Page 130 of Killer Kiss

Or why.

I could understand someone wanting to take me out. I pissed people off at the drop of a hat. I made no effort to spare anyone’s feelings. I’d slept with so many women it was probably inevitable that eventually I’d pick the wrong one, and her jealous boyfriend or husband would come after me.

Or have the connections to pay someone to do it.

But there was no reason to kill a college senior who had never been in any trouble and spent most of his time with his family.

It didn’t make sense.

An officer from the Providence Police Department walked in like he owned the place and stared at the four of us, his gaze lingering on me and then Lacey. He scowled at her. “Good to see you’re finally sitting here like I told you to. Just so I understand, is this man here part of your…foursome?”

She stared up at him, anger blazing in her eyes. “Sergeant, you know very well I’ve already explained our relationship to you.”

He shrugged, jotting down something on his notepad. “Just making sure you didn’t forget one of your lovers. You seem to have quite a few.”

Colt and Rafe both shoved to their feet, ready to throw down with the ignorant prick of a cop, but I stood up, too, putting myself in between them.

“Sit down,” I said calmly. “He’s not worth it.”

Lacey had it anyway. She pushed me out of the way. “You’re not going to find Banjo standing here questioning me about our sex life, Sergeant. I suggest you do your damn job, and do it out of my sight. Get out of my house.”

The man put his hands up in mock surrender and walked away.

Lacey sank back down. “They’re unbelievable,” she seethed. “Nothing changes with them! They’re so fucking useless I could scream. Why aren’t they out there searching for him?”

None of us had ever had good experiences with the Providence Police department. Few people did. They were mostly old-school, corrupt bastards who got their rocks off picking on people who lived in Saint View and taking money under the table from those who lived across the border in Providence.

“I don’t know, Princess,” Rafe soothed. “As soon as the sun comes up, I’m going out there to find him. I don’t care that they want us to stay put and not get in their way. Fuck that.”

Colt and I nodded in agreement. Dawn was only an hour away. I had no idea where we’d go or what we could do to find him, but anything had to be better than sitting here.

Shouts came from outside, and all of us twisted in the direction of the windows.

Officers who had been congregated at various points on the lawn suddenly took off running, a group of them stopping just a way down the street.

“What is it?” Lacey asked.

I shook my head, squinting through the darkness. “No idea, but they’re real interested in it. I’m going out there. Fuck the cops.”

The others trailed me, and I strode across the lawn, arguing with the officers who again tried to tell us to go back inside and sit down.

An officer moved to one side, and I caught a flash of dark-blond hair, matted with blood, lit up beneath a streetlight.

“Banjo!” Lacey’s scream ripped straight from her heart. She sprinted across the lawn, throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms around his chest and hugging him like she couldn’t quite believe he was real.

Rafe followed in a second later, sandwiching her between them and holding them with a fierceness that no smart person would mess with.

Colt’s relief was evident in the slump of his body and the way he doubled over, pressing his elbows to his knees.

I rubbed a hand over his back. “You okay?”

“No,” he choked out, shaking his head, his voice croaky with emotion.

I knew what he meant because I wasn’t either.

Somebody pulled a first aid kit from the back of a cop car and found some gauze to press to the wounds in Banjo’s hands that were deep and nasty.

Anger boiled in my system.

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