Page 75 of Fire for Effect

“That he’d thank me later!” Noam repeated.

“If you live that long.”

Noam shrugged.

“If my father wants me somewhere, he can talk to me himself.” Taz’s eyes were unreadable as she made her demand. “Otherwise, he can butt out, the same way he has my whole life.”

“Oh, you sweet, naïve little thing,” Brett tsked. “He stayed away to prevent this exact situation. He stayed away to keep you from becoming a target for the men he puts away – and that list is long and distinguished.” Then Brett smirked. “Not, unlike myself.”

“A penis joke, really, Brett?” Noam rolled his eyes.

“He can come find me himself,” Taz said, her voice calm, even though I felt her tension.

She held onto my belt with the hand around my waist, gripping it like it was her last lifeline. Like she was fast roping, and I was the only thing keeping her from slipping into oblivion. Her eyes were closed off, but her body shivered, tense with anxiety.

“Let’s go home,” Taz said, tilting her head towards me.

“Sounds good,” I said, ready to walk out of this bizarre thing. Ready to take her somewhere safe and hold her close. To talk to her. To find out what was going through that big brain of hers and figure out what she needed.

What can I do to take care of you?

Noam and Brett quit their bickering, and their heads turned towards us.

“Miss Guerro,” Brett said slowly, as though he was issuing a royal decree. “Now that we have confirmed that they know your identity and whereabouts, my agents will be surrounding that piece of land you live on, to keep it secure. You have one night to pack, then you must vacate the premises, and my men will escort you to a safe house–”

“Over my dead body!” she said, but Brett didn’t stop talking.

“– If you don’t let us escort you, then your father will do it, at great danger to himself.”

“I don’t give a fuck! He’s never been a part of my life. I wouldn’t notice if he were dead.”

Silence hung in the air. Noam and Brett simply blinked at her.

She was shaking with her fury. Not at Brett, per se, but at the situation. At the sudden loss of control.

I wasn’t sure why this happened, but when she felt bullied into something, her reaction was swift, and explosive. At least with everyone except me. Me? She’d just ignore.

“You have until dawn, Miss Guerro,” Brett said, at the same moment that Trout gave his final little kick as his body went limp, ungracefully falling into his death. “We will make it happen by force, if necessary.”

“I’m not leaving her.” I stepped between them, keeping a hand on Taz as I slipped her behind me. “You know who my father is, and I will use every resource available to–”

“Yes, lover boy,” Brett rolled his eyes. “You can stop yipping, Cerberus Pup. If she wants you around, you can sit, stay, and heel.”

I drove a stunned Taz back to the bail bondsman’s office to pick up her Ducati. From there, I followed her back to the trailer.

She had been through entirely too much today, and there would be a shit ton left to do. I dialed Sierra, ready to relay everything.

“Yes?” she said with a yawn. She said something in the background, and a woman’s voice moaned. Was she with a lover? I didn’t have time to give a fuck.

I unleashed the whole story, never letting her interrupt me as I flashed names - Noam Braun, Brett Bradley, Paradigm, Mike Trout - and the events of the day at my partner.

“Paradigm? Really? They told you that? Did you see their badge? Their coin?” She sounded like a fan girl.

“No.”

“But he definitely said his name was Brett Bradley?”

“Yeah. Who is he?”

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