Page 66 of The High Priestess

These men know that I practically died when Ronnie was murdered. They shouldn’t be surprised.

To make things clear, I say, “The man you served with is long gone.

Davies looks at me for a moment. “It would break Ronnie’s fucking heart to see you now.” He gestures at the house with a nod of his head. “Living the way you do.”

“Enough,” Cassia snaps as she partially steps in front of me. “You’re here to work, not to play catch-up.”

“Sure,” Davies mutters. “Let’s get to work.”

Taking hold of Cassia’s elbow, I pull her to the side and say, “Give me a moment alone with them.”

Her eyes search my face. “You sure?” When I nod, she asks, “Can you give me your phone? I need to call Santiago.”

“Why?” I ask as I pull the device from my pocket.

“I need a private jet and a few other things.”

“Like?”

“Hotel bookings or a safe house near Greece. I’m hoping Leo can help with that, so I need to get his number from Santiago.”

“I’ll take care of all those things.” I nod toward the front door. “You’ve been on your feet for too long. Go rest in the bedroom.”

“I’m fine.”

“I didn’t ask whether you were fine,” I mutter. “Go get some rest while I deal with everything.”

She hesitates, and it has me gently pushing her toward the front door. Glancing inside, I tell Tobias, “Make sure she gets some rest.”

He nods as he jumps to his feet.

Pulling the front door shut, I walk back to Davies, Miller, and Saunders.

“Funny,” Davies chuckles while shaking his head, “I thought you said the man we knew was long gone? That’s not what it looked like while you were talking to your girl.”

“Davies,” Miller murmurs, “Take it easy.”

“No.” Davies’ face sets into a grim expression. “I traveled all this way to help a brother. Seems I got the wrong address.” He turns around and starts to walk back to the car.

“Hey now,” Saunders jumps in, grabbing hold of Davies’ shoulder to stop him. “Don’t be like that.”

Davies yanks away from Saunders, and when I see the pain in his eyes, I feel like shit.

He stalks back to me and only stops once we’re eye to eye. “You know what. I don’t accept that, Link. It’s been two fucking years, man! I’ve been patient as fuck with you, but after seeinghow you are with your girlfriend, it fucking hurts like a bitch to know you only cut us off.”

When I try to think of a way to explain myself to him, and I take too long, Davies loses it and shoves hard at my chest. As I stagger a step backward, his fist flies at my face.

As Miller and Saunders move to grab Davies, the blow he delivers to my jaw has my head snapping to the right, in time to see Cassia rushing out of the house with her gun in her hand.

She trains the barrel on Davies while shouting, “Back the fuck off!”

I quickly move toward her before things really get out of control, and taking hold of her wrist, I push her arm down while crowding her with my body so she’s not able to dart past me.

“Everything is okay. I’ve got this.”

Her angry glare snaps to me. “No, you clearly don’t.” Her eyes lower to my mouth and her eyebrows draw together. She lifts her other hand and gently brushes her thumb over the corner of my mouth. “You’re bleeding,ángele mou.”

I take hold of her hand, and seeing the blood on her fingertip, I don’t think things through and suck it off her finger before saying, “I’m fine. Go back inside.” I give her a nudge to get her going and say, “Put the gun away.”

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