Page 66 of F*ck Steal Kill

“Lace?” I asked, turning back to her as I settled beside Grady against the dresser. This close, I could feel the heat of his skin as it warmed mine.

“We’re gonna need to use our best assets,” she said, smiling wide.

I groaned, dropping my head to my hands and making Grady and Quentin turn to me in confusion.

“What does she mean, Temptress?”

Sighing, I looked up, meeting his eyes. “You’re not gonna like it.”

Q’s jaw ticked, his nostrils flaring as he breathed slowly. “I can deal. I trust your skills.”

Be still my heart. I think that was the most romantic and sexy thing a man had ever said to me.

“Lace,” I said, motioning for her to explain as I stopped myself from moaning, or worse, swooning.

Smirking, she stood up and bent over, twerking her ass in the air before snapping back up and running her hand down her side seductively.

“Strippers, of course,” she said when she was done making her point.

“Oh, yay! It’s been a while since I’ve been on the pole,” Joy chimed in, picking up the tail end of the conversation. She jumped up, and the two of them danced together, taking turns acting like one another was a pole.

Max swallowed, his eyes wide as he took in the scene. Q’s eyes had closed, his fists clenched down on the bed. Lifting my eyes up at Grady, I was surprised to find him watching me and not the spectacle my friends were putting on.

“What?” I asked, my forehead creasing. I didn’t understand his expression.

“Your operation really is brilliant. I can see that now. I don’t understand why you need us. You could’ve kept quiet and never subjected yourself to our scrutiny.”

I relaxed against the desk as the tension fled my body. I looked back at my two friends and the guys who’d somehow managed to make their way into my small circle of people I cared about. Nodding to them, I smiled as Joy attempted to pull Max up to dance, telling him to act as a bouncer. His cheeks were red, but he went along with what she said. Joy was hard to resist.

“Them. They deserve a choice if they want to continue down this path. Our plan was to stop once we earned enough money to leave this town.”

“There sounds like a but there,” Grady said.

Smiling, I nodded and turned to look back up at him. “I’m not sure I can. I like it too much. It gives me a purpose to help people who need it. Plus, I like making bad people pay. I’m not ashamed of that, but I’d never want to trap them in this. They have so many skills and attributes to show the world still.” I paused, swallowing, my eyes flicking over to my friends before I returned to Grady’s.

“There are a lot of things we’re good at as XOXO. Being hidden in plain sight and underestimated are just two of them. But the things we don’t have… manpower and tactical experience. We’ve never taken on an organization this large before. There are a lot of pieces to this and people at stake. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t accept that and seek out our best chance of succeeding. That’s where you guys come in. I’m hoping you’re the big bad power we need.”

“Something tells me if you had to, you’d find a way to rescue Ava without us, though,” Grady whispered, his eyes soft and warm, making something inside of me respond to him in a new way. A way I wasn’t used to. He felt safe and like someone I could trust. He understood me in a way I hadn’t realized I needed—as a leader.

The lives of Quentin and Max were on his shoulders, just as Lacey and Joy’s were on mine.

Clearing my throat, I dropped his eyes like a scaredy cat and returned to the group. “Maybe. But I’d rather not gamble with their lives. We have a location and a way in. Now it’s your turn to step in.”

“Are we sure that’s the best way?” Grady asked, pulling everyone else back into our conversation.

“As much as I don’t like it, it does sound like the less risky way in,” Max supplied, back to sitting on the bed with his computer. “The place is routinely looking for new talent and tends to steal girls from other clubs. It wouldn’t look as suspicious to have them be new in town if they worked there.”

“Plus, most of the Savages’ crew frequent the club and pick their pussy for the night from the girls,” Lacey said. “It’s been a while since I fucked a bad boy,” she mused, making the other three guys’ eyes widen, protests forming on their lips as they turned their heads to me. It was surprising to see Grady be so possessive, and that part that had warmed for him earlier flipped in my chest.

“I’m not going to fuck anyone,” I said, stopping them before they went all alpha male on me. “There are other positions at the clubs, but usually, we only need one of us with an in. The other is surveillance, and the other is getaway/cleanup. It’s dealing with the other men and getting Ava out of the compound that will be tricky. So, Shadows, what do you have?”

I ignored my heart as the three of them ran through their plan. This wasn’t just a simple grab-and-go. They wanted vengeance and planned to take out Viper and as many other Savages as possible. The bloodiness of it lit a fire in me, making me itch with the need to be part of it. I knew it was dangerous to give into that desire, to actively feed it.

But when your soul rejoiced at the decimation of people who preyed on those they deemed weaker, the only recourse was to dance in their blood, knowing the world was a little safer because of it. If that made me bloodthirsty, so be it. I wasn’t worried about my soul.

“Holland, I could use your help finalizing a few things around town. We’ll roll out at dusk.”

I blinked, nodding before I knew what was going on. In my bloodlust, I’d missed the assignments.

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