Page 39 of Collapsed

“Well, my little kitty cats, I am very capable of protecting myself. I have had loads of training. How else do you think I was asked to be part of The Elite? I know, I know, you are surprised it was not based solely on my dazzling looks.” Her wittiness is unmatched, that is for sure.Glad she can always be our comic relief.

“Job well done, kid. Proud of you,” King tells her while Marcela is still standing in silence, trying to figure out how she had no idea her best friend could kill like that.

“Anywho, these assholes came in and were trying to ruin our evening. Lane had sprinkled rose petals all over and everything for tonight. He even had candles lit! It was going to be so perfect.” She complains.

“Well, my sweet little killing machine, all that was actually for the engagement.” BJ's eyes bug out, and she turns around faster than I knew was humanly possible to look at him. Lane is right behind her, down on one knee with a body next to him, holding open a gorgeous ring box. BJ squeals so loud I have to plug my ear, worried she may break my eardrum. She clamps her own mouth shut with one hand, gesturing to her man to continue.

“Well… Love, this is not how I planned this to go. But, honestly, it makes it all more perfect and memorable. You, Bernadette Anne Jayce, are the love of my life. You are my light, my reason for living, the first woman to make me want to be a better man and maybe a father one day. I wouldn't change a thing about you. Your wild personality and style make you who you are, and that is perfect for me. Through all of this chaos, you have been my rock and my safe place. Will you honor me by becoming my wife?”

The girls and Alexie are all crying at the sentiment. BJ pulls him up to her face, planting a giant kiss on his lips before saying, “YES! I want you to be my happily ever after, baby!” He places the giant rock on her hand before the girls descend on her to take a peek, in their rabid-like state, they end up pushing Lane back.

With all of this happening and the excitement our girl has on her face for BJ, I can't help but let my mind wander, thinking about how our futures are going to pan out. Nat can't marry all of us, as much as we would all like that to be possible. I guess this is all a question for another time to discuss with the whole group. But I would love to let my Spitfire know she is the end all, be all for me. She is stuck with me for the rest of her life.

Next thing I know, Alexie and King are in Lane's face, threatening his life if he ever hurts our precious BJ in any way. When he promises he never will, they pull him into a group hug of congratulations. I have no doubt Lane will keep his word. He is a good man. Trust me, I had Conrad look into his ass hard when he and BJ first became an actual thing and again when they moved in together.

Conrad nudges my arm with his elbow. “Boss, there is still an opening tonight and a threat out there. We need to get this place cleaned up.” Being pulled from the excitement, I nod in agreement.

“Team, I hate to interrupt this love fest we have going on because I am genuinely thrilled for you both, but you still have an opening tonight. We need to get these bodies cleaned up, and we also need to get this building cleared of any explosives.”

Lane makes eye contact with me with a worried look in his eyes. “Explosives?”

Nat chimes in to explain what has happened today so far since we still haven't been able to explain why we are here so early. “Well, my psycho-obsessed shadow stalker sent the team a gift today.” She rolls her eyes before continuing on, “It was a matchbox from here with a note saying I better be returned to him because he would hate to see this place in flames again. No worries, though, we will find him, and I will rip every fucking finger from his body so he is unable to do that. Promise.”

“BJ, we will not let this ruin your night. I will make a few calls and get this all taken care of while the team makes sure the building is safe. Just proceed with your night as planned. We will take care of it all.” Conrad tells BJ while pulling her into a reassuring hug.

Looking around the room at the team, I let out a deep breath. “You heard him. Let's get to it and make sure BJ’s perfect night stays that way.”

Alexie

“Pieceoffuckingbirdshit on the belly of my shoe,” I say through clenched teeth. “Come on, Prince-y, don’t be scared. Help me roll this lard ass up in this plastic sheet.”

“I haven’t disposed of that many bodies, you psychopath. Sorry if I’m slower at it than you,” Prince-y snaps at me.

Thank the devil, Lane still had these plastic sheets from when they painted the bar sitting in the garbage to be taken out tomorrow. Now we can roll these bastards up in the sheets and get them in the SUV so we can dispose of them quickly. Conrad is easily taking care of his body like it’s a rolling pin on his Babushka’s countertop.

Once wrapped in the sheets, I grab one end and Conrad the other, and we lug the first body to the back door, where Conrad parked the SUV before we started rolling. Conrad pops the trunk, and we toss the first dead bastard in. Walking back into Reds, I grab the legs of the next human sausage, and Prince-y grabs the head as we lug him into the trunk. Finally, the last body is inside the SUV.

“Alright, where are we taking these fuckers?” Conrad asks.

“I have an idea. Get in,” I tell them as I climb behind the wheel. Prince-y buckles up in the passenger seat, and Conrad climbs in the back. I reverse out of the alley and head downtown toward the river. Lost in my plan on how to show Ivan we are coming for him, I blow a red light. A horn honking and Prince-y yelling snaps me from my inner evil plans.

“Jesus, do you drive cars in Russia? Or just ride around on bears?” my passenger grunts as he holds thefuck mehandle on the ceiling of the vehicle.

“Yeah, we drive. Although if I had to choose, I’d rather rideMalyshkato get where I’m going.” I roll my eyes and laugh at his question.

“Hilarious, fuckhead. Now are you going to tell us where we are taking the three dead-keteers?”

“I thought we could take the threegolubtsyto the apartment where Ivan tookMalyhskafrom us,” I inform them.

“Why would we wanna go back there?” Conrad asks from the backseat, focused on his phone.

“I thought we could drop them in the apartment upstairs and set the place ablaze. Ivan likes fire so much, let’s give him one as a little message that we are on his trail.”

“Actually, Alexie, you insane bastard, that’s not a bad idea. I like it. Send that cunt a message that we are coming for him,” Prince-y growls. I look in the rearview mirror, and Conrad is looking at me, nodding his head in agreement as well.

“I’ll text Stryker the plan so we are all on the same page. But let’s get this done. I want to be back for the event at Reds in case anything else goes down,” Conrad grunts.

We pull up to the apartment, and I put the SUV in park. “Conrad, can you disable all the cameras in the area so we can’t be linked back to this? Prince-y and I will do a quick check to make sure we’re alone.”

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