Red Handed by Jessa Wilder

Fuck, the shooter was bleeding all over the place. The blood flow needed to stop if we stood a chance of getting him back to the hotel alive enough for Beck to take care of him.

Thankfully, Nico hadn’t shot him in the head. That was more restraint than he typically showed, which on a normal day I might comment on. Progress and all that. Today wasn’t fucking normal, though, and I was probably just as worked up as Nico right now. That was a scary fucking thought.

“Go to hell. I’m not telling you anything.” The shooter tried to push me off him. I leaned harder on his neck and he coughed, struggling to breathe.

I lowered my head close to him. “Who said I was keeping you alive to talk?” My lips pulled back, showing all my teeth in a feral snarl. “You’re going to pay for shooting at our girl.”

The shooter’s body started to shake, and his eyes snapped to mine, all his bravado lost now that he knew we didn’t want anything from him. This was purely revenge. He could stay as quiet as a mouse, and I wouldn’t give a flying fuck.

Nico came around the car. “Hurry the fuck up, Rush.”

“I’m fucking trying. Hold him still for me, will ya?”

Nico did as I asked and I grabbed two old rags from the trunk and pushed one against my new buddy’s bleeding shoulder. The duct tape made a loud ripping noise when I pulled off a strip. The wound would get infected as hell, but he wouldn’t last long enough for that, anyway. Beck was going to have fun with this one, and for once I was going to watch.

I shoved the other rag into his mouth and duct taped it around his face. “Put him in the trunk and let’s get the hell out of here. We’re already too far behind.”

Nico gave me a sharp look for giving him orders. I ignored it and tipped the shooter back into the trunk while Nico adjusted him so his legs would fit. It was going to be a tight squeeze. We had to slam the trunk down three times before we could get it to latch. A snapping sound on the last go let us know we broke something. A sinister smile formed on my lips. Fuck him.

I ran around the car, getting into the driver’s seat in time for Nico to slam into the passenger door of Beck’s absurd, orange, Bugatti Veyron. “Go.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I skidded out of the parking lot, narrowly fitting between two cars. Other drivers laid on their horns, but the sound was drowned out by the roar of our engine. Beck’s car was fast. He literally bought it because it was the fastest thing he could find that was street-legal, and the guy was dancing on the edge of a serious adrenaline addiction. Regardless, any other time I would’ve loved the hell out of this ride, but right now I was zoned in on getting us to the hotel. I weaved in and out around cars, cutting it to the last second. I sucked in air, trying to calm my erratic breathing, but adrenaline had my heart hammering in my chest. We’d been fucking shot at. Rae had been shot at.

When I came out of the building and saw her standing there, both guns raised, bullets pinging off the surrounding cars, my heart stopped. She appeared completely unafraid to stand her ground, even as windows shattered around her and metal punctuated steel. I’d never run so fucking fast as I did when I couldn’t get the Rover to unlock.

“What the hell happened?” I barked. I jerked the steering wheel so hard the back end swerved out, and I was barely able to correct it. A loud muffled cry came from the back, so I repeated the action in the other direction.

Nico didn’t answer. His eyes were set dead ahead. A muscle ticked in his jaw, and he held his gun pointed at the floor. Bringing him back to the hotel was fucking stupid. He was a dangerous combination of unstable and pissed at the best of times, but I was ninety-nine percent sure he was on the verge of a rage blackout.

He’d always been like that ever since Dante died, but it was worse since he took over the Gentlemen from his dad. He was either totally methodical and neurotic, or a fucking lunatic. There was virtually no in between. I’d normally try and convince him to go to the gym and fight it out in the ring until he calmed down, but fuck that. I didn’t have time.

I was honestly worried Beck would set him off. Beck and Nico were closer than brothers. Sometimes I thought they got each other more than I did—two sides of a deeply fucked up coin—but they were going to literally fucking kill each other someday. There was no question it was going to be Beck who said something to set Nico off as soon as we got back, and that’s when guns tended to come out. Fuck.

A tension headache started to build behind my right eye as I cut off an eighteen-wheeler in the fast lane. Beck and Nico really needed a referee, and it couldn’t be me forever. Like today. Today, I couldn’t deal with them. I needed to see if Rae was okay, or I was going to lose my shit. The arena was forty-five minutes out of the city, and even driving at life threatening speeds we weren’t getting there fast enough. My hands and arms burned with a spike of adrenaline when I thought about Rae being hurt. I’d thrown her in the armored SUV and tossed Beck my keys. I hadn’t had time to check if she was okay before they peeled out. I had no idea when I started to care, but I would lose my goddamn mind if something happened to her.

I pressed my foot down on the gas a little harder and drifted the car around the corner, banging a uey on to Main Street. A loud groan came from the back, but Nico didn’t react to my breakneck speed.

Beck must’ve been hauling ass too because they pulled up to the hotel before us. Not wanting to waste a second, I sped over the median and braked at the last possible moment in front of the hotel. The car jumped the curb before coming to a screeching halt. Beck glared at me for curbing his car.

I jumped out of the car and raced to open the Rover’s rear door. Rae looked at me with large owl eyes as I pulled her out. My hands checked every surface of her, my eyes searching, but there wasn’t any blood. I looked up. Her face was flushed. She was shaken, but too stubborn to admit it.

“I’m fine,” she breathed.

Relief washed through me. She was okay. Everything was okay. I rested my forehand against hers and breathed in her vanilla honey scent. Slowly my breath regulated back to normal, and I vaguely heard Nico telling the guards to take care of Beck’s present. Never fucking again. No one was ever getting near her again.

Beck wrapped his arms around us, squeezing the ever loving shit out of me. “Don’t hog her, man.”

I groaned and shook him off. “Fuck off, Beck.”

Rae’s laugh vibrated against my chest, sending warmth through me. I fucking loved that sound. She stepped back, not meeting my eyes, and wrapped her arms around Beck. He cupped her cheeks, tipping her head back, and pushed her hair behind her ears. He looked calmer than I’d seen him in years as he placed a kiss on her forehead. “Glad you’re okay, babe.”

A tinge of jealousy cut through me. For some reason Beck didn’t care at all that Rae was from Mount Summer. He probably just thought the rules didn’t apply to him. Hell, maybe they fucking didn’t, because as usual, Nico hadn’t done anything to stop him. There was so much fucked up guilt and drama in just that situation alone, I didn’t even have the time to analyze it.

I took a deep breath and reminded myself of the reason I kept my distance from Rae: she was Jimmy O’Rourke’s daughter and I was a Gentlemen. Until recently, I had never wished otherwise.

Sophie walked up to them, looking exhausted. Rae tightened her arms around Beck once, but let him go, pulling her sister into her side.

“Can we go in now?” Sophie’s voice was soft, like it took effort to speak.

Rae scanned her sister, worry written over her face. “Yeah, of course. I’m fucking exhausted.”

Nico took a step forward, but Rae cut him off. “We’ll be in her room. Directly beside yours. You’ll be able to hear us.”

He didn’t look happy but didn’t stop them as they went into the hotel. Apparently, the rules didn’t apply to Rae now, either. Interesting.

* * *

Nico’s room was packed. My best enforcer, Anthony, was doing a full debrief. I’d normally be all over that shit, but my mind kept slipping next door.

“The shooter’s set up in your workroom like you asked.” Anthony glanced at Beck.

Beck ignored him, continuing to search his phone, one hand in his pocket all casual and shit, like he wasn’t about to torture someone for the next few hours. I didn’t normally watch, but I was looking forward to seeing this. Knowing the shooter was completely fucked didn’t stop the anger from growing. The Trilogy had fucked with the wrong girl. It was personal now. I was going to hunt all those fuckers down.

I slammed my hands on the table, drawing everyone’s attention. Nico and Beck’s expressions were just as dark as mine. “Looks like we’re going hunting.”

There was a commotion in the hall and a guard stepped in. He was decked out in the standard issue suit for the hotel guards, and he looked scared as shit to face us. “Um… Boss…”

“Who the hell are you?” Nico asked in a surprisingly calm tone. He hadn’t shot anyone yet. It was concerning. Like a calm before a nuclear blast.

“Mark… I’m new.” No fucking shit.

“Spit it out,” Nico said, giving the kid his full attention.

Mark’s eyes darted between us. “There… There're some girls to see you. We’ve blocked them, but they’re insisting they know you.”

I raised my eyebrows. Girls? What girls? What the fuck was this?

“Why the hell are you coming to us with that? Bring them to Madame Cosset,” I said loudly.

I needed to draw his attention from Nico. The way Nico’s fingers had drifted to his gun spelled disaster for the poor kid, and to be fair, it wasn’t Mark’s fault he’d showed up on a really bad day.

“They’re not that type of girls.” Mark looked down, not meeting my gaze.

I stared at him, confused. Wait, was it Rae and Sophie? “Let them in.”

Mark blanched at my tone and took off into the hall. I’d have to let the team know Rae and Sophie had special clearance from now on.

My mouth tasted sour when fucking Sadie walked into the room with three of her friends I only half-recognized. My eyes narrowed on them. They had no business being here. Not now in the middle of all this shit. Hopefully not ever again. Beck fucked Sadie a few times a couple of years ago, and she wouldn’t let it go. We’d all taken a turn with at least one, if not several, of her friends, but they weren’t a part of us. They were disposable. Here for a good time, that’s it. She was out of her fucking mind, walking in here like she meant something to us.

“Get the fuck out,” Nico said, jaw muscle twitching with the effort to stay in control.

Sadie stepped further into the room with entirely too much confidence. They must have stopped to get ready before they came here, because they looked too dressed up for people who were just shot at. Then again, I was pretty sure they stayed inside the VIP booth.

Sadie put on a pathetic pout. “Can’t we stay tonight? The shooting was scary and I know we’d be safe with you.”

Fucking pathetic. Images of Rae being a total badass with her guns out popped into my head.

Nico looked back at his phone. “No.”

Sadie’s friends gasped. They obviously didn’t know Nico. He wouldn’t lose a moment of sleep over tossing them out.

Sadie tried again, raising those long-lashed eyes to Beck. “Please, Beck? I want to stay here with you where we’ll know it’s safe.”

My nose scrunched and my lips pulled back in distaste. I hated her desperation, but fuck. I couldn’t remember how much Sadie actually knew about us. She obviously knew something. I glanced at Beck but he wasn’t listening to her at all. He’d totally zoned out into that cold, flat place he went to right before he tortured a mark. Probably for the best.

A brave guard stepped forward. “We can’t just throw them out, sir.”

Nico shot the guard a withering look, but then glanced at the wall I knew separated his room from Sophie’s. “You can stay here tonight,” he said, unusually loudly.

I gaped at him. Had he lost his fucking mind?

Nico spoke low to a guard, dismissing him with the girls. “Put them in a guest room on the third floor.”

I smiled. The third floor was also known as the kink floor. Sadie actually fucking huffed and looked like she was going to stomp her foot, but she kept her voice controlled, hesitant to go against Nico. “We’re not staying in a whore’s room.”

Beck laughed, a dangerous glint in his eyes. Yeah, he was not fit for company right now.

“Then get the fuck out,” Nico said, completely dismissing her.

I smiled at Beck, and his grin widened. It was time to have some fun.