Page 44 of Love Undercover
Chase tried to clamp down on his reaction to Santiago’s implied meaning and the fact that Travers had moved closer to the bedroom. Santiago tilted his head, noting the way Chase went rigid.
When Travers looked to his boss, Santiago jerked his chin to offer permission with a small smirk.
Chase lurched forward, panic shooting electricity through his body, but Santiago snatched the front of his shirt. He shovedChase back, his expression darkening until he looked downright hostile.
“You know this puts you in a tough position,” he said through his teeth, his face inches from Chase’s. “You can’t just let that girl go. We were going to make it look like a robbery gone wrong. But you took it one step further. You’re going to have to dump her body somewhere far, far away.”
Chase held his stony expression, but his heartbeat picked up, his fingers curling into his palms. His gaze flashed toward the bedroom and back.
“Let us take care of her for you,” Santiago suggested, his accent smoothing out again. “Wash your hands clean.”
“And why would you do that?” Chase asked, knowing full well it wasn’t an altruistic offer.
Santiago shrugged, giving him a grin that sent a spike of fear through him. “Because we’re buddies.”
The hair along Chase’s neck stood on end. “I can handle it myself, but thanks for the offer. Buddy.”
Santiago stared at him for a long time, and Chase worked to keep his expression blank.
“She’s very pretty,” Santiago murmured, one brow quirking. “Ol’ Greg has good taste.”
Chase narrowed his eyes, noting that implication in Santiago’s words again.
“She would make a very nice distraction.” The Spaniard’s voice took on that signature purr. “I’d be liable to enjoy some time with her before ditching her, myself.”
Chase’s nails bit into the skin of his palms as he clenched his fists tighter. “I’ll let you know how she is.”
Santiago’s chin shifted forward just slightly, and even though Chase’s words made a sick feeling twist in his stomach, a sense of satisfaction flooded him at Santiago’s obvious irritation.
Santiago’s grip on his shirt loosened, so Chase broke away. A smug smirk crept back onto the other man’s face as Chase shoved past him to the bedroom.
Just as he rounded the corner into the hallway, he heard Travers’s grunt and then a thud. He sped up, skidding to a stop just inside the door.
Sadie’s chest heaved with emotion, her face flushed, hair mussed. Travers was kneeling on the floor, his hands over his crotch, a greenish tint to his sneering face. She must have kicked the asshole in the balls.
Chase’s blood ramped up in temperature just thinking what had precipitated the move. He grabbed the little man by the front of his shirt and yanked him to his feet. But before Chase could do anything further, Santiago called for him.
“Travers!”
The little man flinched, and Chase’s lip curled back. His fingers itched to pop the little weasel’s head off his toothpick neck, but he shoved him back instead. It was best to put as much distance between his hands and Travers’s throat as he could before he gave in to the violence that prickled in his muscles like a poison. Murder sang in his blood.
Travers scrambled back, wincing as he hit the door frame in his haste to get out of the room. Chase stalked after him, making sure he crawled back out to Santiago.
“I’m thinking of being a nice guy and keeping your little secret,” Santiago said, barely flicking a glance at his hobbling minion.
“I don’t give a shit what you do,” Chase growled, the danger he felt coursing through his body infusing his voice with a darkness that should have scared him. Normally it would have. “You get your mongrel on a leash and keep him there, or I swear I’ll rip him limb from limb.”
One corner of Santiago’s mouth tilted up, and Chase knew the man was filing his reaction away. On some level, he knew he’d tipped his hand. But at the moment, nothing mattered except keeping Sadie safe.
“I’ll be seeing you then,” Santiago replied, heading for the door. He snapped his fingers at Travers, who slid a glare in Chase’s direction before slinking after the bigger man.
Chase didn’t move until they were out the door, and then he strode forward to lock it, his need to check on Sadie ramping up like a vibration under his skin. And once he knew she was okay, he needed to plan.
17
Fizzing Exes
Repulsion rolled through Sadie in buffeting waves, hot and stifling along her skin. And something else was building. Something like panic—oppressive and bubbling, a black energy that made it impossible for her to be still.
