Chapter Eight
“You know, considering you’re just going to be sitting out for the time being, you’d think you’d be happier about it,” Harb said.
Priest had only spent ten minutes in the asshole’s company, and he was already ready to end the fucker. He couldn’t stand him.
“Shut the fuck up.”
Harb started to laugh. “So what’s the deal with you and blondie?”
He wasn’t even going to answer that.
Last night had been so fucking surreal to him. Never had he felt so alive. He’d taken Cleo’s virginity. She belonged to him now.
He leaned up against the car, waiting for her. She’d needed to use the bathroom, which was why they had stopped on the way to the safe house. Harb had made the decision to allow Cleo to stop, but he was so close to ending the cocky bastard’s life.
It would be so easy to do. Instead, he stood and waited for his woman to return. She’d seemed fine that morning. The day after was always sore on the women, or at least he’d heard. He didn’t have a lot of experience with virgins.
“So if there’s no deal between you and blondie, does that mean I have a shot?”
He glared at him. “You touch her and I’ll cut your dick off.”
Harb laughed and held his hands up. “So there is a deal there. She’s cute, that I will say about her. I hear she’s a talker. What about a screamer?”
“I swear to God, if you don’t shut your fucking mouth, I’m going to shut it for you.” He’d already heard enough.
“Hey, guys, sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Was it a number two?” Harb asked.
Cleo went beet red. “I can’t believe you even asked me that. I wasn’t gone that long.” She turned to him. “Was I?”
“No, you weren’t.” It felt a whole lot longer because he was with Harb.
He turned toward the other man, but he saw the tension in his body, and Priest went on high alert, pulling Cleo against his side.
“Get in the car,” Harb said.
All the play and teasing were gone from his voice. His face was something completely different. This was the man Priest had encountered a few times. The one Boss wanted.
Boss only ever recruited the best. There were many men in the world who could kill, but there were a select few who didn’t have a single moral bone within their bodies. They were devoid of any kind of emotion. They didn’t care who they hurt or killed to get what they wanted, and they often ended up at the Circle of Monsters.
He refused to dwell on those kinds of men. Boss wanted something different—killers with some kind of conscience. Men he could trust.
Opening the back door, he pushed Cleo into the car and got in himself.
“What’s going on?” Cleo asked.
He shoved her head down into his lap so she wasn’t in any easy path of a bullet. All the while, he tried to keep it cool, to keep an eye for any suspicious activity.
Harb slapped his hand on the car and climbed behind the wheel.
“If you’re fucking joking around with me—”
“No joke. I saw the glint of metal just past the tree line. A perfect shot for a sniper. You know that. What I don’t know is if it’s for us or someone else. Also, clock the car at five. They turned up one minute after us, but no one came out. Not any movement at all. I don’t like that.”
Priest had noted the car himself, but he’d been more interested in Cleo’s ass as she walked away.
Shit. She was messing with his head.