Page 119 of Highball and Chain

Enzo

I was completelyin love with Shanna, but that didn’t mean I was whipped enough to blindly follow her lead. I’d spent too many years doing what my parents told me to do. I was done taking orders.

As soon as the gate closed behind her, I fired up Dante’s motorcycle and hit the road. I hadn’t been on a two-wheeled death trap since I’d graduated college. I had to hand it to my little brother. He had great taste. The bike was sleek, swift, and sexy as hell.

I blew past Shanna on Tchoupitoulas Street and crossed the Mississippi River Bridge in a blur. After parking a block from Gabe and Maggie’s place, I slipped between two houses and made my way to the gate on the back of the property.

A single light shone from the first floor, but the second story was dark. A car door slammed out front, but I had no way of knowing if Shanna or Tara had arrived. I eased to the window and peered inside.

A man, large enough to run defensive tackle for the Saints, sat on the kitchen floor playing chase-the-laser-pointer light with an orange and white cat.

I ducked low, pulled my phone out, and texted Shanna and the head of my security team.

Abruzzos are in the house. Do not enter.

A few seconds later, my guy replied.

10-4

I held my breath waiting for her to reply. When she didn’t, I fired off another message.

I see the cat. Go back home.

Nearby, two females were engaged in a heated discussion. I couldn’t make out their words, nor did I recognize their voices. It has to be Shanna and Tara. Who else can it be this time of night?

A split second later, someone turned on the lamp in the front room. I risked another look inside and swore under my breath. Shanna and Tara stood inside the living room arguing.

I have to get in there. However, I suspected the bad guys weren’t kind enough to leave the back doors unlocked. I needed to get around front, fast. Thankfully, I’d spent enough time at backyard barbecues to know the location of the motion-activated floodlights on the side of the house.

Unfortunately, the other people in the yard had never enjoyed Gabe’s famous grilled chicken.

Light spilled over the area, illuminating me and two rather stunned intruders. The guy closest to me drew his weapon before I remembered I’d come armed.

I dove for cover, but lifted my head when the unmistakable sound of a taser filled the night air.

The guy with the gun flopped on the ground like a fish, if said fish were hooked up to fifty thousand volts of electricity.

Before I could sort out which, if either of the men, were on my side, a woman screamed inside the house.

Raising my hands, I called out, “Are you here with Jack?”

“I’m NOLA PD. Go. I’ll be right in.” The man with the taser knelt over his victim with a pair of handcuffs.

Between the floodlights and the commotion, I’d lost the element of surprise. Instead, I went for shock and awe by attempting to shatter the glass door with a flagstone paver. The impact left spiderweb shaped cracks, but the glass otherwise remained intact.

The door slid open, and I’m man enough to admit I nearly shit myself.

Jack smirked. “Marchionni. Nice of you to join the party.”

I’m also man enough to admit I debated slamming the flagstone into his smug face. I peered past him and blew out a sigh of relief. The guy in the kitchen was tased, cuffed, and laying in a puddle of piss. Tara was also cuffed, but other than what promised to be a hell of a black eye, she appeared unharmed.

Shanna glanced up from nuzzling the now infamous Mr. Boogerre and smiled.

In that moment, my entire world righted itself. Sure, we had a shit-ton of problems to handle, but we’d found the cat.

That has to count for something, right?

“Mr. Marchionni.” The head of my security team approached me. “What do you want us to do with the female?”

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