Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
My heart started pounding when he stood up. Fucking hell, he was huge—easily six-three, and a wall of muscle. He started walking toward me, and I took a step back and bumped into someone. It turned out to be Vincent, who’d ignored my instructions and followed me. When I glanced at him, he put a protective hand on my shoulder. Greco stopped in his tracks, probably because Vincent was just as big and scary. Since he’d also been on that rescue mission, Greco probably recognized him, too.
For maybe three seconds, a tense standoff ensued. Then Greco started running—not toward us, but through the VIP lounge. While I was trying to decide what to do, Vincent stepped around me, unhooked the velvet rope, and handed it to the bouncer. Next, he picked up the metal post the rope had been hooked to, swung it onto his shoulder like a baseball player with a bat, and went after Greco—not at a run, but at a leisurely pace. Man, that guy was cool.
The bouncer and I both stared after him, and I asked, “Is there an exit back there?”
“Yeah, but it’s marked ‘employees only’ and you’re not supposed to go that way.” Like a sign was going to stop them.
“Where does it lead?”
“To the kitchen, which has a side door to an alley.”
I grabbed my phone and shouted, as I turned and ran through the bar, “Greco’s about to exit through a side door off the kitchen. He recognized Vincent and me. Guys at the back of the building, be ready just in case, but he’s probably going to head for his car at the front of the club. I disabled it so he won’t be able to drive off, but who knows what he’ll do once he discovers that.”
I became tangled up in a big, drunk group of revelers on my way through the club, so I got outside just in time to see Greco mug a pizza delivery driver for his keys and drive off in a red Smart car with a big, lit up sign on top, shaped like a slice of pizza. Well, at least he’d be easy to spot. I reported his escape to the group and unmuted my speaker in time to hear Adriano say, “Stay right there, Jack. We’re coming to pick you up.”
Vincent caught up to me a moment later, dabbing at some sauce on his black suit jacket with a handkerchief. “The kitchen staff was feisty,” he said. “I don’t think they liked having unexpected company.”
The four guys who’d been watching the back of the building joined us, looking like the cast of a low-budget ren faire production. They were armed with various makeshift weapons including empty wine bottles, some of them wore cardboard armor, and Zan was holding a plastic garbage pail lid like a shield. When I shot them a look, they quickly discarded their alley armory.
Then the hot pink limo pulled up beside us, with Adriano behind the wheel and Dante talking to him through the connecting window. I quickly dove into the passenger seat, and while we waited for everyone else to pile into the back, my boyfriend frowned at me and said, “I thought I told you not to be a hero.”
“I wasn’t! I just went inside to check out the situation. I really didn’t expect Greco to recognize me.” I craned my neck to keep the glowing pizza slice in sight. Then I told him, “He just made a left at the light. We need to hurry.”
Adriano called, “Hold onto something, everyone,” and slammed on the gas. I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that Pete was sitting with Nana and Ollie on the long bench seat at the back of the limo. One of them had given him their giant cock drink, and he was sipping it happily. While the three of them looked perfectly relaxed, everyone else was bracing themselves to keep from flying out of their seats.
We reached the light just as it turned from yellow to red, and Adriano slammed on the gas and took a wide left. Our tires squealed, and the back end swung so far out that we were practically driving sideways for a few moments. But then he straightened it out, and I grinned and said, “Look at you, driving it like you stole it. That’s hot.”
He chuckled at that before telling me, “This thing has the reaction time of a drugged giant sloth, so don’t expect much.”
“You’re doing great, and he’s in an old Smart car with a huge sign on the top, so I’m sure we’ll catch him.”
As Adriano wove the huge limo around a few cars, Dante appeared in the pass-through again and held up his phone. “My team’s tracking me and converging on our location,” he said. “They should be right behind us in a couple of minutes.” Adriano did a quick weave, and Dante was flung out of sight. We heard him curse and then mutter, “Next time, anyone but Aide gets to drive.”