Black and Blue

“But—”

“No!” She stomped her foot. “You’re like a father to him. Act like it.”

Michael’s shoulders slumped.

“Now, then. Blue, put the food back in the fridge. Michael, sit down and give me my breakfast. Neither one of you is to say another word until I’ve decided what your punishments are.”

“Our punishments?” they demanded in unison.

She raised her chin. “That’s right. You’ve both put me in a terrible position. One of you was going to make a horrible mistake and ask me to choose. Isn’t that right, Daddy? I was then going to have to murder you both in cold blood. Now, get silent and do what you were told.”

“That still doesn’t explain what I did,” Blue said—not getting silent.

She kissed him without any hesitation. “You are making me fall deeper and deeper in love with you, and I’m furious about it, poppet, I really am.”

Twenty-four

ONCE SOLO ARRIVED, THINGS moved quickly.

Well, except for the one-on-one the guy insisted on having with Blue.

He pulled Blue into a hallway and said, “I knew there was something there, but I didn’t know it was serious. Evangeline Black? Blue, you can do better.”

“There’s no one better.” She was top of the line. Grade A. And she was falling deeper and deeper in love with him. He’d never let her take back those words. They’d rocked his world.

“You couldn’t scratch your itch with someone else?” Solo persisted.

“It’s not an itch,” he replied flatly. “It’s forever.”

“So, what, you’re going to marry the devil’s favorite handmaiden now?”

Blue barely stopped himself from throwing a punch. This is your friend. You love him. “Watch how you talk about her, my man, or we will have problems. How would you feel if I insulted Vika that way?”

“I’d have to kill you.” Shamefaced, Solo patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sorry. If you like Evie, that’s good enough for me. I will never treat her with anything other than respect.”

“Thank you.”

“No need for that. Your happiness matters to me.”

“I’ll never be happy without her.” Evie was wonderful. The way she stood up to her dad. The way she defended Blue and confessed her feelings. He’d never seen anything like it, and doubted he ever would again.

She accepted him. All of him. Past, present. Future.

He’d always hated being called a slut and a whore, and he’d always told himself that he did what he did for the job, that it was okay. To discover that Michael viewed him through the ugly veil of judgment . . . yeah, that hurt. But Evie hadn’t backed down.

“All right,” she said now, checking the scope on a pyre-rifle as he and Solo returned to the kitchen. “Are we ready to do this? I call dibs on the guys in the photos with Mr. Cooper’s pregnant girlfriend.”

Beautiful, savage female.

Solo had spoken to Tyrese Cooper’s wife, and with a little . . . persuasion she’d admitted to paying Star to abduct and hurt the mistress. The mistress had since been found, alive, and returned to Mr. Cooper. All three had a long, dark road to navigate.

“More than ready.” Once upon a time, Blue had refused to admit Evie was the type of woman he’d wanted. The type he needed. But she was. And he wouldn’t change a single thing about her. “But I don’t want you rushing into a massive free-for-all, princess.”

“Duh,” she said. “I seriously suck at fighting more than one angry dude at a time. As I’ve proven. I’ll be more help on a hill, picking off the idiots foolish enough to step within my sights.”

That’s my girl. “Let’s go, then,” Blue said.

They gathered all the weapons they could carry. Waiting for dark would give Star more time to hide. Or prepare.

They would take him, then his son, then his daughter.

In the car, Solo claimed the driver’s seat, Blue the passenger, and Evie the back. No one spoke a word the entire drive, but that was okay. He knew that they were all thinking the same thing. No mercy.

About a mile from the gate, they dropped Evie off. Before she could clear the vehicle, Blue reached through the open window, grabbed her by the nape, pulled her close, and kissed her hard.

“Be careful,” he whispered against her lips.

“No probs.” Her gaze was grim. “But you, too. I mean it, Blue. You have no idea the fury I’ll unleash on you if you allow yourself to get hurt.”

“Get hurt, and delay our snugs time? No.” He gave her another kiss before letting her go.

Leaving her was tough. He had to force himself to nod to Solo. The otherworlder drilled the pedal into the floorboard and zoomed to the gate blocking the public road from the private driveway. They emerged. As cameras watched their every move, Blue set a small bomb on the left side and Solo set one at the right.

They turned their backs, and boom!

The charge was small enough, and isolated enough, that he felt only a whoosh of white-hot air along his back and a slight burn on his neck and arms. As pieces of metal sprayed over the ground, he and Solo climbed inside the car and sped forward.

Armed guards rushed from the house, but Solo didn’t slow. He’d taken control of the vehicle and disabled every sensor, allowing him to run into one man, then another. As they tumbled over the hood and screamed, the other males jumped out of the way.

When he reached the porch steps, he slammed the car through the front door. Bricks and other debris flew in every direction. Blue palmed his weapons as he got out. Moving faster than any gaze could track, he wove through the guards, shooting one, stabbing another. Shooting, stabbing. Grunts and groans sounded. Bodies fell to the ground, never to get up again.

He and Solo left no survivors.

They stomped inside the estate, alert, scanning for Star senior as well as any soldiers who might be lurking nearby. Blue’s gaze caught the barrel of a pyre-gun peeking from around the corner of the far wall. He motioned to Solo, then launched forward, whizzing around, secretly closing in on the man.

A stream of yellow light sprayed at the other warrior. The fry setting, rather than stun. Solo dodged, but not quite swiftly enough. His arm was grazed by one of the flames.

Blue reached his target a second later and shot him in the temple.

“The others are running outside,” Solo called. “Either they’re afraid of us or they know something we don’t.”

An angry voice spilled from an intercom system. “They know something you don’t.”

Star.

While Solo searched for the reason the men had run, Blue ground his teeth and sought out the camera. There had to be one, and it had to be—there! In the corner, beside the entrance to the office. He glared into the lens. “You got something to say?”

“If you haven’t already guessed,” Star said, “I’m not there.”

“Too bad.”

“I thought we reached an understanding, Mr. Blue.”

“We did. You tried to kill me and my woman, and I struck back.”

A low growl echoed over the airwaves. “You murdered an entire contingent of my men and destroyed my home. Aren’t you afraid of what I’ll do to your friend?”

“Yes. But you should know, anything you do to John, I’ll do to you. Twice.”