Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
She stands abruptly, and she struts into the room of legend no woman is allowed to enter. I gawk.
“Eve gets to go in there too,” Colleen states dryly, angrily flipping a page. “I’ve helped launder money for this club for years, but do I get to go in there? Nope.” She makes the last word pop, as she continues to be engulfed in whatever has her attention.
Maya comes back out, pushing a large, pin-filled bulletin board in front of her.
Colleen glances over her shoulder dismissively, looks back at her magazine, and then quickly darts her gaze back to the board as her eyes widen.
“Have you lost your mind?” Colleen hisses, and then she swallows like she’s bitten something sour. “I mean…whatever.”
She shrugs and lifts her phone up to take the place of her magazine once again.
“You’re too well trained,” Maya tells her primly as she gestures for me. “You’re the adventurous kind, and Axle says you think the most like Herrin.”
Colleen snorts, but she clears her throat as I quirk an eyebrow in her direction.
“Something to say?” I ask her as I slowly stand.
“The last girl I had something to say to ended up being a very important figure in the mafia-that’s-not-the-mafia. The one before that ended up being Drex’s future bride. The one before that ended up being a homicidal maniac that I sort of adore, but fear immensely. I’ll never have anything to say again,” she deadpans, giving a firm nod afterwards.
My eyes dart to Maya, who palms her face.
“You’re in the mafia?” I ask, looking around to see we’re all alone in here.
Our guards are in the hangar shining up their rides.
Maya’s weird, but not mafia weird. I don’t think. Come to think of it, I’ve never met someone in the mafia.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Maya says as I move closer, albeit warier. “There’s no such thing as the mafia. The eighties are gone.”
Colleen clears her throat again, and Maya glares at the back of her head.
“What my family does is mostly legal…in some states,” Maya goes on.
Colleen says nothing.
“See? She pretends to know nothing, and then I talk too much when she lets on that she thinks she knows something,” Maya grumbles.
“I don’t want to know anything,” Colleen interjects.
“Is this their search for Herrin?” I cut in, analyzing the board full of strings, newspaper clippings, internet printouts, and various other things.
“It is. He has a clubhouse…but it’s been abandoned for a while now.”
“It’s smarter than staying in the place where the enemy can easily find you,” I dutifully point out, and then absently gesture to our surroundings.
“I’ve handled that for the guys,” Maya says like it’s not a big deal. “This place isn’t as secure as the pentagon, but it’s built to endure any outside attacks. No one can get inside unless someone lets them in.”
“Don’t ask. I still have a migraine from all the detail that has gone into this place,” Colleen mutters.
“It’s still a spot that will be easy to pick them off from neighboring locations when they come and go,” I tell her.
“Handled that too. We have facial recognition software in place in various surrounding locations. Rush is in charge of most of that,” she goes on.
That dick. That’s how he knew I was at Drake’s.
“Could have told me that before I hid in the tattoo guy’s place for no reason.”
She nods. “I could have, but I didn’t trust you then.”
“And now you do?” I muse.
As if summoned, Drake comes walking in from the doors at the hangar, one of our guards holding it open for him.
“Ah, I see the vagina squad has claimed its newest member,” the man full of ink says as he runs a hand through his dark hair, shaking out the rain.
Hell, I didn’t even know it was raining, but he’s saturated.
He’s carrying a travel tray with four lidded coffee cups that he puts down on the table beside us.
“I’m not looking at that board. Just the vibe of it says ‘death comes to the curious’ in my opinion,” he quips as he takes two cups out of the tray and goes to sit down by Colleen.
“Can he be trusted?” I whisper to Maya.
She shrugs. “Eve seems to think so.”
“Eve will drag me to my death with all her fucking trust. Don’t listen to Eve. I’m entirely too untrustworthy. I shouldn’t be trusted with any sensitive information,” he says very seriously.
My eyes move back to the board, as Colleen and Drake argue about something that makes no sense to me. Maya gets in on the discussion as well, while I move two of the strings, trying to re-triangulate some of these timelines and patterns.
I remove two clippings, because they have nothing to do with Herrin. Too ballsy to be affiliated with him.
“I have to make a note, while we’re talking about Rush,” Drake drawls, which has me snapping my head over.