Page 26 of Bullet

I want to let Amelia sleep in this morning, but I know she’ll be thoroughly ticked off if she’s late for work. She’s dedicated to her staff and students and isn’t going to let a late night at the police station stop her from taking care of her school.

She looks so peaceful lying in her bed. I got up to shower, and when I came back, she was snuggling with my pillow. Every time I think she can’t get more adorable, she proves me wrong. I run my hand over her back. She mumbles something incoherent.

“Babe, it’s time to get up,” I tell her, brushing my lips over her shoulder.

“Not yet.” The words are hardly audibly with her face buried in the pillow, making me chuckle. It must have been my laugh that has her eyes open into slits, taking in the sunshine. “What time is it?” she murmurs, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

“It’s seven. You have half an hour to shower and dress. I’ll make coffee. But not before I get my good-morning kiss,” I tease. With her eyes still half closed, she lifts her head and puckers her lips, waiting for my mouth to reach hers.

I kiss her hard and fast. But not fast enough, because her arms wind around my neck to hold me to her. I kiss her again, this time soft and slow. I take my time, enjoying her mouth and feeling the soft curves of her body.

“Baby, I’d be fine with you being late for work, but I bet you won’t be,” I say, breaking the kiss.

She grumbles and lets me go. Still in a sleepy haze, she stumbles into the bathroom to do her thing while I head out to find Crush at the coffeemaker, hitting the brew button. Crush is better in the kitchen than I am. When he has time, he likes to cook. I’m lucky, because most of the time, I’m around to sample what he makes.

“Do you think Amelia would mind if I made breakfast?” he asks, furrowing his brow.

“She’d love it. She’s always in a rush, though,” I warn, not wanting him to be hurt if she doesn’t take the time to sit.

“I’ll make breakfast burritos. She can take them to go.” He begins to crack some eggs and make breakfast sausages. “Check your phone. Guard wants to meet this morning.”

“Bad news?”

“Not that I know of. Demon said Guard has already spoken to Sofia. It’s probably about the next move we’re going to make. Guard wants the Pride cleared completely. He doesn’t like this hanging over our heads.”

I already know this, and although Guard is as patient as they come, he doesn’t take kindly to police trying to haul one of our women in for questioning. The main thing all the Pride men have in common is our need to look after our women and each other.

“I’d like to find Sal’s killer too. This is weighing on Amelia. I’d like to have some time with it just being her and me, without drama,” I confess.

“Preach, brother. It would be nice to have some downtime. By the way, we’ve got a couple more jobs lined up. I know you have your hands full, so I’ll go give them the quote.”

This is something Crush hates doing alone. Quite frankly, with all that’s going on, I don’t want him meeting anyone on his own. “Guard says two men at all times, even when it comes to work. We’ll pick a time when Amelia is safe at the school.” I jolt my shoulder into his. “Partners. Remember?”

He smiles, and I sigh in relief. Yeah, he hates that part of the job, but he was willing to do it for me and Amelia.

I pour coffee into travel mugs while Crush rolls the burritos and wraps them up, just as Amelia comes into the room. “Oh my God, that smells heavenly. Mmm, I wish I could sit with you both.”

“No worries, babe. Crush made our food to go,” I tell her. Crush hands her a brown paper bag as I grab our coffees. “I’ll drop you off at work. Your car never made it home last night,” I remind her. “And I’ll text you later for our plans tonight.”

“Our plan includes me making dinner for you and Crush.” She turns to Crush before he can utter a word, “I insist.”

He gives her a sheepish grin. “Only if I bring dessert. I’ll drop by Hanna’s Bakery.”

Amelia’s eyes light up. “I’m addicted to everything in her shop. I hear her snickerdoodles are to die for.”

“There’s nothing I tried that wasn’t fantastic. She has a flair for baking. Risk complains that his one-hour workouts have turned into two hours since he met her,” I say.

Crush laughs. “He complains but hoards everything that comes to the club, and he lives with her. He’s got a sugar addiction.”

Amelia giggles, then walks out to the car with us. Crush gets on his bike and follows us to the school. As soon as I see Amelia is safe inside, we leave for the club.

“The missing woman, Violet, she’s on the run because she witnessed the murder,” Guard announces. He gazes over at Orion and Wildcard. Wildcard looks tired as hell, probably because he just got back from picking up a skip and went directly to Orion to help out any way he could. “The cops said there were no surveillance tapes. Truth is, the tapes were scrubbed. But as Orion’s told me millions of times, there’s always a footprint if you know where to look.” He nods to Orion to continue.

“The images are dark, and most of them blurry. Sal didn’t believe in spending money on security. I think he thought he was invincible.” Orion turns to Wildcard, who splashes a shot on the blank wall in the room. The picture is blurry, but you can make out Sal’s office, and Sal standing behind his desk, his arm stretched out like he’s speaking with someone. His expression isn’t clear, but he looks pissed.

“That’s Sal. Where’s Violet?” I ask.

“Look closely.” Orion moves his hand over the bottom of the photo, where a cabinet sits with a door next to it. “You need to really look for it. This is a hand on the edge of the door. It’s small. Looks like a woman’s hand to me.”