Page 35 of Bulletproof Love

“Now that’s just nasty, Wayne.” Shaking my head, I eye the growing puddle on the carpet. “They’ll never get that stain out.” I laugh at my joke, a dark rumble from my belly that almost sounds foreign to my ears. “Any last words?”

His eyes dart to the door, then back to the gun. “Downstairs...”

Now he has my attention. “What’s downstairs?”

He rocks back and forth, eyes squeezed shut. “He’ll kill me,” he mumbles, the words becoming a broken mantra. “He’ll kill me. He’ll kill me.”

“I’m the one with the gun, Wayne. What the fuck is downstairs?”

Falin stands by my side. “Wayne,” she says. “Help us out here. Fairfax treats you like shit. Why keep his secrets?”

At the sound of her voice, he opens his eyes. Something shifts in his features as his eyes narrow. “Fucking cunt. Why would I tell you a word?” He shoots a lob of spit from his lips right onto Falin’s feet, and I see red.

My jaw clenches hard enough that my teeth could crack. I grip my gun so tight that my knuckles burn. Beside me, Falin goes deadly still—the kind of stillness that comes before a storm. The temperature in the room seems to drop ten degrees.

Wayne’s lips curl into a sneer, his earlier terror forgotten in this small act of defiance. He doesn’t realize he just made the biggest mistake of his soon to be very short life.

“Do it.” Before she can blink an eye, I pull the trigger and put a bullet between Wayne’s eyes. As he goes down with a thud, crimson sprays like fireworks across the fancy wallpaper. We don’t stay long enough to watch him bleed onto that pretty rug.

I grab Falin’s hand and pull her toward the door, making sure the hallway is empty before we leave the study. “Shit.” Falin’s voice shakes.

“It’s okay. We’re both wearing gloves. This won’t come back on us.” Normally I get rid of our bodies, but this is different. Leon and Damon are going to fucking freak. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

I start toward the door but Falin plants her feet. “No. We have to see what’s downstairs.”

I sigh and run my hand through my hair. “Fuck. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not without the guys.”

“What the hell did we come here for then?” Her words are laced with ice. Of course she’s right, but hell, I just killed a man. Everything in me is screaming to get the fuck out of here. “Come on, our bet’s not over yet. I still need to save your ass.”

“And this is why your name is Trouble,” I say with a long exhale. “Lead the way.”

CHAPTERFOURTEEN

FALIN

I’m goingto have to examine why I’m not freaking the hell out later. Jasper just ended a life in front of me. Blood and brain matter coated the walls. Yet, I’m barely rattled. What the fuck is wrong with me? It may not be the first time I’ve witnessed a death, but it was definitely the most gruesome.

It doesn’t matter, not now. We have other things to worry about, like getting downstairs unseen.

We find the massive kitchen where a dozen caterers move food onto trays.

“Maybe we can ask one of the staff for help?” I suggest. “It’s not like they have anything to do with Fairfax. They’re just caterers.”

Jasper vibrates with energy beside me. “Too risky.”

As the words leave his lips, one of the servers turns her head in our direction. I notice her before Jasper, and without thinking, I sling my arms around his neck, pull his face to mine, and whisper. “We’ve been spotted.”

He catches on quickly… almost like he was hoping for this. I shake that thought away, threading my fingers into his hair and silently counting the seconds until the server looks away. His breath hitches against my skin. It would be so easy to kiss him now, but Ican’t. This is all for show. If only my heart hammering against my ribs would get the message.

“I think she moved on,” he breathes. “But I’m willing to stay here like this all night.”

I back away slowly to double check. “Yeah, she’s gone.”

“I think I see a door over there, off the kitchen,” he says, nodding his chin in the direction of his gaze.

A tap on my shoulder has me jumping out of my skin. “Are you lost?”

Shit.

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