Page 27 of Torn In Two

He leaned in, so he was all up in Chaos’s business. “That’s a lot of talk for a man who claims to be out of the game. You gonna throw yourself back in by killing me? Wouldn’t that cause a scandal?”

“I’m not killing anyone,” Chaos said, his voice full of steely determination.

“No?” Luca sniggered. “So you’re planning to give me ten new women to replace the ones you let go?”

Chaos practically closed the gap between the two of them, so they were eye to eye.

Luca’s sharp intake of breath was audible, even from where I was standing. His breathing quickened, shoulders rising up and down with the force of nervous intakes of air.

It would be nothing for Chaos to lean in and kiss him. For him to lay his mouth across Luca’s and plunge his tongue inside, kissing him the way he…

The way he should have fucking kissed me.

Something inside me screamed in irrational jealousy. Which was all I seemed to feel these days. But unlike when I’d seen Chaos with Kara, this time it didn’t give way to wanting Luca to join us. It only fed the rage I was trying to keep a hold on.

“No,” Chaos murmured. “I’m not killing anyone. But I’m not going to stop him either.”

His gaze flickered in my direction.

Luca spun around.

My finger pressed down on the trigger.

The shot exploded from the gun, damn near deafening in the hallway. The doorframe exploded into shards of wood and plaster dust.

Chaos yelped like an injured puppy. “Jesus fuck, Hawk!” He clutched at his arm, inspecting his torn sleeve, the thin trail of blood trickling down from his bicep, and then turning around to inspect the bullet lodged into the wall. “You fucking shot me! It went right through my damn arm!”

The bullet had barely nicked him. But my fingers shook, adrenaline pumping through my blood.

Luca glanced between the two of us, suddenly more unflappable now than he’d been a second ago when it had seemed like Chaos had been going to make out with him.

I trained my gun on him again, fighting the wobble in my arms, and he just raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t the best shot, Hawk. Do you really want to try that again? He’s got a woman inside, you know?” He clapped his hands together gleefully. “Oh, of course you know! It’s the one he stole from you, right?” He leaned on the wall, completely ignoring Chaos and the blood seeping through his fingers where he clutched the graze the bullet had given him.

Kara peeped around from behind Chaos, who tried to hold her back, but she shoved him out of the way to get a better look at his arm.

She gasped at the hole in his shirt and then at me, still holding the stupid weapon I was clearly out of practice with. “Hawk!”

I didn’t say anything. I was too fucking mortified.

Not a feeling I was very experienced with, and it had me reeling. As did the sight of Chaos bleeding and the realization I’d been inches from putting that bullet into his chest.

Accidentally.

Fuck, my aim needed some serious work.

I lowered the gun. We all fucking knew I wasn’t shooting anyone with Kara standing right there.

“The neighbors have probably called the police,” Kara murmured.

Chaos and I both knew, in neighborhoods like this, the residents were used to all sorts of disturbances outside their doors, and it was a hell of a lot safer to mind your own business.

Luca chuckled. “Shall we try again? I admit some fault. Perhaps my greeting wasn’t as polite as it could have been.”

“You don’t fucking say,” Hayden growled. “I owe you nothing, Guerra.”

Luca tutted beneath his breath. “Now see, that’s where I disagree. You cost me a lot of money the other night. But I can let that go. The real problem is that you haven’t shown up for work since, and we’re opening in a few days.”

Hayden stared at him. “You don’t seriously think I’m coming back to your restaurant?”

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