Page 124 of Sinful Secrets

Spencer laughs as he throws the old bandages and trash away. “When are we ever normal?”

“Hey! I’m normal, but you might have a point. You couldn’t be normal even if you tried.”

He stalks back to me. “You like that I’m not the typical boring man with a nine-to-five desk job. You like that I’m unpredictable and dangerous with equally unpredictable and dangerous friends.”

I press my finger to his lips to cut him off. “No, I don’t like that about you. Ilovethat about you. Although, I don’t like that you travel so much and I can’t come along.”

I stick out my lower lip and fake a pout. The excessive amount of travel has to be one of the worst perks of dating a professional hockey player.

He frowns. “I hate it too, especially with all the drama that’s been going on. I know I’m going to worry about you being here alone.”

“I won’t be alone. I’ll have Francesca here to keep my company.”

He glances away for a few moments before helping me off the counter. “Time to get ready.”

He heads into his closet as I head into his bedroom. I’m already dressed and ready, so I lay on his bed and stare at the ceiling.

I know I fucked up by going on the undercover mission with Francesca, but it turned out to be successful and beneficial.

The Marinos learned that their temporary truce with the Rossis was a big fat lie. The Rossis never wanted to work with Arturo and his men to uncover the identities of the Emerald City Reapers.

They wanted to work with the Reapers to screw over Arturo.

It’s even worse because the main person behind the cargo stealing stunt was Arturo’s wife, Elizabeth.

After Francesca shot her mom, Spencer told me to get her out of there. I drove Rhett’s truck back here, where we waited and waited to hear from them.

Spencer, Rhett, and Joey finally showed up over thirty minutes later, bruised and sweaty, as if they went ten rounds in the ring.

Rhett and Spencer were worried about us. Joey was pissed that Francesca had shot and killed their mother.

It took almost half an hour of yelling and screaming to get the guys to tell us what happened after we left.

Arturo and Joey were on the other side of the port calling in extra men to help with back up and cargo retrieval.

Arturo, Joey, and their men moved the pallets of product off the flatbed truck to their own vans and left before any cops arrived.

Rhett was found by Spencer tied up and knocked out in a shipping container with a dead Rossi man beside him.

Of course, he was pissed that he missed out on the action, but he was glad Francesca was safe and away from the crime scene.

Spencer enters the bedroom and lays his suit on the mattress next to me. “Tired?”

“No, well, sort of, but I was just thinking.”

Spencer kept me up late last night. Well, this morning, but that’s not what’s on my mind.

He narrows his eyes and stares at me. “Thinking about what?”

“About how I fucked up going to the party with Francesca. How the entire ordeal happened at the port. How Francesca shot and killed her mother. How her mother betrayed them time and time again.”

He places his hand on mine. “I know it’s a lot to deal with, and their relationship is pretty dysfunctional and unstable, but I assure you, this isn’t normal in our world.”

I turn my hand over and link my fingers with his. “Hey, if anyone knows about unstable and dysfunctional relationships, it’s me. My parents were less than stellar, and Connor wasn’t the ideal boyfriend, but I made it through those situations and found something better.”

“I am far from being an ideal boyfriend. I put you in dangerous situations and leave you vulnerable. You get hurt when you are around me.”

He sighs and glances at our joined hands.

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