Page 68 of Passion and Payback

“Absolutely,” he said, closing his eyes. “If you meant what you said earlier. Then I think you should know there’s a good chance I won’t change my mind about all this. I’m done living in a world where those three get to walk around, floating in their perfect little bubbles where their crimes go unpunished. Where they might be able to do it again.”

“I understand.”

“For all we know, they could be out there doing the same thing to someone else. Some poor fuckers who don’t even know what’s coming their way until it’s too late. How likely do you think that is?”

There was no way to avoid the truth; we were already deep enough that lying didn’t serve either of us. “I think...that if youweren’t the first ones, you definitely weren’t the last. I don’t think people like that can do something like that to people and ever behave normally again. If you were the first, you two were the first taste, but I don’t think that’s the case.”

“What do you mean?”

“Because people usually don’t just snap and do something that...methodical. It starts small. Little cruelties, learning what you can get away with or how to get away with them. As they get better, they expand and start doing more, doing worse things. You don’t hop from rape to murder in one go.”

“Or, maybe beating the shit out of two guys and raping them finally gave them the courage to kill someone.”

It could be, but I doubt you two were the first people they hurt. Maybe the first ones they hurt that badly, but not the first.”

“And those kinds of monsters don’t stop.”

“No, not usually. And with a family like Callum’s at his back?—”

“They could keep on going.”

“Yeah.”

“And probably have.”

“Yeah.”

There were a lot of things I could tell him, but now wasn’t the time to open the mental files I’d built up over years of working with the military. I’d had to work with Intelligence several times, and the things I’d learned would probably prove very useful. For now, though, I wanted us to finish the night with something other than the upcoming revenge.

“We haven’t said it since I got back or since everything...changed between us,” I told him, holding him tightly. “I love you. I haven’t stopped loving you for as long as we’ve known each other.”

His eyes never opened, but his lips curled into a gentle smile. “I love you too. And I don’t picture that changing anytime soon.”

“That’s good to know,” I chuckled, kissing his forehead. “Sleep. We’ve got busy times ahead of us if you’re right about where your head will be tomorrow, and we’ll need the rest.”

He didn’t argue, just nodded silently and curled up against my chest. I held him there for an unknown amount of time. My hand curled around his neck, where I could feel his heart begin to slow. Eventually, his breathing evened into a monotonous pace, and I smiled, sensing calm in him, which probably hadn’t been there for quite some time. I hoped he would be free of the nightmares that often plagued him, at least for the night.

Especially because more death and pain were coming our way.

KAI

“I’m just saying, a bit of waiting wouldn’t hurt either of us,” I told Hunter patiently, knowing my words were falling on deaf ears—or stubborn ones.

“We’ve been at this for two weeks, going on three,” he retorted in a low voice. “How long do we have to plan, plot, and dig for information?”

How long before we finally decided we were going to follow through on a plan to kill three men? That was the real question, but not one I could ask aloud while we were sitting in the middle of the café. Arwen was chatting a handful of feet away, clearly enjoying herself as she flirted with a couple of handsome guys who’d come in for a drink and the chance to pet their favorite cats. Apparently, they wanted to adopt, but their third roommate was allergic to cats, so they had to settle for coming in occasionally.

“Here you go,” Rich piped up, sliding a steaming mug toward me. “Try that one.”

“Sure,” I said with a shake of my head and eyed Hunter. “How long is he going to keep trying?”

“Until he finds you a cup of coffee that isn’t met with the equivalent of a grunt and a shrug,” Hunter informed me with a laugh. “You could always make it stop by giving at least a half-assed performance of how good the coffee is.”

“You really think he’d fall for that?”

“If you managed it with a smile and a better word than good, he might.”

“Well, it’s all just...good,” I said with a shrug.

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