Page 57 of Ride with the Devil

Even knowing that her lip gloss is fuckingpoison,that doesn’t stop me from dropping my head low, finding her mouth with mine. Mimicking fucking with my tongue, I take her mouth until she’s gasping for breath and I’m holding her tightly.

Only then do I collar the back of her neck, tilting her head back so that she’s forced to meet the look in my eye as I tell her, “No. I’m a lucky fucking bastard because youloveme.”

She smirks at me. “Who says I love you?”

I grin at my girl. “You did.”

“Oh?”

I nip her slightly swollen lip. “When you didn’t poison me.”

“Keep pushing your luck, ace. I could change my mind.”

“I thought you had unfinished business with Winter,” I remind her.

“Oh, I do. I’m going to kill him. I’ve got a plan, too. And if we can figure out a way to keep Devil from coming after me first, I think he might not be too pissed off that I’m the Hummingbird. Not when I’m more than ready to swap sides.”

I really fucking hope so.

EIGHTEEN

THE PLAN

LUCA

It takes me nearly an hour to convince Devil to hear her out, that the Hummingbird is willing to swap sides and help us end Johnny Winter for once and for all.

Turns out, I was way wrong. The boss doesn’t want me to kill her myself now that we know she’s the Hummingbird. He wants me to find a way to get her in the car—backseat, front seat, trunk… he wasn’t particular—and drive her back to Springfield. There, he would take his time learning everything he could about the mysterious hitman—sorry, hitwoman—who had been flitting around the States, killing without anyone but her clients knowing she was doing so.

Just like how he made the vice mayor talk, he’d get Kylie to spill her guts. He might even use his knife to spill her actual guts. I already knew that I couldn’t let that happen, but unless I wanted to spend the rest of my life, knowing that Devil was gunning for me, I needed to find a way to do what I was told while also protecting Kylie.

It made it easier for me that she decided she would talk, none of Devil’s specialized persuasion necessary. Before I gotback on the phone with Devil, I had names, dates, numbers, and all the intel that would hold him over before he lost his temper completely and drove up to the mountains himself.

More than that, I had Kylie’s plan on how to take down Winter after all. Just like how he thought that, cutting off Devil’s head would be the end of the Sinners Syndicate, if the second Winter twin is dead, the Snowflakes will scatter. We can keep them out of our turf, and maybe even start gathering up their operation and rolling it into ours.

It took an hour, but by the time I was done, Devil gave me his word that he wouldn’t shoot her on sight. Her plan had enough merit to intrigue him. If she could serve us Winter’s head on a silver platter instead of going for the boss’s, he might even look past the fact she accepted a contract on his life.

Mightbeing the operative word there, but I fucking clung to it the entire ride back to the city.

I forgave Kylie. That’s all she wanted. She sat in the front seat, commenting on the mountain terrain and scenery all the way up until we returned to civilization. She seemed sure that Devil would accept her switching sides, though even she stumbled a step or two when I walked her into the meeting room in the back of the Devil’s Playground only for her to see eight unfriendly faces staring back at her.

I knew to expect Devil there. Royce is his second so obviously he’s involved. Tanner’s our tech genius. Damien Libellula came since the Snowflakes infiltrating Springfield affected him as much as anyone here; same for his wife, who has become one of the Dragonflies’ top enforcers since hooking up with the older man. Devil insisted on Officer Burns being here for the meet. Burns brought along his rookie partner, Officer Coleman for some reason.

And Cross is here, too.

A lump lodges in my throat. Cross… the very Sinner who lost his livelihood—and almost his life—when the Hummingbird burned down his studio.

WhenKylieburned down his studio…

I can’t bring myself to look at Cross just yet. Instead, I nod at Burns, a silent ‘thank you’ for letting us borrow the cabin, then come to a stop before Devil, clutching Kylie’s hand.

His dark eyes look her over. “Yup. That’s the girl who was there at Blockbusters,” he confirms.

Rolls raises his eyebrows. “Thisis the Hummingbird?”

Pacing behind Rolls, Cross huffs.

I squeeze Kylie’s hand. Or maybe she squeezes mine. I can’t tell, though I do run my thumb over the faded ‘H’on her skin.

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