Page 21 of The Devil's Reward
She nods. “If the position is filled by the time I send someone your way, then we’ll look elsewhere. Thank you, Mr. uh, I mean, Shadow. I really appreciate you being willing to work with me and my colleagues on this.”
“Anything I can do for fellow Vets,” I tell her truthfully.
I hear the door behind me open and glance over my shoulder to see the rest of the guys coming out. Viper gives Quinn a wide smile, and Crypt and Hulk both give her sober nods. “Hi, Crypt,” Quinn says shyly. “Shadow was just telling me you were hired and staying at the, uh, clubhouse. That’s fantastic.”
Crypt gives her a quick nod. “Do you need to follow up with me, Ms. Holt?” he asks her politely.
She shakes her head. “Only if you want me to. If you’re okay, then I’ll make a note to check in with you in two months. And call me Quinn. I’m not fancy.”
“Since this asshole isn’t going to introduce us,” Viper drawls, stepping forward with his hand out, “I’ll have to do it myself. I’m Viper, and I run the joint with Shadow here. Other guy is Hulk. Don’t worry, he’s a softy.”
Hulk huffs out a breath and glares at Viper.
Quinn shakes Viper’s hand quickly, looking up at him and Hulk with the same shy smile. “Nice to meet you. Quinn Holt. Well, I need to get back to the office. It was nice to meet you and, uh, good to see you again, Crypt. And, uh, you too, Shadow,” she adds, nearly tripping over herself to say goodbye before turning to hurry away.
I watch her retreat, her sensible flats eating up the sidewalk with purpose.
“She’s a skittish one,” Viper remarks. “Pretty too. I’d ask her out if I thought she’d actually accept.”
The idea of Viper taking Quinn out is not one I want to entertain. I have no business thinking of her at all, and the idea of her around constantly makes me feel things I don’t want to. “She’s not crazy enough for you,” I tell him as we head down the sidewalk in the opposite direction from Quinn. “You’d chew her up and spit her out, and that would ruin any kind of relationship for you.”
Viper sighs. “Yeah, probably. Still, I think she was looking at you awfully close.”
I ignore the bait he’s dangling in front of me. Instead, I tell him, “I told her about the reception position, so of course she was looking at me. She was taking notes on her phone and is going to send clients our way.”
Viper looks like he doesn’t believe me, but finally shrugs. “If you say so.”
As we continue walking back to the office, I resist glancing over my shoulder to see if I can catch another glimpse of Quinn. I need to forget about her and focus on the task at hand. We have a mole to catch.
THIRTEEN
MOLE
I’m going to make them work hard to figure out who I am.
These fools have no idea who they’re messing with. I chuckle to myself as I work through my preparations. I know all about their plans for the grounds tonight and the clubhouse tomorrow. They think they have this in the bag, but I’m gonna make them work for it. Throw them off the scent, as it were.
By the time I have everything in order, I’m practically giddy with excitement. I wish I could be here to see their faces. Except, that would arouse suspicion, and this will give me a chance to work on my other goals. Snatching Sage and getting rid of Izzy. I tried shooting them both but that didn’t work. The drugs didn’t take out Izzy like they should have, however I have a few more tricks up my sleeves.
I make it back to my room, but stop when I realize there’s a message on my phone.Shit. I recognize Dmitri’s number and listen to his order to call him back. I quickly jam the cameras, just in case someone is watching or listening, before I call him back.
When he answers, he’s terse. “Where are they?”
I don’t need to guess who he’s talking about. “I’m working on it.”
He’s silent on the other end, but his anger is palpable. I should probably worry, especially since Dmitri isn’t one you piss off unless you like sleeping with the fishes, or whatever that saying is. Finally, he says, “I suggest you work faster. Or I will take over. And we both know that you and your club won’t come out of that alive.”
Then he hangs up, and I fight the urge to throw the phone across the room. I can’t have Dmitri fucking up my plans. Let these assholes search the clubhouse, because it’s not going to help them. It’ll only confuse them more.
FOURTEEN
QUINN
Why does he call it a coven?
“Why do we have to get groceries?” Macy whines as we grab a cart and I lift her into it so she can sit down. After such a busy day at school, she’s going to crash soon, and I still need to get groceries before I take her home and get her ready for bed. It’s hard being a single mom sometimes, but I’ve become a pro at this.
“Because you insist on eating. If you don’t want an empty lunchbox all week, we need to buy things to put in it,” I explain as I push the cart forward.
