Kings of Chaos (Dirty Broken Savages #1)(14)

Still, it would be a shame for this to end in bloodshed.

I grin at her, putting some distance between us.

“Stop fighting, sweet thing,” I say, letting my voice dip down into the register that usually has panties dropping left and right. “I’d hate to see that pretty head get a hole in it.”

She glares at me like she wants to set me on fire with her eyes, but she stops struggling, going still.

I dust myself off and reach down to adjust my cock, which has swelled all over again in the fight, even though I just went a few rounds with that hot dancer and her sister.

Knox, who’s standing in the doorway at the top of the stairs with Gage now, howls with laughter. “Getting the shit kicked out of you made you hard?” he asks, wiping his eyes.

“Excuse you, Knox. I wasn’t ‘getting the shit kicked out of me.’ It was mutual,” I shoot back, cocking an eyebrow at him. But he’s not totally wrong. Having her pressed against me, feeling all that energy while she struggled to get away and wouldn’t give up… it was damn hot.

Priest just looks blank, as per usual, not letting anyone know anything about how he feels about this whole situation.

Gage looks annoyed, either with me for my ‘antics’ as he calls them, or with the girl for somehow getting free.

Either way, I laugh, not embarrassed about the fact that the fight affected me in more ways than one.

“What about the twins?” Knox rumbles, his thick arms folded. “They weren’t enough for you? I thought one of them was all bendy and shit.”

I shrug one shoulder. “They were alright. Her sister was bendy. A human pretzel with a mouth that didn’t quit. But they weren’t nearly feisty enough for my taste.” I glance at the woman when I say that last part, taking in her outfit and silver hair now that we’re standing in the light.

She glares even harder at me, if such a thing is possible, and flips me off.

“Enough!” Gage roars, a vein in his neck bulging. When he’s pissed off, he’s a nightmare to deal with, and the anger and frustration is clear to see on his face. His hands are balled into fists at his side, and he looks from me to the girl like he’s trying to work out a math problem or something.

“How the fuck did this happen, Ash?” he demands. “Why is she loose?”

“I don’t know,” I admit, grimacing as some of my amusement slips away. “I went down to see her, and she must have already been free. I didn’t let her go.”

To emphasize my point, I hold up my hands in a gesture of innocence. I’m horny, not stupid, and anyone undermining Gage in a situation like this would have to be short on some brain cells.

“Then how did she—” He cuts himself off and looks down at the girl’s bloody hands.

They were already bloody before, when she hit me the first time, I remember. At the time, I didn’t think anything of it, but now I realize that she must have slipped her cuffs, not giving a shit if she scraped her wrists all to shit in the process.

Fuck. Impressive.

The others realize at the same time as I do what must have happened, and they trade looks.

If anything, Gage just looks even more done with this whole mess than he was before. She’s a threat, and he doesn’t take kindly to those, especially ones who manage to be as twisty and close-mouthed as this girl has been tonight.

I’ve seen that look on his face before, when he decides something just isn’t worth it, and it doesn’t bode well for the silver-haired beauty at all.

“I was gonna give you twenty-four hours,” he says to her, his eyes narrowed and his jaw tight. “But I’m fed the fuck up with this bullshit.”

He lifts his gun, his face going blank as Priest’s usually is. The barrel points right between her eyes, and I know he’s not going to hesitate to kill her. He’ll blow her brains out right here in our house, and then have Knox take care of the remains. Whatever mess the girl was involved in will end with her, most likely, and we can get back to our business.

But for some reason, I don’t want to see that happen.

It’s not like we have some code of honor against killing women. We’ve knocked off plenty of them for getting in our way, since they can be just as deserving of death as men are. But this particular woman? She intrigues me too much to let the mystery of what the fuck she’s after die with her.

Going against Gage is usually a one-way ticket to a shallow grave, but it’s different when it’s one of us, so I step in between them, pushing the gun away with one hand in a smooth motion. I flash him my most winning smile.

“Maybe you should try catching flies with honey next time,” I tell him.

He growls, but I ignore him, putting my back to him and facing the girl. “What’s your name?” I ask her.

“Ghost,” she practically spits. For someone who just had a gun pointed at her head, she doesn’t seem shaken at all. She doesn’t seem all that grateful to me for saving her life, either.

“Sure,” I reply with a chuckle. “And his name is Priest.” I point at Priest, who just raises an eyebrow and keeps pretending to be a mannequin.

I can see that obstinance in the woman’s eyes. She’s not going to back down easily, and she’s not going to give up anything without a good reason… and apparently, she doesn’t think the threat of death is a good enough reason to spill her secrets.