Page 48 of All Jacked Up

My stomach twisted at the thought of something happening to him.

“Do you, uh, have guns? Need them?” I wanted to ask if he’d killed anyone before, but I didn’t.

“Yes,” he replied, grinning and looking back at the road as the light turned green.

“When do you use them?”

“When they are needed,” he replied.

“What kind do you use?” Because I was picturing machine guns and things of that nature while a mob movie played out in myhead.

“Why so focused on the guns, Shakespeare?”

I shrugged. “Oh, probably because I am trying to get a clear image of what it is you do and not allow my imagination to paint a picture for me. Because right now, you are Al Capone with a fedora.”

He threw back his head and let out a deep laugh.

I found myself smiling. I loved to watch him laugh.

“I have a semiautomatic with a silencer at my back. There is a .45 caliber in the glove compartment and another under your seat. Two assault rifles are hidden in a compartment behind us.”

The moment of humor was gone. My eyes flickered from the glove compartment to the seat I was sitting on. That was a lot of guns. Why so many?

“You’ve gone pale, Shakespeare. I don’t plan on shooting you. They’re just for precaution,” he told me, then pulled up to an iron gate, rolled down his window, and pressed a code. When the gate began to swing open, he glanced at me again. “Welcome to my home.”

Sixteen

Ransom

I probably should have prepared them before showing up with Noa. But I had her background check on hand—I just didn’t need her to see it. I’d told her who we were. But there were things about us she never needed to know. The simple fact that I’d done a complete dive into her life and that I knew her personal shit wouldn’t make her happy.

Thankfully, Bane was out of town for a few more days. None of the others would say anything to me.

Forge’s eyes lit up at the sight of her though, and that was going to be something I had to handle immediately. Forge, Gathe, and even fucking Locke would assume that she was someone I’d brought here, willing to share. And if I couldn’t fuck her, they sure as shit weren’t getting to touch her.

Convincing them that she was just a friend would be difficult because, well, that wasn’t something I’d ever done. At least thatthey knew about. I was taking Noa out of the secret place she’d had in my life and making her real. The friend I’d kept just for me. Who no one else knew about.

I’d wanted to keep her there, but then I also wanted to have the ability to see her. Be around her. The more I got that chance, the less appealing just texting with her was. That had been a big part of my life. But I realized I was ready to change it. I wasn’t losing her or the conversation. I was just making it real.

At least, that was what I was telling myself when the fear that I was ruining it crept in.

“Are you sure she went to high school with us?” Forge asked, giving her an up and down with his eyes.

“Yes,” I bit out harshly enough that his gaze snapped to mine.

The confusion in his expression was expected.

Gathe walked into the great room with a sandwich in his hand and paused to look at Noa. A slow, appreciative smile spread across his face.

Not this one, fucker. Keep your pretty-boy shit to yourself.

“Gathe!” Forge called out. “Do you remember a Noa Raines? She’s a friend of Ransom’s that I didn’t know existed, but”—he glanced back at her—“I’m glad she does.”

Gathe moved closer, not taking his eyes off her. “It sounds familiar. But I was unaware Ransom had female friends.” He said the last word slowly, as if to mock it.

“We never met or spoke,” she told him, and I had the sudden urge to put my arm around her and pull her against me. “I only tutored Ransom and Than.”

Gathe’s brows lowered. “Tutored?”

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