Hero (Wolves of Royal Paynes #1) - Kiki Burrelli Page 0,2
of what made them so difficult. They came at me as a team, every time. Which meant…
I skidded to a stop, the Wonder Twins taking up the square of sidewalk several yards ahead. With hair as black as oil and bright blue eyes, they were difficult to miss. Sometimes, they carried swords with them. I'd spotted the handles once or twice in our time together and assumed they'd realized a crowded market place wasn't the best place to show up visibly armed.
Visibly being the operative word there.
I searched the area, spotting a police officer on top of a large brown horse. It could have been something fancy like an Arabian chestnut stallion, but to me, it looked like a brown horse.
Snagging the paper in my pocket, I held it, making my hand tremble as if in fear. "Officer, p-please help me."
The man on horseback narrowed his eyes at me, possibly his bullshit meter going off, but I pushed the paper closer to his nose.
"I have a restraining order. Those two men are not supposed to be within a hundred yards of me. Please, help." Sometimes, looking younger than my twenty-three years was useful.
With the proof of my story right in front of him, bullshit meter or not, the police officer looked from me to the Wonder Twins. "Wait here," he told me as he made a clicking sound with his mouth and his horse walked forward.
"Yes, of course, I'll wait…" I waited for him to get farther away, and closer to the twins, before heading off down an alley I'd spotted.
If I wasn't positive the wonder twins were going to do nothing to the police officer but be annoyed by him, I wouldn't have sent him over. I didn't want people getting hurt, or worse, killed, because of me. That had partly been the reason I'd told Hollister it was okay to send my information along. I didn't know the men at that time, but if they were asking my friend about me, they were in harming distance of him. Better they got the information they wanted and focus their attentions on the real target.
Looking left, right, and behind, I checked to make sure none of them had spotted me. It had sucked covering my red hair; it was one of the things I liked about myself. But it also made me too easy to spot. At least this way, no one had their eyes on me as I pranced down the sidewalk on the other side of the street, skipping toward the alley I knew went all the way through and opened on to the other side of the block. I pulled out the lip balm, twisting off the cap to slather a layer of fruity coconut beeswax onto my lips.
"Mmm." I smacked my lips together, sliding the tube in my pocket.
Before I could make the turn that would bring me freedom, a strong hand emerged from the darkness between two buildings and grabbed mine, pulling me into an off-balance spin. Disoriented, I slammed against a rock-hard chest as the growling man pulled my hands behind my back. His large, firm body pressed against mine while my shoulder blades smashed against the unforgiving concrete of the building behind me. Not only did he have my hands restrained, his thick fingers tightened over each wrist, and he kept my hands apart.
I needed two hands to do what I did. I knew that. I'd never told anyone else that. And somehow, this man who had been following me for months knew that now too. I must've slipped and been too obvious.
Or his relentless observation was starting to pay off.
"Getting sloppy, Jazz," Knox murmured. "Target secure. Convene to the rendezvous point." He spoke into the small headset pinned behind his ear.
While I'd thought I'd been zigzagging through them, the bastards had been herding me to where they'd wanted me.
"I'm disappointed. Diesel said this plan would work, and I told him you were too smart to fall for it." He tsked me, his grip never loosening. His voice was like a summer storm. Swelteringly hot, sharp as a crack of lightning, but also deep and soothing like thunder rumbling in the distance.
Maybe everyone wasn't soothed by thunder and lightning, but I wasn't everyone.
Though having this man this close made my body go haywire, I attempted not to let it show. "Maybe I just like getting close to you," I shot back, my voice too breathy for the tease to count.