Page 132 of Beautiful Chaos

“Would you feel better if I gave you the ax back?”

Her eyes light up. “Really?”

I nod. “Next run,” I promise her and am relieved when the annoyance in her eyes disappears.

“Do I get mine back?” Ryder asks.

“Absolutely not,” I answer at the same time Luca curses through the comms, “Fuck no.”

Now, it’s Ryder’s turn to stop walking and I force myself to take a deep breath. We should be jogging the route, but Scarlett didn’t want to. Which is shocking in and of itself. I narrow my eyes again as I study her at my side.

“If I suck your dick will I get it back?” he asks sarcastically. Luca doesn’t even bother to respond.

“Practice your pout,” I recommend. “When it’s as cute as hers, I’ll consider it.”

Luca snorts. “I won’t. She’s barely getting hers back.” He pauses as if remembering why the two of them lost them in the first place. “On a probationary period,” he warns her and Scarlett rolls her eyes but doesn’t argue.

“Don’t practice your ax throwing in the middle of a run next time,” I advise.

Ryder finally starts moving down the tunnels again and I check my phone. We should be close to the exit we need now. “He was going to die anyway,” Ry grumbles.

“We still wanted answers out of him but he bled out too fast after you accidentally hit his femoral artery.”

Scarlett leans her head against my shoulder and yawns, her pace slowing down a little bit. “If you let us practice more, our aim would be better.”

I kiss the top of her head. “When you learn not to get too carried away.”

“Friendly reminder,” Noah says softly. “Everyone is coming over in an hour and a half.” A not-so-subtle remark to get us moving. It wasn’t supposed to take us an hour to get there. It should have taken twenty-five minutes at most.

“You ready to pick up the pace, pretty girl?”

She sighs but straightens and pulls away from me. “I guess.”

Thankfully the rest of the run goes much more smoothly. Only running into a couple of disagreements with Kade and Ry about how to dispose of the bodies. Scarlett is at least content with just leaving the signature bleeding rose behind in a message. She’s always a bit more reasonable after being able to slit a couple throats. Coffee usually has the same effect at least.

“Pretty girl?” I call as I look over the final scene. Everything is how we want to leave it. And I was able to keep the mayhem to a minimum. Promising Scarlett her ax back worked better than expected. Where did she go? Maybe I spoke too soon. I call Kade’s and Ry’s attention before asking, “Where is Scarlett?”

They both shrug before looking around to realize she isn’t in our sight. The warehouse is a fairly open space, not many places to hide. I sigh and begin to move toward the back hallway. It’s the only place she could be where she’d be out of sight. Footsteps behind me let me know Kade and Ry are following me.

We find her crouched over in the corner, her back to us. “Pretty girl, what are you doing?”

She turns her head and looks up at me, her eyes filled with moisture. As she opens her mouth, the tears begin to spill down her cheeks. “Look how cute they are, Declan” she cries, holding up a tiny kitten. It squeaks a sound that can hardly be called a meow as she lifts it in the air. It’s barely the size of her hand. It can’t be more than a couple weeks old.

I crouch down beside her and see three more kittens just slightly bigger than the one Scarlett cradles in her hands. Their eyes are just barely starting to open. They must not be even two weeks old yet. “They’re very cute,” I pacify Scarlett, gently rubbing her back.

“Where is their mom?” She cries harder, hugging the poor kitten to her chest. I’m not a vet, but the kittens look even smaller than they should. If I had to guess, I would have to say something happened to the mother cat. But I can’t bring myself to say that to her when she’s already so emotional about finding them.

I have to tamper down my smile. The picture is becoming more and more clear throughout the day, but I don’t want to say anything too soon.

“How about we take them home with us?” I offer instead of answering her question.

She uses the back of her hand to wipe her tears from her cheeks. “Can we really?”

“Of course, pretty girl.”

She looks down at the small kittens, gently running her finger over one of their backs. They’re a mix of black and gray and white. “What about their mom?”

I huff a laugh. Time for a little payback. “Kade and Ry will stay behind and look for her.” The fact neither one of them argues is enough to tell me they're thrown by her emotional outburst. I wonder if they’ve landed on the most likely reason yet. Ryder was just saying her boobs seemed bigger this morning. I hadn’t thought anything of it in the moment.

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