he knew she’d hit exactly what she’d aimed for.

A Ka-Bar lay in the dirt at his feet, and Max looked down at his arm, where a long slash oozed blood down his tricep. He hadn’t felt the sting with his adrenaline pumping so high, but he was sure he’d feel it soon. At least it wouldn’t need stitches.

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