Page 55 of Married into the Mob
“Agreed.” Flint nodded. “We have to know if this is the end or just the beginning. He needs to be interrogated, and he’s in too much pain.”
“I’m taking Odell home.”
“Home? To Aunt Louisa?”
“To my place for the night.” Stefan hadn’t acted alone. Once any remnants of his gang were rounded up, my mate could resume his former life.
Odell didn’t protest.
“Please tell me it wasn’t you who burped and bucked down the road outside the club when you left?” Ranger smirked.
“You can’t talk, bro. Matt showed us photo evidence of your parallel parking.”
Flint sniggered, and Ranger snarled. The rest of us laughed.
My big brother threw me keys. “Take mine, but if you ding it, I’ll never forgive you.” He wagged his finger at me. “I’m assigning you additional bodyguards.”
Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’d set off to prove to my brothers I could look after myself when it was actually a team effort, me and my mate. Maybe more Odell than me.
“Can I speak to Aunt Louisa?” My mate sagged against me, and I scooped him up.
“Sure, in the car.”
He rested his head on my shoulder. “As long as it’s not a stick shift.”
TWENTY-TWO
ODELL
“Knock, knock.”
I didn’t know why I’d said that. Why not just rap my knuckles on the door? I couldn’t because I was holding a tray, and I didn’t have shifter reflexes that would allow me to balance it on one hand.
Now I regretted my decision and backtracked away from the bedroom, assuming that was where Hunter was.
Having fallen asleep in the car last night, I had vague memories of coming into the bungalow—carried in by Hunter—gruff men checking out the garden and inside before allowing us in. And me being placed in a sumptuous bed with fluffy pillows and a lighter-than-light quilt that cuddled up to me and soothed me to sleep.
After a trauma-inducing few days, I’d have expected to sleep fitfully, tossing and turning, nightmares—similar to the one at the cabin—penetrating my dreams and waking me. But when I opened my eyes, it was morning.
And I was hit by a pang of disappointment when I sat up and there was no Hunter on the floor and no evidence he’d been here during the night.
Damn that mafia shifter! I was his fated mate. Why wasn’t he checking on me every few minutes?
My annoyance was irrational, and I flopped back onto the mattress with my eyes closed. There were bodyguards outside and I guessed cameras everywhere. Stefan had been… I tried to come up with a word the mafia might use instead of imprisoned and perhaps tortured. Contained, perhaps
I shivered, hoping Stefan wasn’t dead, but if I was honest, my reaction was because I would always be looking over my shoulder until we got the whole story and Draven located. Stefan was dismissive of his nephew, so perhaps a just punishment would be them in the same cell for the rest of their lives.
My mind went back to the guys in the alley, hoping they weren’t lurking. But as I’d possibly run over one and managed to get away from them, I doubted they’d outthink and overpower Hunter’s men.
Glancing down, I discovered I was wearing the clothes from yesterday, minus the shoes. He didn’t think to undress me? Sleeping in a shirt embedded with the acrid smell of gun residue was gross, even though it was pink, my favorite color. He should have taken it off. Hunter was supposed to adore me, want to be with me at every moment, and yet he hadn’t undressed me.
I ran that line over in my head.
He’d left my clothes on because he was a gentleman. I guffawed at using that word to describe a mafia guy. But I’d been asleep and couldn’t give permission to undress me.Thatwas why. Honorable? Could that word be used to describe a mafia man? Mine, yes. Oops, that slipped into my head. Mine in name only.
But I needed food and coffee, and that would rid me of thinking about Hunter.
He didn’t cook, so there probably wasn’t much in the house, and we’d left most of the food we bought at the grocery store atthe cabin, along with the car.I’d developed affection for that red beast and would love to own it. But as my future was uncertain, I had no money to buy it. Not that it was worth much.
