Eat Crow (Cheap Thrills Series Book 6) by Mary Moore (novels to improve english .txt) 📕

paw smacking me on the shoulder made me grit my teeth. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. We didn’t know anything about Bex’s situation, and having innocent people around when guns start going off affects all of us. Hopefully, you’ll never be in a situation where it happens around Bexley again, though. Twice in one day is more than enough for one lifetime.”

I listened to Alex’s advice and absorbed it. I was raw. That was the only way to describe it. Twice today, my heart had stopped because of guns being shot near her. Twice I hadn’t known if I’d find her breathing or dead.

So, yeah, I was fucking raw, and I would be until I got to check her over myself.

Holding his hand in the air, DB motioned to us to split into two teams. Because there were staircases on either side of the walkway that ran in front of the rooms we were aiming for, one group would approach from one side, and the other would come from the other side.

Looking at me, he pointed at Carter and then at the room we’d rented earlier.

I was splitting off from the team and going in to see her.

Nodding, we moved quickly and were soon on the walkway. As I got to the door, I tapped gently three times and stood back so Mace could see me through the peephole.

When he threw open the door, Carter and I moved inside and shut it quietly behind us.

“They’re in the bath with the animals. I hid them with a comforter over their heads in case the guy shot again,” he pointed at a wall where there were three large holes.

“Damn,” Carter whistled.

“Yeah, and the girls were standing four inches to the right of it when the first one came through,” he clipped, his lips set in a straight line. “Fucker almost hit them because he couldn’t take getting dumped.”

All I could see was Bexley laughing as she relaxed after a bullshit day with her friend, a glass of wine in her hand, and a bullet going into her.

“Why—” I stopped and licked my lips. “What did they do when it happened?”

Mace’s lip twitched slightly as he looked at me. “They don’t even know it happened. They thought initially it was fireworks or an argument outside. I went in earlier after it kicked off again next door to reassure them it wasn’t in the room, and the damn dog was sitting in the tub with them while Ava cuddled the cats.”

Tipping my head back to look at the ceiling, I felt anger, relief, sadness, happiness, and rage. All of them were extreme, but the one that came to the surface was a burst of irrational laughter.

A bullet had come through the wall near her and her friend, and now she was hiding in a tub with Doyle on her lap and the box of kittens.

Sweet baby Herbert and fish sticks on a Sunday.

“That’s the craziness of stress coming through,” Carter told Mace as they watched me laughing.

Next door, we could hear a commotion and a deep voice yelling that he wasn’t leaving without someone else, but I knew they had it under control when I heard Alejandro yelling out that he had the gun.

“You better believe I’m suing your ass for damages, Judge Ingleston. I don’t care what your job title is, you don’t make holes in someone else’s wall. I know you were born during the prohibition, but your mama must have taught you manners,” Hyacinth screamed from outside. “That’s like me coming to yours for Sunday dinner and wiping my ass on your decorative hand towels. Why I never…” she trailed off, muttering something to herself that we couldn’t quite pick up.

“Remind me to come here for a weekend,” Carter said, staring at the door.

Rubbing my face with shaking hands, I shook my head and wondered how just how something so bad could end like this.

Was this the end of it?

I hoped so.

“Go get your girl, man. But be warned—they’re talking about bad breath and wine stinking more after you drink it. They tried to get me to smell it when I went in to reassure them, but I told them I had shit to do.”

I’d smell her breath if she asked me to, even if it was first thing in the morning. I didn’t want to take even one second for granted with her, and I hoped that determination never stopped.

The second I opened the door, her sweaty, red face popped out from under the comforter, which looked like it was being propped up in the middle by Doyle.

“Logan!” she cried, then looked me up and down, stopping on my stomach. “What’s that?”

Shit, the bullet hole.

“I got it snagged on something. Are you okay?” I asked as I dropped to my knees beside her. “You’re not hurt?”

“No, we’re fine. Someone was arguing next door, so Mace put us in here because he’s a big old worry head.” Then, putting her face right in front of mine, she blew out a breath. “Hey, does that smell like death? Try Ava’s.”

Truth be told, it didn’t smell great.

But I didn’t give even an ounce of a shit.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Logan

“So, it’s a bit of a bizarre case,” DB told us as we sat down the next morning. “After hours of questions, we’ve pieced together the following. Judge Ingleston, and Dirk, King and Lord Kirkwood, were all in business together, cutting and distributing what they called ‘fudge.’ Jordy Watts was their main distributor, who sold it to other dealers and customers.”

That wasn’t new information, but it was good to have it confirmed.

“Judge Ingleston was paid to assist with the release of the distributors when they were arrested to avoid eyes coming back to the Kirkwoods. The ‘fudge’ was made at the property we visited last night belonging to King Kirkwood, and that’s where the distributors met them to make a deal and pass over the payments.”

A glance around the room showed no surprised faces.