At this point, I could fall right off the whole earth and float away in a little cloud of bliss, still twitching as I come.
When we're finally breathing again, Crank rolls off me, and I roll off Savage and then we're all spread out on his bed, recovering.
“Wow,” I whisper.
“You can fucking say that again,” Poe says.
“Wow,” I whisper again.
“Dumbass,” Crank says with a laugh and swats my butt. “I’m the one with the stupid jokes.”
“Sorry, you’re going to have to share that position,” I tease.
“I’ll learn to live with it,” he replies glibly.
“See?” Poe says. “Of course we're not gonna let you go. We'd have to stop doing this.”
I don't even want to think about what's going to happen, but even though I'm a soggy mess, I'm tucked between the three men I trust most in this world to keep me safe. If they can't do it, it wasn't possible to begin with.
So despite the danger I'm in, I can't help but smile. Maybe this is going to work out after all.
29
POE
“There's a fuckingcop at the front gate,” Savage says with venom in his voice. Shiv at the front gate just called, and Savage being officer on duty, is the one to answer. Crank's just coming out of the shower.
Paige got to go first. To be fair, she needed it the most. She's brushing out her hair and looking cute as fuck. If we didn't have actual work to do, I'd be half ready to suggest another go.
There must be something in my look that she notices, because she shakes her head at me and smiles. “Nuh uh. I need to recover. At least give it a few hours, horndog.”
“Disappointing.” I grin right back, but she's right. And the cop is definitely more important at the moment.
“Did you say cop?” Crank's towel drying his hair, while walking through the bedroom bare-ass naked and looking for his clothes. He kicks them together. Paige is watching him, looking amused.
“Sure did. He wanted to talk to someone in charge. Hellfire's busy, so guess that's me. In this case, us. I'm just gonna assumethis is related to the mess we're in already, 'cause it seems fucking unlikely that he’s selling tickets to the policeman’s ball.”
Two minutes later, all four of us are on our way out.
“Why don't you go see Bonnie or Jessica,” Savage suggests to Paige, but she shakes her head.
“Not this time. I'm sick of hearing about things that involve me after everyone else. I promise to stay out of the way, but I want to hear.”
Sounds like a fair point, to be honest. “Alright. Let's go see who this guy is then.”
We cross the courtyard behind the church and into the open area between the school and the garage. And past that, the front gates, where Shiv and Jackal are watching a guy in a suit. His hair's close cropped, his tie is black and he's built athletic, like a wrestler or something like that. He looks up as we approach.
Savage is just about to introduce himself when Paige stiffens. “That’s him,” she whispers.
“Him? Who him?” I step in front of her so that whoever he is doesn’t see her before I know if it’s dangerous or not. “This someone we should be worried about?”
Paige puts her hand on my arm. “No, at least I don't think so. He's the cop I reported Uncle Walter to. The one that took the case and then told me to stop wasting their time.”
“Don't like him already,” Crank growls. “Anyone who fucks around with my girl goes straight onto my shit list.”
Savage doesn't laugh. “Guess we'll see. Alright, stay with Poe, and use him for cover. Don't give this fucker a clear shot—just in case. I don't fucking trust anyone these days.”
“O—okay.” She might not like the idea, but better that she's ready than that he catches her off guard and fucks things up.