Page 5 of Altered By Lead (Undercover Sinners 2)
She has to have seen what I just saw, this tentative sort of ... like, affection or something? Jealousy roars through me, and I run my tongue over my lower lip. Janet notices that, too, and the edge of her mouth quirks up in a sardonic sort of smile.
"You know what? It's your team, and your funeral." Janet taps something out on her iPad, and then flips it around to hand it over to Natalia. Their eyes meet again, but this time there's a bit of a challenge in them. "Contract. Bound in blood, but we're more sophisticated than that. Sign the screen with your finger, and if you fuck up or deflect, then we'll worry about the blood part." Janet smiles as Natalia reaches out to take the tablet. She doesn't even read it before she signs it with her finger and tosses it back.
Ballsy.
I have to admit: I'm thoroughly impressed.
The door opens behind us, and it's Mace, frowning, gruff as usual. But the way he looks at me, I feel all the blood drain from my face.
This is about Colt, isn't it?
He better not fucking be dead.
Because if he is ... then this thing I'm feeling toward Natalia won't go any further.
And I think I want it to?
I seriously must've taken a blow to the head.
A major fucking blow.For two weeks, Colt Ryan lay still and quiet, in a medically induced coma. Last week, they finally woke his ass up.
“You have no idea how happy I am to see that ugly, lopsided grin of yours,” I tell my best friend, trying not to get too sappy. He doesn’t like that, heavy emotions and all that shit. Colt’s happier keeping things shallow, easy. It’s kind of his thing. I used to be like that, too, but all of that pretend is starting to fade at the edges.
I’m tired of it.
I’m interested in something … more.
“Oh, go fuck yourself,” Colt says, slurping down the last of his ice cream and setting the cup aside. You’d think he’d be relieved to have a moment to chill here in the hospital, time to eat, think, read, binge watch some shit.
But he hates it.
I smile, glancing over my shoulder as a knock sounds at the door. Natalia lets herself in without waiting for a response, a cautious smile on her red-painted lips. I haven’t seen her since she signed the contract with Janet; Hawke found her a safe place to lie low. It was just better that we weren’t coming and going, just in case one of Konstantin’s men managed to track any of our movements.
If she’s here, I’m guessing Hawke’s getting ready to move her to the safe house.
“Hey, babe,” Colt says, that ugly grin of his ratcheting up a notch. “Come on in.”
She steps into the room, and the smell of her flowery perfume makes my throat clench tight. Fucking hell, Natalia. Why do girls always smell so good? I’m so used to being around the guys all the time that I forget that.
“Colt,” she says, the word a bit breathless, a bit husky. I wonder if she realizes how she’s talking to him? Like he matters. My jaw clenches slightly, but I refuse to be jealous over my best friend. If Natalia decided she wanted to settle down and have babies with him or something, I guess I’d be happy about that.
Although I am starting to wonder if I might be happier if she decided she wanted to settle down and have babies with me.
Not that I’m sure a girl like her will ever settle down. She’s a fucking firecracker, even in loose cargo pants and a tank top. I wonder where she got the lipstick from, considering she came to the church with nothing and left with even less.
“Come sit on my lap,” Colt offers, sitting up and patting the bed next to him. Deja vu hits me hard, and I suddenly find myself remembering Natalia riding me while I laid in bed, injured, while Colt did her from behind.
We could recreate that, right here and now …
“You’ve been in a coma for weeks,” she says, crossing her arms under her full breasts and drawing my attention to them. She glances my way, and I raise a pierced brow.
“I’ll give you a moment alone,” I say, slipping out the door. I don’t go far though. Actually, I don’t even close the door fully behind me, leaning against the wall beside it, so I can listen.
“Exactly. I’ve been in a coma for weeks,” Colt pleads shamelessly. “And the nurses here are frigid as fuck. I missed you.”
“You missed my pussy,” Natalia says, but not like she’s overly upset about it. There’s a long pause where neither of them speaks. A muscle in my jaw ticks, and I can’t help it; I have to look and see what they’re doing.
