Red Handed by Jessa Wilder

Ilet Rush pull me to my feet and toward the dance floor, hands firmly clasped. He glanced back at me, eyes assessing. “Wait.”

“What?” I asked.

He reached up with his free hand and pulled the lavender wig off my head, tossing it back toward the booth. My red hair tumbled out, slightly tangled.

“Better,” Beck said.

I glanced at Nico quickly, half expecting him to stand and follow us, but of course he didn’t. A waitress placed a drink in front of him and he swirled the amber liquor, not taking his eyes off me. He gave me one tiny nod, as if to say, “Go.”

Not that I needed his permission or attention, but I liked the feel of his intense eyes on me as his two best friends dragged me away from the booth. Liked it a bit too much, probably.

As I stepped on to the dark dance floor, the colored spotlights that drifted back and forth provided the only illumination. I closed my eyes as the electric house music pumped through my veins and I swayed, loving the way music took over my body, not leaving room for thoughts. Large hands spanned my hips, sending goosebumps up my arms. Beck’s sandalwood scent enveloped me. I opened my eyes and met his hooded gaze searching mine. He bit down on his lip and his piercing caught the light. I wanted to taste the cool touch of it against my lips.

The insistent magnetic energy pulled taunt between us, and I gave into it as he pulled me flush against him. He was an excellent dancer, better than expected. We moved slowly to the music. Attuned to his body, he directed the speed, and the intense tension between us built. I’d been craving him since the first time we kissed, and my body hummed when I pressed into the heat of his chest. I grazed my lips over the tattoo of a blood red beating heart on his neck, and he inhaled sharply when my tongue tasted the salt that coated him. I’d lost my fucking mind, but nothing could have stopped me.

I gasped when Rush’s chest pushed into my back and sent fire crackling through me. Whatever resistance I had left shattered at his proximity. His hips drove me harder into Beck, and I moaned against his neck, earning me a feral growl from both men. Mother of God, I was sandwiched between two of the hottest guys on earth. A stark reminder of Beck’s comment about sharing had me arching into them.

Fuck. I wanted—no—I needed more.

I pushed my hips back into Rush’s hard length and groaned loud enough to be embarrassed, but Beck was there to catch it. His tongue slid over my bottom lip and I opened to him. His mouth crashed into mine, tongue hot, owning mine. I matched his desperation and bit down on his lip. He trembled against me and groaned into my mouth.

“Fuck… you’re so fucking hot,” Rush murmured against my neck. He bit down on the lobe of my ear, and I moaned into Beck’s kiss. Overwhelmed by the feel of them, the need to touch, feel, and kiss, coursed through me. Rush threaded his fingers through the back of my hair and squeezed just hard enough to hurt. He dragged his other hand up my leg, sending heat pooling between my thighs until his fingers worked their way around and cupped my core. I tilted my head to the side, exposing my neck, as his open mouth kisses sent heat searing into me.

I was completely lost to the heat of them and we devolved into desperate touches. I scraped my nails down Beck’s chest like I had the first night we met and he groaned, releasing my mouth, chest panting against mine. His lips formed a sinister grin, and he slid his leg between my thighs and pushed Rush’s hand harder into me.

“Fuck,” Rush’s voice rumbled into my neck as his hand curled over my needy core.

Rush’s arms held me steady from behind while I trembled between them. His lips nipped at the sensitive shell of my ear. “You’re going to come for us, Firecracker, and know just how much we own you.”

I whimpered, and it drove them harder. Fuck. Heat consumed me. It was too much and not enough. I grabbed Beck’s hair, his mouth covered mine, eating all my desperate sounds, and he pushed his leg harder into Rush’s hand. Behind me, Rush sucked, nipped, and tasted the curve of my neck as pleasure coursed through me. One of his hands grazed up my body and pinched my nipple through my shirt, then gripped my jaw, turning it in Nico’s direction.

Sitting alone in the VIP booth, Nico watched us. Gaze dark, body pressed forward, he rubbed his thumb against his bottom lip. There were nude girls all around us, but we were his show.

My toes curled and my fists clenched as Rush and Beck worked me over the edge. All the while, Nico’s gaze bore into mine, demanding I come. My body arched into them and trembles ran through me as my greedy core pulsed with pleasure. I gasped for breath and looked directly into the hungry gaze of my worst enemy as his two best friends made me come apart.

Fuck. I lost all control of my body and sagged between them. Rush’s firm arm wrapped around my waist was the only thing keeping me standing. It took several minutes before I was finally able to open my eyes. Beck’s kisses turned tender. He gently grazed my swollen mouth while Rush stroked his hand down my arm as my heart calmed to a normal rhythm.

When I could finally breathe, I glanced over toward the booth where Nico was sitting. Or…had been sitting. “Where is he?” I asked, scanning the crowd.

I didn’t have to wait long for an answer. Four well-armed men stalked by the bar, and Rush stiffened behind me. “Fuck. We need to move.”

His worried tone was like stepping into a freezing shower. “Who is that?”

Rush disappeared into the crowd, and Beck grabbed my hand, tugging me off the dance floor. They moved with practiced synchronicity, almost like they’d planned it.

“What’s going on?” I hissed.

Beck’s face had gone slack. “Time to go, Little Thief.”

Something was clearly very wrong.

* * *

We stepped out into the chill night air outside the club and Beck’s arms wrapped around me, providing much needed warmth.

“What happened?” I asked again. “I don’t understand.”

“Right, you wouldn’t, I guess,” he said. “That was one of the Gentlemen with a few known Trilogy members. We’ve been aware of our guys defecting for a while. We got this particular guy’s name out of another rat the other night, but we hadn't seen him out in the wild before tonight.”

“People are switching sides?” My eyes widened, partly at the news and partly because he’d told me so casually. Like he trusted me. Jesus Christ, things had gone too far.

“Exactly,” he said into my hair.

I sunk back into the warmth of his chest, even as a sliver of doubt crept into the back of my mind. What the fuck was I doing? This whole night was unbelievable. The way the guys were able to shift gears so quickly from whatever it was we’d been doing on the dance floor to hunting down a traitor was kind of scary. Meanwhile, I was barely able to think straight.

Who even was I right now? The biggest issue wasn’t what we’d done—that wasn’t a big deal—it was who I’d done it with. I kept blurring the lines further and acting like these guys weren’t from the opposite side of a generations old feud. A feud that had literally killed hundreds of people.

Beck’s phone rang, and he answered it with one hand, leaving the other arm wrapped around my waist. He stood so close to me, I could hear Nico speaking on the other end of the phone as though he were on speaker-phone.

“We caught up to Joe,”Nico barked. “Turns out Luca’s information was good after all.”

“Great,” Beck said brightly.

“I need you to come deal with him.”

Beck paused. “Oh, come on, man. Not right now.”

“Yes, right now. Are you fucking with me?”

“I thought you were going to just kill him,” Beck whined in the same voice one might say, “But I wanted to have Pizza for dinner.”

In the background, someone whimpered. There was a loud smack and Rush’s voice said, “Shut the fuck up.”

My eyebrows rose into my hairline. What the fuck was this conversation? I felt like I was in the goddamn twilight zone right now.

“Beck.”Nico’s tone was that of forced calm. “You have thirty seconds to get your shit together and get over here. This is not goddamned kindergarten, do your fucking job.”

Beck splayed his fingers across the bare strip of skin between my crop top and my shorts, rubbing small circles on my skin. “Alright, but what are we going to do with you know who?”

Nico paused. “Get the car and come get us around back. You’ll have to fucking bring her.”

Beck choked. “You’re not serious.”

“Do I sound like I’m joking? I’m not debating this with you. I am literally holding a gun to this fucker’s head right now. Put Raegan in the car and get over here or I will have your bike taken to the junkyard and crushed into a cube by the end of the hour.”He hung up.

“What was that about?” I asked.

Beck dropped his hand from my stomach and sighed loudly. “What did my bike ever do to him?” He asked instead of answering.

“I don’t know, he’s cracked,” I snapped. “Where are we going?”

He grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the parking lot, digging car keys out of his pocket with the other. His tone suddenly turned serious. “Listen. You need to sit in the car, okay?”

I snorted. “I grew up in a gang too, remember? I’ve seen a guy with a gun to his head before.”

Beck winced. “Have you ever seen an interrogation before?”

“No,” I lied reflexively. Of course, I’d seen an interrogation. My dad hadn’t sheltered me from any aspect of the business. I didn’t speak as we drove around the building. Every part of me raced with pent up adrenaline. If they were going to take me with them to meet their interrogator, that was some serious information. You didn’t just shout about who the interrogator was in an organization. Their identity was always protected from outsiders.

The back of the club was a dirty alleyway, with trash littering the ground. Beck parked the Range Rover next to an overflowing dumpster and hopped out, leaving it running. After a moment, I got out too. I had never promised to stay in the car. The stench of piss and rotten garbage filled the air, burning my nose. As I followed him into the dimly lit space between the dumpster and the building, I reached down and pulled my gun out of its thigh holster just in case. This felt like the kind of place a girl could get jumped.

Rush and Nico stood in the shadows. Rush held a man up against the wall of the building, his arm pressed to his neck. Meanwhile, Nico shoved a gun to the man’s sweaty temple.

“Fuck, Joe,” Beck said loudly. “And here I thought you liked living.”

So, this was one of the guys who had decided to betray Nico and funnel information to the Trilogy. Interesting. He didn’t look that scary, or even like the kind of upper crust gangster that Nico ran with. The man was shorter than all three of the guys by at least a head and covered in tattoos, with a large scar running down one side of his face. He looked to be about thirty-five, but it was hard to say in the low lighting.

If someone betrayed my dad, they definitely would’ve died. In a weird way, I would have been surprised if Nico didn’t kill this guy himself. Jesus. How had I gone from fighting with these guys, to almost fucking, to murder in the span of like two hours? Was this my life now? Cool. Coolcoolcool. I definitely didn’t need therapy or anything.

The doomed man didn’t speak, just glared at Beck as we approached. His gaze swung to me and he grinned, showing yellowed teeth.

“Get back in the fucking car, Raegan,” Nico barked, following his gaze.

I ignored him. If this guy worked for the people who shot at me and Sophie, I sure as fuck wasn’t going to wait in the car while he was dealt with. I wanted answers.

Nico seemed to decide it wasn’t worth wasting time fighting with me, which was smart. He turned back to Beck. “You got zip-ties?”

“Yeah,” Beck said uncomfortably. He glanced back at me. “Nico, man…come on.”

Nico looked from me, to Beck, to Joe, then back to me. He groaned in frustration. “Fuck it.”

I jumped as he shot the guy in the head, bits of brain and skull splattering across the wall.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Rush exclaimed, jumping back. “Warn me next time.”

Nico blinked at him, wiping the gun on the dead man’s pants. “Next time I’ll send you a save the date. How about a Google Calendar invite?”

“You’re an asshole.” Rush let the body fall to the ground and wiped blood off his face with one tattooed hand. “I thought we were questioning him?”

“Why the hell did you make me come back here if you were just going to kill him?” Beck complained.

“Why the hell did you let her out of the car?” Nico snapped. “I doubt he knew anything, anyway. Joe was a fucking moron. The satisfaction of killing him is better than any information he may have had.”

Rush rolled his eyes. “You could have killed him, anyway. You have no impulse control.”

Beck glanced back at me, looking considerably happier than he had minutes ago. “You okay, babe?”

I nodded. “Yup.”

I stared at the blood dripping down the wall, wondering if I should be more bothered by this. I had never personally killed someone point blank like that. I’d shot into an active shooter situation to protect Sophie, but that almost felt like a drill. Like the kind of thing my dad had put me through as a kid, where he and Brian would shoot blanks at me until I stopped being scared and figured out how to shoot back while under fire. I’d done tons of training exercises like that after Marcus died, and always just assumed it was because my dad viewed me as the expendable one. The one who was best to be shoved in front of a shooter.

“You sure you’re good?” Rush asked, his eyebrows pulling low.

“She’s fucking fine,” Nico growled. “Let’s clean this shit up.”

I met Rush’s gaze for a second and gave him a tiny smile. Nico was right, I was fucking fine. I’d watched my dad kill men before. It was unavoidable in the kind of work that Mount Summer did. Sending unregistered weapons and drugs across state lines wasn’t the kind of thing that attracted the best people, and sometimes shit had to get handled. Maybe I should have been afraid of Nico right now, but I wasn’t. Who knows what that said about me.

“Cleaners will be here in ten,” Beck said, stuffing his phone in his pocket. “They’re on the other side of town or they'd be here faster.”

“Fine,” Nico snapped, striding back toward the car.

Rush wrapped an arm around me as we walked back to the car. “Sorry for the interruption, Firecracker,” he said into my hair.

I laughed without humor. “You switch gears so fast it’s almost scary.”

“Does it scare you?”

“No,” I said honestly.

What scared me was that it didn’t. What scared me was that I was already used to this kind of lifestyle, and it would be easy to get used to them.