Page 40 of Sinner's Secret

Stop whining or I’ll give you a better reason to whine than hives.

And you wonder why no one in the family likes talking to you.

Gee, I thought it was my sparkling personality everyone hated. Get out of bed, put some clothes on, and get down to the pub. If you make me come downtown again, I will hurt you. Parking sucks.

I’m already dressed, so I might as well get up.

Interesting. Are you feeling okay?

Yes, why?

Because you haven’t slept alone since you were sixteen years old. Your cock is spoiled rotten.

Meaningless sex isn’t all that fun anymore.

That could only mean one thing. Dude, you’ve got your eye on a girl!

If you tell anyone, I will kill you.

Yeah, yeah. The clock is ticking.

Baz arrived at the pub, but the front door was locked. He knocked, but no one answered. He went around back, saw Joe’s truck parked there, and knocked on the back door.

After a few seconds, Joe opened it. “Baz, you’re here early.”

“Yeah, the bags under my eyes are filing a formal complaint. Can I come in? I need a place to talk to my cousin without any ears.”

“Sure,” he checked his watch. “We don’t open for an hour or so. It’s just me here.” Joe smelled like raw chicken and hot spices.

“Thanks,” Baz said. “Getting ready for wing night?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“Your apron gave you away.” It was stained with spices and at least two different kinds of sauce.

Joe glanced down at himself, then shook his head. “No wonder my wife says she can’t take me anywhere.” He stepped out of the doorway and Baz followed him in.

“Tell your cousin to come in through the backdoor. If I open the front, customers will come in no matter what the posted hours are.”

“Will do.”

Baz texted Yvgeny, then pulled the chairs off one of the tables and sat down to wait. He played with his phone, checking for text messages.

Come on Nika, kick some ass.

Hoping she could get away from whoever took her was dumb. The kidnappers had demonstrated in deadly detail how ruthless they were.

His phone stayed silent.

A few minutes later, Yvgeny walked in with two other guys in suits and wearing earpieces.

“Are you serious?” Baz asked his cousin as he pulled a chair back from the table and sat down. “You need bodyguards to go to a pub that isn’t even open yet?”

“You got shot,” Yvgeny said as if that explained it.

“I was wearing body armor, and the weapons weren’t actually aimed at me.”

Yvgeny’s eyebrows went up. “How is it you got shot then?”

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