Page 105 of Nest of Thieves
“Is that why you wanted Lark to kick your ass?”
He nods. “Yeah. I don’t want to scare you off.”
“I doubt there’s anything you could say that would scare me.”
His nose wrinkles in disagreement. “When I was little—”
“You don’t have to tell me,” I rush out. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
“Let me finish talking, Kitten.”
I mime zipping my lips.
“My dad was a drug addict. My mom left me with him.” Mac glances away and clenches his jaw. “Dad ran out of money, and the only thing left he had to sell was me.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, I try to tamp down the immediate rage filling me. What sort of asshole sells their kid?
“I wasn’t the only one who was sold off. There was a group of us, crammed into a tiny space. The assholes who bought us would line us up, and each time a new buyer came, we’d have to stand there and let them touch us.”
My heart shatters in my chest. “Mac,” I whisper, but he shakes his head.
“After two weeks of suffering, I snapped. One of the guys had a knife, and I took it and gutted him. Then I killed the rest of them too. They were all sitting around smoking blunts and drinking beer, like they were watching football or something.” Mac shakes his head. “I killed every last one of them. Took the knife and split them all wide open.”
“Good,” I say, placing my palm on his cheek. “They all deserved to die.”
“I know. Remember Pony?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s a gang that’s trying to traffic people. We stopped it. Or, at least, one shipment. After that night, I didn’t freak out like I thought I would. I guess my mind was protecting me. Anyway, we had a meeting with our boss, and it put me in a bad headspace. He gave us permission to deal with the 609 Vandals, but something about that meeting triggered those memories, and I needed some time to process.”
My stomach cramps and sorrow clogs my throat. I shove down my sympathy. He doesn’t want pity. He’s trying to explain where he’s been, and now that he has, I regret being mad at him in the first place. “I’m really sorry I was being a brat about missing you...I was confused, but I understand why you’d need time. How’s your head now?”
“Better. Even more so now that I know how much you missed me.”
“Insufferable prick,” I tease, but my scent fills with cherries, showing how happy I am that he wants me to miss him.
“Needy little omega.” He drops his nose to my neck and inhales, groaning against my skin. “Lark will kill me if I don’t take you to the garage.”
I tip my chin to the side and sigh. “Well, now that I know he can, we should go.”
He nips my throat. “Never underestimate Lark.”
“I’m learning that,” I say, running my hands through the longer parts of Mac’s black hair. “We should go.”
I really don’t want to, now that he’s here, really here, but there’s a job to be done. I’m no closer to finding the ruby, and the ticking clock on my life is slowly winding down. Maybe I’ll learn something useful tonight.
* * *
Vette goes first. He parks the Raptor behind the car we’re targeting, and Lark uses his fancy devices to pick up the code from the legit key fob and transfer it to the one Vette’s holding.
“You’re good to go.” Lark looks up from his equipment and glances around. “Street’s clear too.”
“I got your back,” Mac says, picking up the loaded gun from the dash.
The 609 Vandals that took Orion’s life are still on the streets. The probability of them hitting Atlantic City Knights twice in one month are low, but the guys aren’t taking any chances. Vette nods at Lark and flicks his gaze to meet mine.
“Go get ’em, tiger.” I wink at him.
