Page 34 of Always Been Mine

Beatrice heard, “Fuck this,” right before Nose Ring’s head jerked back in a spatter of blood.

Gabe yanked her behind him where she landed on her ass. Ignoring the pain on her bottom, she kept her eyes on the scene while reaching for her gun. She quickly extended her arm to shoot the guy about to clobber Gabe with a metal pipe.

Gabe was finishing off the last thug, avoiding knife jabs, and blocking strikes while countering with his own punches. It seemed he had the situation under control so she crawled to Nose Ring’s body and searched for identification. She barely had time to grab his wallet when Gabe pulled her to her feet and growled, “Let’s go.”

She was thrown over his shoulder and saw the stairs streak past her vision so fast, it made her dizzy. When they reached the street level, she was dumped on her feet. He grabbed her hand firmly, dragging her back to where they had parked. “Walk fast, but act normal. There may be more of them.”

“Gabe—”

“We do not want to draw any more attention.”

The demand in his voice was absolute, so she shut up until they got to their car.

She winced when she saw his face. He was blazing with fury, and it was directed at her. “We need to check for—”

“Got it,” Gabe bit off, disappearing from view to check for trackers or explosives that may have been planted under their vehicle in their absence.

“Are you hurt?” she asked worriedly when he got back to his feet. His face looked okay, but bruising was usually delayed. He didn’t appear to be bleeding, but he was wearing a leather jacket that could be masking an injury.

“Get in the car.”

“I’m sorry that—”

“Get in the fucking car, Beatrice!”

He started for her but stopped when two men approached them. They didn’t look Latino. Both of them were tall, one of them even taller and bigger than Gabe. The younger guy had blond braids. They were wearing leather cuts over their hoodies.

Bikers.

“Both of you all right?” one of them asked.

“Where the hell were you guys?” Gabe snapped.

“We were in the room across from Luisa’s,” the blond one said.

“Our orders were not to interfere unless things got dire,” the bigger biker added. His eyes crinkled as they landed on her. “Looks like you had things under control. I’m Ashe by the way.”

He extended his hand to Beatrice and nodded to his companion. “This is Duke.”

“Those guys Fuego?” Gabe asked.

Ashe nodded. “Things are too hot right now. We can’t stay and chat, but here’s our current number. That’ll be valid for at least two days.” He handed Gabe a piece of paper. “The Skulls don’t usually stay long around these parts. We do our drop and leave. We have the protection of the Russian gang, but things can turn on a dime.”

Beatrice was feeling a sense of outrage growing inside her. She turned to Gabe. “Am I to understand I’ve wasted a trip here and you already know for sure it was the Fuego gang?”

Gabe’s non-answer was answer enough.

“Are they the same ones who hired the victims to mess with me?”

“Not sure,” Gabe answered curtly.

Beatrice turned back to the bikers. “We need names of whoever is related to the victims. Who hired them, who killed them. You have all the info to get started?”

Ashe nodded. “We have an intelligence guy. I can put him on it. Give us 24 hours and then call us on that burner.”

Beatrice nodded.

When the bikers were out of earshot, she pivoted on Gabe, glaring at him. “You could have saved us the trouble of almost getting our heads blown off.”

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