Page 16 of Outlaws’ Runaway

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

And I don’t know why he does it, but Poe shifts from his bed to mine, bringing a pillow with him. He settles in next to me and starts reading softly aloud. I close my eyes to the velvety sound of his voice and the weight of his body next to mine, letting the words wrap around me. My heartbeat slows and my body relaxes again. I try to focus on what he’s saying, but I slip back to sleep almost immediately.

No more spicy dreams though.

Unfortunately.

8

PAIGE

The next timeI wake up, Poe is gone. I’m alone in the room again, but I can hear them talking in the other one. This time though, it’s easier to make out what they’re saying. Either they are sitting closer, or they think I’m still asleep and aren’t worried about me overhearing.

I rub the sleep out of my eyes with my free hand while I cautiously roll over on my side, trying to get my ears as close to the door as possible. Maybe I can overhear something useful.

Something that might give me a clue about if I should really trust them or not.

“I don't fucking like this,” Crank says. “That’s a lot of cash. The job said she stole from him, but it didn’t say nothing about a million bucks, and nobody legit does business in duffel bags full of hundreds.”

“Doesn't feel right.” Poe agrees.

“We’ve been with her for most of a day now, and she’s gone through the fucking ringer,” Savage says. “Either her uncle is exaggerating her addiction, or it’s bullshit. We walked her intoa fucking drug den after she thought she lost a million dollars and her only reaction was to freak out about the hookers and the dicks on the screen. Her arms are clear, and she was moving around so much in her sleep I got a pretty good look at the rest of her and didn’t see any signs she’s injecting.”

“Great legs, though,” Crank comments.

Poe huffs a soft laugh. “Fuck yeah they are.”

My cheeks heat in embarrassment, but considering my dreams last night, flashing a little leg doesn’t seem so scandalous.

I pick up the familiar scent of coffee seeping through the door. Obviously I don’t do drugs, but I could kill for a cup of my own.

“But does it fucking matter?” Crank again. “I like her, so you won’t hear shit out of me if you say let her go and look the other way, but when people list shit like this on the boards, it’s because they can’t or don’t want to do things out in the open. We don’t expect to get the full story. We just do the job and we don’t ask questions.”

“We could walk away. Look, the elephant in the fucking room is that we’re only here because it seemed like a straight forward job. I don’t really give a shit how she ended up with the money, but people will kill for a lot less than a million,” Poe points out.

“Are we in or out?” Savage asks.

“Out,” Crank votes after a pause that makes me want to throw up.

Poe grunts. “Out.”

Yes! I’m grinning ear to ear. They believe me! Or at least, they believe me more than my uncle.

“So we what? Take the cut she offered and let her go?” Savage asks. “If this was a private job, we’d take it to Hellfire and see if he agrees there’s been enough bullshit to break the contract, but this is an open bounty. We haven’t promised anyone shit. The only ones that know we’re involved are Eddy and his crew, and they’re not going to say shit or they’d have to admit to getting their asses kicked. But the girl’s still fucked.”

My grin disappears.

He continues, “Until her uncle drops the job, people are gonna keep coming. And if it’s the money he’s really after, the reward’s gonna keep going up. Eventually, someone’s gonna drag her sweet ass back to him. When that happens, she’s gonna talk. Shit, even if she tries to keep us out of it, you really think that girl in there is going to hold up to the kind of pressure they’ll put on her to find out where the rest of the money went?”

Do I take a little pleasure in having my ass called sweet by a man who doesn’t know I’m listening? Yeah, a little. But having it followed right up with wondering how I’d respond to torture? I curl up, wanting to hide under the covers forever.

“Safest thing to do is put the bag in the room with her and be gone before she wakes up,” Poe suggests. “It’s a lot of dough to walk away from, but it comes with strings and we don’t know who’s holding the other end. Better to keep the club in the clear. At the end of the day, it’s her fucking mess.”

“Safest for us, but it feels really fucking shitty.” Crank sounds frustrated.

They’re right.

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