Page 35 of Full Throttle

What if the building lost power?

“Do you have a generator?” I asked, giving him my attention again.

He nodded once before turning and opening the fridge, setting the bag of Granny Smiths on the shelf. Granny Smiths were Dominique’s favorite. My eyes dropped down to the other contents of the bags, taking note of the packs of Oreos and a jar of peanut butter. More of her favorites.

“It's old though,” Sullie said, pulling me from my thoughts.

When looked back up, I found him watching me closely, his eyes guarded. I didn’t take offense to that. I was around Sullie long enough to know that his guard was always up, even around his loved ones. There was never a moment when he was completely relaxed. He was just very good at making it appear that way.

“So what’s your plan?” I pressed, bracing my hands on the granite, a stray hair falling onto my forehead.

“The plan is to hunker down. Nikki and I have already discussed this. I offered for her to come stay with me, and even Dontell offered his spare room, but she refused. She wants to stay in the loft, and I’m not going to push her. If she is comfortable here, then okay,” he explained simply.

“She doesn’t need to be here alone.”

Sullie nodded somewhat, agreeing with me. “I agree, but she’s an adult. I also offered to stay downstairs so she wouldn’t be alone. She declined that, too.”

I felt my jaw muscle jumping under my skin. What the fuck was wrong with her? There was help all around, and she wasn’t taking it—in a fucking blizzard. Sighing through my nose, I made the decision.

“I’ll be staying with her then,” I declared.

The big man stared at me for a moment, his lips curving up on one side. “I see,” he finally muttered, sounding satisfied. Ignoring him and his strange acceptance, I moved away from the island, pulling out my phone to call his nephew.

It rang three times before I heard, “For fuck’s sake.”

“Sorry,” I said, meaning it. Jeremy was under a shit ton of stress; the last thing I wanted to do was interrupt his sleep. “I was at the loft checking on Dominique and your uncle showed up. The—”

“You went to check on her at this hour?” he cut me off. He sounded more awake now.

I sighed. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep without laying eyes on her, Jer.”

He was silent for a moment. “Yeah,” he finally muttered in agreement. “I get that.”

“The blizzard is here. Three days early,” I stated, getting to the fucking point.

“Fucking—”

I heard movement and a soft voice that belonged to Casey. Then, I heard a door open and shut. “Fucking hell,” Jer bit off.

I assumed he was looking out his window. “I made sure everything at Oasis was okay before I locked up.”

“Thank you,” he sighed. I could see him pinching the bridge of his nose in my mind. “This is supposed to be a bad one. I don’t think that bastard would try anything…” He trailed off, uncertain.

Kavi would.

He absolutely would.

His enemies bunkered down in a blizzard? Fuck, it was too easy for a snake like him.

“When I was coming into the loft tonight, I saw a car on the next street over from the top of the stairs,” I told him, anger coiling in my gut. “Black town car. I watched it until it drove away.”

“You get a plate number?”

I fed the information to him to give to Casey. Hopefully, we could get some information.

“Got it,” Jer muttered.

“Dominique doesn’t need to be alone during this storm,” I stated firmly, looking over my shoulder at Sullie. “She doesn’t want to go to Dontell’s or Sullie’s.”

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