Page 59 of Riordan's Revenge

She peeked up. “It’s true. Oh, and because we made a deal.”

Alarm chased my other emotions. She couldn’t tell Shade about my plans. If it got back to Arran?—

Happily, she smiled at the enforcer. “Riordan and I are going to be fucking over the mayor. I’m not sure how yet, but think death by a thousand cuts and it’ll be along those lines. We cool?”

Chapter 19

Cassie

Shade stilled. At the same second, Riordan fisted my shirt at my lower back and held it, something very telling in his hidden grip.

I’d pissed him off.

Good.

Riordan’s problem was that he was a lone wolf. Not by choice. He was alone in the world with few who cared about him. Obviously Genevieve did, and maybe Everly, but beyond them he had no tribe. I could give that to him. Help him see that people were ready and willing to help if he was prepared to trust.

More importantly, this way, he wouldn’t die in the process of getting his revenge.

I wasn’t wrong.

Shade looked between us. Something in his gaze told me he was weighing up Riordan’s claim above his own, just as I’d anticipated. The mayor had hurt Everly. But Riordan was the man’s son. His neglected, overlooked child. For all Shadewanted the right to avenge the woman he loved, he operated on an honour code. All the men here did.

Some kind of decision resolved, and he tapped the table, moving to the door. “Do what ye like, but keep it subtle and don’t kill the fucker. Not yet. Talk to me if ye need help.”

He directed us outside. “Share any results, aye?”

Shade strode away. I breathed out and squinted up at Riordan. My stomach tightened at his scowl. Other parts of me did, too.

“On a scale of one to nuclear explosion, how unhappy are ye with me right now?” I asked.

Riordan swung around and stalked away. At the lift, he stabbed in the code to open the door then propelled me inside, his touch light but his intention anything but.

I skittered along, excited at his mood swing.

I liked him grumpy. It was very possibly my favourite side of him because it helped him break out of his restraints. He let his passions lead where he otherwise wouldn’t go.

When he stabbed the button for the fifth floor, I smiled more, because that passion was directing him to the bedroom I’d secured here.

My pulse picked up, my skin coming alive with anticipation. I was wet for him. Ready for everything. This was day one of our official time together, and I didn’t want to waste a second.

On the cam girls’ floor, we fast walked to the end of the corridor. I unlocked the door and let us in, cursing myself for not having done more to make the place comfortable. It had been a functional little nest for me, holding my clothes on a rail and my detective map on the wall. I’d do better for the rest of our time.

I tossed my coat to the corner. Turned to face him. “I know you’re angry that I told Shade our plan.”

“My plan. Told to you in confidence.”

I settled on the bed, rested back on my elbows, and regarded him. “It was Arran ye didn’t want to know, and this is ours now. I own it, too. I get that ye dislike Shade, but I trust him and I know he’ll have our back. You’ve made the claim on the mayor, and it’s greater than his. He won’t stop ye, but we can do the decent thing and clue him in. We can let him help.”

He stalked closer.

I readied myself for whatever was coming my way. “Ye also laid claim to me. Which was hot as fuck, by the way.”

Riordan set a hand down on the mattress beside me and bent so his face was right over mine. He forced me back to lying, his muscles taut. At the same second, his other hand went to the button of my jeans. I couldn’t read his expression. All I could do was follow his prompts. Lifting my arse, I let him strip me, my pulse quickening when he did the same to my top half, leaving me in just my bra and knickers.

It should’ve been sexy, but something was off in his clinical method. His touch didn’t linger. His gaze clung to me then jerked away.

A muscle ticked in his clenched jaw. “Get up the bed.”

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