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Iknew Cash worked quickly, but I was still in bed with Nate when the phone rang less than a day later.
“We need to meet.” Kosas sounded more subdued than he’d been when I’d shown up at his house. He’d been nervous then, eyes darting back and forth on the street like he was expecting an Ace to show up and kill us both. Hell, maybe he was. I had no idea what the terms of the truce with Cash were. When I’d suggested he reconsider it, Kosas nearly spat in my face before slamming the door on us. Rude, but not a shock.
Still, I didn’t think he was calling because he’d seen the light.
My stomach twisted, even as I responded calmly. “Last we spoke, you told me to get lost. What’s changed?”
“Everything.”
One weighted word and I knew I’d meet him. I heard more than just exhaustion; Kosas sounded bleak and desperate. If I didn’t get to him now, Cash might reel him in too far for me to ever pull him back.
“Beanistry, one hour.”
The local coffee shop was as close to neutral territory as I could guarantee at the moment. Kosas grunted his agreement. “Don’t bring your entire army.”
Scoffing, I went to the closet and pulled out clothes and weapons. If he wanted to meet, there wasn’t time to argue about this. “I don’t leave the house without my men.”
Nate grumbled about being woken up as he got ready behind me, rummaging around in the dresser where he kept his stuff, despite his room being down the hall. I refused to tell him or the others how much I liked having their things in my room. It made it feel so much homier.
“I’m not asking you to come alone. I just—I need this to stay between us for now.”
Again, he sounded cagey and uncomfortable. “We’ll see.”
When I hung up the phone, Nate was pulling a shirt over his chest. The tattoo was covered with Saniderm, but I could still see the vague outline of my crown on his skin and I liked it.
“Stop looking at me like that when I don’t have time to fuck you.”
“Who says we don’t have time?” We definitely didn’t.
“I do. Need to head over to Beanistry and scope it out. Make sure it’s not a trap for you.”
Humming, I pulled him in by the hips and laid a kiss above the tattoo. “I like this.”
Nate wrapped a hand in my hair and pulled my head back so he could give me a kiss that made me weak in the knees and wetter than I should’ve been. As if he knew what he’d done, he smirked. “Show me how much you like it later.”
“I will.”
By the time I was done, I’d have that man covered in my marks.
With the two of us grinning, he let me go. “You want Dominic for this?”
Knowing whatever happened was Cash’s fault—and not wanting Kosas to transfer the blame to Nate—I nodded. “Please.”
Thankfully, he wasn’t upset. Just pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be watching. Be safe, angel.”
“You too.”
When he was gone, I slipped into the new outfit and grabbed a few weapons I could easily hide. The point was to look as unarmed as possible, to remind Kosas I didn’t consider him a threat. Until I found a real way to end this war, mind games were all I had, and I was going to play to the very end.
We made a quick stop by the office floor to give Greyson a heads-up—he’d met with Killer, hoping to touch base before anyone else was awake, lest we make the wrong people suspicious. He gave me a stern warning to watch my back and a smack on the ass that made Killer’s whole face turn red before I left, glaring him black and blue. Dominic took one look at my face, wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and laughed himself silly at the kid’s expense until I elbowed him in the diaphragm.
I felt much better after that.
The drive was short, and even though the hour wasn’t up, I wanted to get there before Kosas. As we pulled in, my phone buzzed with a message from Nate.
He’s already inside. No signs of an ambush, but we’ll keep watch.
I knew he’d grabbed Moore and a few others for additional eyes, so if he said it was clear, I believed him.
