Page 88 of F*ck Steal Kill

“Grady,” the man in question nodded after I opened the door. He looked me over, his brow creasing. “Something’s different about you? Did you have surgery?”

“Surgery?” I asked, tilting my head. Why would he think I had surgery?

“Yeah, for that stick up your ass?”

Lacey and Holland snickered behind me, and I couldn’t even find it in myself to be mad at Ryan. Hearing Holland laugh was a reward within itself.

“Right. Yeah. As a matter of fact, I did.” I grinned, smacking him on the shoulder as he entered, his face comical at my reaction.

“Okay, who body-snatched Grady?” he asked, taking in the two women now with more interest. “Wait, who are you?” Ryan spun on his heels, his face hard as he stared at me. “I’m all for you getting some, especially if it’s the cause of this,” he said, waving his hand in front of me, “but that doesn’t mean you throw out protocol and invite your booty call to a debriefing. Fuck. I gotta call this in.”

“Does this mean we’ll be zapped like in Men in Black?” Lacey asked, leaning over to whisper to Holland, but didn’t keep her voice low.

“Ooh, do you think that’s real? I could use that on a few people. Though you might need to demonstrate your skills to Mr. Debriefing first. We don’t have time to deal with the police or the cleanup crew today,” Holland said, swinging her leg back and forth on the bed like she hadn’t just insinuated killing a fellow Shadow.

“I’d like to debrief him alright,” Lacey purred, licking her lips.

Ryan stopped, staring at the two women with his phone held halfway to his face. Taking pity on him and agreeing with Holland that we didn’t have time, I walked over and clapped him around the shoulder, squeezing a little tighter than necessary.

“Ryan, this is two parts of the XOXO killer. The other is in the Savages’ possession along with Max. Not my booty call. And I’m pretty certain they could kill you before you blinked, but let’s not test that theory.”

“They’re the asset?” he asked, swallowing as he lowered his phone.

“I have an ass you can hit,” Lacey teased, winking at him.

In all of my years, I’d never seen Ryan so flustered before. His cheeks brightened, and he cleared his throat, fumbling with his phone before it reached his pocket. I wanted to laugh, but since I had the same response to Holland, I wasn’t one to judge.

“Right. Okay. My team’s outside, and we’re ready to roll out when you are.” He glanced around the space, most likely trying to look at anything other than the two gorgeous women on the bed.

They hopped up at his words, all business now that we were headed into battle. Holland walked over to the door and did a series of knocks before Q opened, peeking his head out.

“It’s time,” she said, and he nodded, poking his head back to say something before stepping into our room. He waited to hear the lock engaged and then greeted Ryan.

“Ry.”

“Quentin.”

“Someone on your team needs to stay back to guard the room next door. No one is to enter or exit while we’re gone. If, for some reason, we don’t make it back, then a secondary team will come to collect them. They’ll have a codeword that the inhabitants of that room know.”

I love how Holland didn’t ask but gave the order with the understanding that it would be followed while also not giving anything away, fully protecting Ava and Lukas.

Ryan looked at me for a second, but I just lifted my brows, letting him know she was in charge. He scrubbed his face as he thought, eventually nodding.

“Yeah, okay. Can I know who it is?”

“Nope.” Holland didn’t elaborate, strapping on a knife holster to her leg, finishing off her badass killer look.

Lacey and Holland both had on vests Joy had made that were apparently superior to Kevlar. Add in the black pants of the same material, guns, and knives strapped to them both; they made a deadly duo.

How Ryan didn’t recognize them as killers the instant he entered the room spoke of how long they’d been able to go undetected.

No one ever suspected them. They might be the most valuable asset to join the Shadows to date.

Jackson would be thrilled, and we’d finally get that vacation. It felt dirty using them for that, but I couldn’t deny the appeal of having time off with Holland after this. Perhaps a nice beach or lake would be in the plans. But first, we had to get back our teammates.

“Fuck me,” Ryan whispered as Holland sauntered out of the room, not realizing the pile of shit he’d just stepped in. Quentin growled, his face hardening as he stepped forward. I barely managed to stop him, my own need to claim Holland raring to go in me, but it was Lacey who managed to de-escalate the situation.

“Anytime, hotshot. But she’s already taken. You might want to keep your eyes to yourself unless you plan to lose them,” she said, kissing his cheek and sashaying her own butt out the door. Ryan glanced back, noticing the killer expression on Quentin’s and maybe my face, and gulped.

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