Page 39 of Delicious Prey

I cup her face and kiss her forehead, because as pissed as I am that she’s put herself in danger, I can’t be mad at her. “I’m fine, baby. Go back inside. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

She ignores me and looks at Jay. “Who’s that?”

Jay’s been silently watching our exchange, and when I meet his eyes, he lifts a brow at me in a what the fuck? kind of way. When I kiss Lydia again and angle her behind me so I’m in between them, Jay understands how badly he’s fucked up.

“I didn’t know anyone else was here,” he quickly says. “I wouldn’t have come after you if I’d known she was here.”

I ignore him and ask, “How did you know where I lived?”

“I saw you the other night on your motorcycle.”

“I was wearing a helmet,” I remind him.

He groans when he moves his neck and reaches up to see how bad the wound is. He’s bleeding, but it’s superficial because my dogs are really fucking well trained.

“I memorized your license plate when I saw you at Ivan’s a couple years ago. I figured it might come in handy.”

I’m not surprised he’s remembered a license plate from that long ago. To stay alive in this business means you do crazy shit like that.

“I followed you,” he continues. “I watched you drive past Ivan’s, and then I followed you here.”

“You saw her on the back of my bike.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know she would be here. Kirill doesn’t do relationships. Everybody fucking knows that.”

His eyes dart to where Lydia is peeking out from behind me because the girl just can’t seem to help herself, but he quickly looks away when I say, “Take your fucking eyes off her.”

“I didn’t know,” he says again, keeping his eyes on mine.

“You may not have known before you came here, but you and I both know that if you’d managed to get your ass inside my house, and that’s a big fucking if, she would’ve been there with me. We don’t leave witnesses in this line of work, do we, Jay?”

I can see it on his face that he’s thinking about lying, trying to come up with some way to bullshit his way out of this, but in the end he knows it’s pointless, so he says, “No, we don’t.”

“So why are you here? Who put the hit out on me?”

He sighs and looks up at the night sky. “Ivan did.”

That stupid motherfucker!

“I got greedy,” he admits with a sigh. “I went to him and told him you must’ve escaped. He told me he’d pay three million if I would take you out. Everyone’s looking for you now, man, but no one else knows where you live. I sure as hell didn’t tell anyone. I wanted the money for myself.”

“Anything else I need to know?”

He runs a hand through his dark blond hair and closes his eyes, no doubt cursing his own stupidity for attempting this. “Ivan’s hired more bodyguards. He’s scared to death now that you’re out.”

“He should be.” I look down at Jay, knowing I can’t let him live, but also knowing I’m going to take zero pleasure in his death. “Anything you want me to do?”

He knows what I’m asking, so I’m not surprised when he gives me the address to an apartment and then says, “The key is in my front right pocket. Push aside the bed in the spare room and pull up the wood flooring. There’s a bag of money and instructions on who to give it to.”

“I’ll make sure it’s done,” I tell him, giving him my word.

“What’s going on?” Lydia whispers from right next to me.

I look down at her, knowing she’s not going to like what I’m about to say. “Go inside, baby.”

Proving me right, she shakes her head and says, “No, I’m not going anywhere.”

I sigh and raise a brow at her. Leaning closer so only she can hear me, I press my lips against her ear and whisper, “You and I are going to have a serious discussion about your complete lack of obedience, little bunny. See how well-trained my dogs are?”

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