JACE ‘JR’ ASHER/ TRIGGER‘I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE COMING AND WHO’S THIS?’Misha’s outstretched hands that were ready for a hug darted from me to the woman behind me.At her late fifties, she barely looked like she’d aged let alone had passed the ‘I’m forty years old’ mark. With hazel nut eyes, auburn hair that was somewhere near Cassie’s and a few grey hairs in between, she was still a sight for sore eyes and as nosy as any mother was when you brought a woman home.Lucia came forward tugging the seams of her sweater, pushing back a couple of stray dark locks from her face before she stretched out her hand to a curious Misha.“I’m Lucia Amato, Jace’s friend. Your son has told me a lot about you and quite honestly it’s finally nice to meet the woman who raised this man”Misha’s brow lifted even higher, hand on her left hip, a sauce covered ladle in her hand, she glanced at me then back at Lucia.“You can tell me the truth honey. Did he do something to you? Did he pay you to show up here
LUCIA AMATO‘YOU’RE A LOT MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN FLAMES DESCRIBED’Misha complimented, I swept my hair out of the way giving her an ‘I’m too nervous and too scared of you but thanks’.“We knew you two were coming but I still insisted on being hard on my boy. He never visits except for the holidays and not all the holidays, when we heard he was bringing a woman here well any mother would behave the same way I did when I saw you”“I get it and like he said he’s doing me a favor really because the truth is I don’t have anywhere to go, I don’t know where to move from here”“Well, whatever happened is in the past the best thing to do is move on. This is your home from now on, Lucia you can at least count on that”Sweeping my dark hair across my shoulder, I turned to her giving her a faltering smile and I couldn’t help kissing both of her cheeks before I leaned in for a hug.“Oh”, a startled chuckle escaped her lips but she still couldn’t resist my bear hug.“Thank you”My eyes crinkled with m
CASSANDRA BATESELEMENTALLY, ROYALLY, FUCKING SCREWED.And that was because I didn’t have any other words to describe the situation, I was in.Wait, wait there was another word. I HAD HIT ROCK BOTTOM.I might have acted brave enough to reject Ice’s help but two days sleeping in my ex-roommate’s walk-in closet advised me that I should have done otherwise.But did I want to risk that?Did I want to risk owing Kade anything let alone running paths with him after he had avoided me in weeks?No, I did not need such toxic relationships in my life at the moment.I did not need Kade and I absolutely didn’t need violence dictating what my life should have been.I came back from my whirlwind romance with a vigilante poor as fuck.My apartment had been merrily given to another couple with a labradoodle.My job, well Nicolas Amato was dead, everything he owned had been confiscated by the cops so bye fucking bye to my job.I was back to square one, back to factory settings and pushing my whole sle
KADE HAWKINS/ CONNORGETTING IN WASN’T HARD, the little shits didn’t know we were coming ergo they didn’t have enough ammo or men for that matter to outnumber us.Ice stormed in there like the loose motherfucker he was, shoot, don’t think just shoot.And when he shot the Zetas eliminating them one by one, he paused to do a victory hurrah with the men. That shit annoyed me and at the same time made me jealous.He was the type of man who didn’t think a second before and after he killed anyone.I was the level headed one, the leader with the good head on his shoulders.I didn’t blast my way shooting every fucker in there, no, I calculated my moves, I shot them where they wouldn’t have the chance to crawl out of hell.Was it pretty? No. Nothing about blowing someone’s brains out was pretty and when the mission was done, when the Zetas were wiped out and buried at some island no one would think to look at, I retreated.Like I always did when a mission was completed.Locked away at some bun
LUCIA AMATO“WHAT WAS THEIR NAME AGAIN?”I shouted over the ruckus; Jimmy handed me a mug of the finest beer in Lock n’ Key.I had drunk the finest wines from across the country, champagnes included in the list but never the fizzing stale-smelling brown liquid in my mug.It looked disgusting but Jimmy and his friend Patricia had been on their third mugs tonight so it couldn’t be that bad right?Gazing at the rock slash country band shredding their guitars like they were in a concert and not a bar with twenty people max, I raised my mug at no one shouting at the top of my lungs.“To a great night!”Because this was the most fun, I had in a while.Jason Bates said that this town could give me everything I wanted only if I opened up to it and I was already opening up to it already by chugging the drink in my mouth.I was not gonna lie, it tasted like an old shoe had been dunked in water and left out for a week in a smelly old barn.I didn’t want to be the cowgirl barfing the best ale in
CASSANDRA BATESTHE DOWNSIDE OF staying at someone’s place meant tolerating any visitors she brought to crash for the night.And while I loved my roommate, God bless her, hearing her all night getting pummeled over and over by some guy she picked from the bar was something I couldn’t endure for another night.The thought of moving out crossed my mind but then again, the high rent New York had to offer for a single apartment discouraged me against doing so.“I’m so sorry for last night girl”, Anna slumped in the seat opposite her kitchen island.“No, it’s fine. It’s totally fine. It’s your place bring anyone you want over”, I said working my way through the Avo toast that was already in my hands.Anna, blonde and pretty even with her morning hair all over the place reached out for my hand stilling my actions.“We’ve known each other since high school Cass, you do know you don’t have to feel guilty for anything right? Mi casa is also your casa”Pretty sure the expression didn’t go that
JACE ‘JR’ ASHER/ TRIGGERMY HAND IN HER PANTIES, exploring her slick folds, my eyes found hers in the neon bullshit lighting in the pub.Dark orbs met mine, hungry, visceral, all the shit that made a man like me go savage. And Lucia knew how to stir the pot because her tongue darted out of her mouth wetting her pinkish lips.That was enough for me to say ‘fuck it’ and give it a go. One hand caressing her slippery slit, the other hand found her waist and as delicate as a man like me could, I hauled her to my chest, angling for a better position and when I did the rest was fucking history.I hadn’t felt this nice since—since I got accepted into B&A and still the feeling wouldn’t amount to this.Getting a gun and using it was a good kind of high, sure. Going on deadly missions that helped people was okayish, fuck better than okayish.This…This however was the stuff of fairy tales, stuff that seeped into your heart plunging you into a rainbow-colored world and that should have been the
CASSANDRA BATESEVER BEEN KISSED like…well I don’t know like you were the most freaking important being in the world?I had been kissed by a lot of guys, no question about that and the only guy who’d come close to making me shiver from a mere kiss was JACE BUT KADE?He redefined what a kiss stood from the minute his tongue plunged into my mouth impatiently giving me a glimpse of him and trust me, the dude tasted like he looked. So strong and so intoxicatingly bad.Bad in a good sort of way. Bad in the sense of ‘you kissed him, that’s bad’ but good you know? God what was I even saying?Hand on my chin, the other hand nervously tapping my skirt, I gazed out the window trying to make my heart at least beat rhythmically.The action failed when Kade’s big hand squeezed my thigh and a lot ooh a lot of ticklish prickles shot up my leg to my core and I knew i needed a fresh pair of panties because the ones I was wearing were soaked like a chicken crossing the road on a rainy night.“Talk to m